Disney100 Celebrations

AGENCY

Disney Corporate Creative Resources

CREDITS

Designer & Graphic Art Director: Melanie Lapovich
Event Art Director: Troy Ertel
Creative Director: Jeremy Cohen
Eras Illustrator: Sam Carter
Agency Partner: Little Cinema
Event Photography: Derek Lee

EVENT DESIGN

The Walt Disney Company is all about anniversary celebrations, and for the company's 100th Annivesary our team was asked to create a branding system and global toolkit to help teams around the world celebrate this historic milestone in style. We then produced 2 very special events at the Walt Disney Studios Lot in Burbank: a Royal Anniversary Ball for our D23 fans and then a Thank You celebration for our Disney Cast Members.

This monumental task required partnership with many different groups to put everything together, including D23, The Walt Disney Archives, HR Communications, and event agency Little Cinema. My role was to lead the graphic look and feel by creating a visual toolkit and ensuring the guidelines I created were followed for the events. I also art directed a series of 6 murals to commemorate Disney's 100-year history.

Thank You for 100 Years Toolkit

To paraphrase Walt Disney, this project was all started by a logo. I knew we had to lean into the legacy of the company as well as connect to the broader Disney100 campaign. This lead to a mark that used vintage typography harkening to Studio Lot building signage, which was housed in a frame that felt both 1920s and Disney. The accompanying elements brought a sense fun through stylized confetti and character silhouette diamonds, and the final toolkit provided a variety of assets including digital downloads, elevator wraps, digital signage, and a photo backdrop.

Disney100 Eras Artwork

Illustrator: Sam Carter

What started as an ask to create backdrops based on Disney history turned into custom-illustrated murals that honed in on specific moments that were significant to the company. With a ton of consultation from The Walt Disney Archives, I proposed 6 illustrated pieces that would touch on six "eras" of Disney: the 1920s, the 1930s–1940s, the 1950s–1970s, the 1980s, the 1990s–2000s, and the 2010s–2020s. I brought in illustrator and former Disney Cast Member Sam Carter to depict these eras in a style that was nostalgic, colorful, and flexible enough to fit multiple Disney-owned properties. The murals were installed as a part of the D23 Royal Anniversary Ball and the Thank You for 100 Years celebration, and they were posted to D23 and The Walt Disney Archives socials.

Media Coverage: D23.com / Creative Bloq / Yahoo

—Highlights from the 1920s include Steamboat Willie, The Alice Comedies, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, The Skeleton Dance, and the original Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio

—The 1930s–1940s Era includes Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia, the first Mickey Mouse comic strip, the Mickey Mouse watch, and the Burbank Studio Lot

—The 1950s–1970s features the origins of Disneyland and Walt Disney World, as well as the Mickey Mouse Club, Mary Poppins, and the 1964–65 New York World's Fair

—We were able to dedicate a whole piece to the 1980s, where we included EPCOT, Tokyo Disneyland, DuckTales, The Disney Channel, and Splash

—In the 1990s–2000s piece, we see classics from both Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar, Disney Theatrical Productions, the expansion of Parks to Paris and Hong Kong, Disney Cruise Line, and the networks ABC and ESPN

—Finally, the 2010s–2020s piece shows Shanghai Disneyland, characters from Star Wars and Marvel Studios, Free Solo from National Geographic, Avatar, and Walt Disney Animation Studios' Frozen and Wish

D23 Royal Anniversary Ball

On October 15, the eve of the 100th Anniversary of Disney, D23 members were cordially invited to the Studio Lot for an elegant gala that evoked classic films like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Sleeping Beauty. Our team partnered with Little Cinema to bring the ball to life with magical surprises aplenty. We transformed the Studio Lot by rolling out a royal purple carpet on Mickey Avenue, turning Legends Plaza into a chandelier-adorned ballroom, and curating florals, props, and graphics based on my initial toolkit. The logo and key art for this event was meant to parallel the "Thank You for 100 Years" campaign as the Cast Member event would take place the next day.

Thank You For 100 Years Event

Following the Royal Ball was an equally spectacular daytime event celebrating 100 Years of The Walt Disney Company at the Studio Lot on October 16. Cast Members and Employees were invited to partake in various festivities as a way to thank them for being a part of the magic.