Designing Disney |  | Author: John Hench
Publisher: Disney Editions
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
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Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 31969
Media: Paperback
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Pages: 160
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 10.7 x 9 x 0.4
ISBN: 1423119150
Dewey Decimal Number: 725.76
EAN: 9781423119159
ASIN: 1423119150
Publication Date: January 6, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Designing Disney sets into history and puts into context the extraordinary contributions of the late John Hench, who, at the age of 94, still came into his office at Imagineering each day. His principles of theme park design, character design, and use of color made him a legendary figure, not only for Disney fans but also for students and aficionados of architecture, engineering, and design.
Designing Disney reveals the magic behind Johnâs great discoveries and documents his groundbreaking in several key areas: âDesign Philosophyâ examines the values, attitudes, aesthetics, and logic that went into the original concepts for Disney theme parks. In âThe Art of the Showâ and âThe Art of Color,â Hench reveals the essence of what makes the parks work so well. And in âThe Art of Character,â he lets the reader in on the how and why of the Disney charactersâ inherent popularityâtheir timeless human traits, archetypal shape and gestures that suggest these qualities graphically, and their emotional resonance in our lives.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 13
 Getting in side Walt's head June 24, 2004
C. McNair Wilson (San Francisco, CA United States)
22 out of 24 found this review helpful
This book is the Disney version of being John Malkavich. More than ANY living person, John Hench, knows Walt's history, philosophy and design theories. In fact, John Hench IS the artist behind much of the how and why of designing Disney theme parks from Disneyland (1955) to Disney's California Adventure (2002). More than just a book of inside trivia on why and how certain attractions look and work this is the observations of human behavior and understanding of all of us that Walt (and Hench) had, and used, to create these magically places we all love. As an Disney Imagineer I was fortunate to have known and worked with John Hench and co-author, Peggy Van Pelt. Herein they tell the real story behind how Disney's magic comes into being. As great as their words, John and Peggy have included lots and lots of John's stunning artwork--much of it never before published or show outside the Disney archives. Walt (and John Hench's) philosophy in this compact and rich book is applicable across the corporate spectrum. This book should set side-by-side with the larger (though less revealing) "Imagineering: A Behind the Dreams Look..." John Hench once told me, "I make all decisions with my heart." This book is for the heart and your head (left and right hemispheres) will enjoy it as well.
So you want to see how to make sausages... July 7, 2005
Alan D. Cranford (Carson City, NV USA)
16 out of 19 found this review helpful
For most Disneyland guests, the nuts-and-bolts details behind the many attractions will ruin their illusions. Most people who are shown the tricks behind stage magic cannot get over feeling cheated. If you had to watch the process of making sausages from birth of the meat animal (pig or whatever) to the grilling of your breakfast in the restaurant kitchen, odds are that you'd enjoy your oatmeal instead.
But I enjoy seeing projects grow from project to fruition. John Hench's "Designing Disney: Imagineering and the Art of the Show" in an insiders peek at the Disney theme parks and cruise line. Concept art is directed at a specific audience. Usually the task for concept art is to sell the idea to the "suits"--who are a very different audience than Disneyland guests. It's been said that executives consider everyone else subhuman--especially their customers and subordinate employees--so what "sells" a concept to a panel of executives will leave the end customer unimpressed. Once the project gets the go-ahead, changes will happen. "No plan survives contact with reality!" At Disneyland, "finished attractions" will continually be changed due to economics or guest feedback until the attraction is replaced. The Disneyland Monorail is a fine example of this. On pages 26 and 27 and on page 33 monorail concept art differs significantly from today's Disneyland Monorail. John Hench wrote about how this occurred.
Many ideas don't make it to the concept stage. Disenyland was very much the experimental community during the 1950's and 1960's. The Enchanted Tiki Room was originally conceived of as a dinner show. Around 1960, the South Pacific was considered romantic and adventurous. Today, the Enchanted Tiki Room is considered ho-hum boring by most--but just try to rid Disneyland of it! My visits to Disneyland are incomplete if I cannot see the Tiki Birds at least once!
Hench wrote about the central theme of the park attractions, how "show" was the focus. Some of the rides and attractions at Disneyland (Disney's California Adventure is a worse offender) are just rides or exhibits. They have little if any tie-in, no synergy, with the rest of the park. Walt Disney told stories with his park attractions. The "nuts and bolts" of telling stories with a walk-in theater and live actors is explained in simple terms. No math! Imagine equations for the curve radii and bank on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad! Color, character, form, space, and time are some of the elements used to tell the story.
I like the panaramic photos of Main Street, Disneyland on pages 68 through 71. Disney theme parks keep changing. I like to see how the park has changed over time. Hench explained why these changes occured.
This book is a nice addition to my Disney library.
Wonderful Book May 23, 2009
A. Burton (Calgary, Canada)
I was pleasantly suprised with this book. Full of interesting information and definitely slanted towards the designers viewpoint. Full of wonderful pictures, and explanations as to the thought behind the decisions that were made when designing the parks.
If you are looking for a book about the attractions etc....this is not the book for you. If you are looking at the artistic viewpoints behind how and why the parks were designed then you will love it. If nothing else it is a beautiful book to add to your disney collection.
GREAT BOOK BY A GREAT DISNEY LEGEND July 6, 2010
W. BUTLER (NEVADA USA)
Firstly, how fortunate for all those who understand the amazing implications of Walt Disney's transition from filmmaker to Town Planner that John Hench decided to write this much-needed and much-requested book just before his death.
What's so strange about other reviews and Frank Gehry's preface is nowhere is it observed without John Hench "Tomorrowland" might have been an embarrassing overreach - causing much mirth from Hollywood rivals expecting Walt to fall flat on his face.
It's clear from his sketches in this book and other Disneyland publications the only WED man with "a handle" on modernity was John Hench. Without him "Space Mountain" would not have its iconic spaceship form. Without him Disney's contribution to the 1964 New York World's Fair would never have produced the spin-offs which they then used to updated a large section of "Tomorrowland".
But nothing about the original "Tomorrowland" was behind the times. John Hench's designs are still valid interpretation of future forms of travel and curvy architecture. Added to which they provided the spark for Walt's imagination to move onto the creation of EPCOT.
Much as I appreciate Michael Eisner launching the "Disney Decade" (providing jobs for so many of us) it has to be said his architectural taste was lamentable. His preference for a "nothing style" called "Post-Modern" set a trend which had dire consequences for the entire Disney Company. If the boss has no belief in the Future then all of Walt's plans for creating Experimental Communities in Florida become null and void. The modern township of "Celebration" gets Cape Cod cottages etc. "Tomorrowland 2011" is cancelled and its rocket ships are replaced by a Jules Verne "Orbitron". The thin edge of the wedge leading to all of "Tomorrowland" being given a destructive irrelevant Jules Verne "makeover".
It goes without saying I never met a cartoonist who didn't wonder what Walt would have thought of this French invasion. But these orders were coming from above. Thankfully the orderers have now all retired and with a cartoonist John Lasseter in place at Disney HQ America can now reclaim "Tomorrowland". First move - obtain a NASA spaceship to allow young guests to go inside - as they do in Airforce One at the Reagan Library.
This might appear to be a personal digression but as I spent several hours talking to John Hench I've a feeling he would not object to my revealing one confidence. The cruelest of all the cuts he lamented was the "People Mover". Because it was his and Walt's brainchild, based on a method of moving steel bars they saw in Detroit. The double irony being their driverless method of safely moving people from place to place is now used in airports around the globe.
Ditto Walt Disney's plans for EPCOT were exactly what America needed to keep up with the Future. All the new housing technologies the President is now forced to implement on a Governmental level would have been in place had Walt Disney's EPCOT ideals been pursued by those he trusted to keep the Disney Company ahead with the support of private sector investors. The method he used to make all his groundbreaking projects get done fast.
Because John Hench was such an incredibly discrete gentleman only a fraction of his deep-rooted beliefs and knowledge as to how different WED would have been had Walt lived another 20 years never found a place in this book. Nevertheless I think every "Disneyland" fan knows it was plain wrong to destroy important Disney History because a few individuals have no faith in the American (Disney) Way of forging forward and never resting on cash producing laurels - which will inevitably decay if not continually watered with NEW IDEAS.
Nice behind the scenes look. April 8, 2005
Casey Wireman (Augusta, GA USA)
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
After a recent trip to Disney World, I became captivated by all that went on there and immediately went online to find any behind the scenes books that might be lingering about. Designing Disney was a great read from cover to cover. Written by John Hench, possibly the longest serving Imagineer, you're given insight into some of the things that went into creating the enchanting parks that we all know and love.
Particularly interesting, I thought, were some of the techniques that the Imagineering group developed along the way, and some ingenious tricks that were used from the need for creative solutions.
This book is great for Disney fanatics, but even if you're not all that enthused about the parks, this book should keep anyone that's interested in the process of creation entertained until the very end.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 13
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