Disneyland: Animating American Ideals
Student project for the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts in Saint Louis, USA.
A book editorial investigating Walt Disney’s Opening Speech for Disneyland on July 17th, 1955. The book contains the Disneyland Opening speech interspersed between two supplementary articles to provide greater depth into the Disneyland’s opening day.
I wanted to use supplementary text to reinforce my theme investigating Walt Disney’s idealizing speech. With this in mind I selected “Disneyland got off to a nightmare start in 1955, but ‘Walt’s Folly’ quickly won over fans” by Brady MacDonald and “How Disney Came to Define What Constitutes the American Experience” by Bethanee Bemis. The two articles intend to mark the enormous political and influential power Disneyland has over the American image. I used two separate typographic treatments to present Disney as it’s stereotypical magic filled image, yet contrast that said into a more serious editorial.
I included Disney drawings sourced from “The Illusion of Life” by Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas to serve as the beautiful imaginative part Disney prides itself upon and highlight the drawings during spreads featuring the speech.
