Another great place for extremely creative sign ideas is Universal Studios in Orlando. Awesome signs abound through both of the parks. The new Harry Potter areas are out of this world. But my favourite signs and architecture are found in the entry area of Islands of Adventure. This area speaks to me as a designer and builder of creative environments and signs. It is visual story telling at it's very best. I tease you with one small sign as an example... for the lockers just inside the main gate.
Pirates to Vikings
Just before we left for Orlando, the planning began for a new project which involves two Viking ships, They each will measure almost forty feet long and fourteen feet wide through the beam. The ships will incorporate interactive elements from another vendor and thus require a great deal of precision during construction to make sure everything fits together seamlessly. The ships also have to break into nine pieces for shipping to Dubai. The easiest way to get everything right was to first start with a scaled study model. Peter is taking the lead on this project and has a half model of the ship almost done.
Fun brackets
I absolutely love how story elements are skillfully woven into every detail of Disney's Animal Kingdom. Today I managed to spend about an hour sketching the carved brackets on the buildings in the centre courtyard area. Each bracket and brace is of a stylized animal or bird and there are dozens on the buildings, each unique and brilliant in their execution. Here's three of the many sketches I made today. As I sketched what I saw I was inspired with just as many new ideas of things I wanted to create in the future. I find that when I simply record with a camera I am only capturing what I see for future reference. When I slow down enough to draw the same ideas by hand I have time to think of new and exciting ideas, sparked by what I see.
