| Designing Disney |  | Author: John Hench
Publisher: Disney Editions
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
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Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 76,670
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 John’s great discoveries and documents his groundbreaking in several key areas: “Design Philosophy” examines the values, attitudes, aesthetics, and logic that went into the original concepts for Disney theme parks. In “The Art of the Show” and “The Art of Color,” Hench reveals the essence of what makes the parks work so well. And in “The Art of Character,” he lets the reader in on the how and why of the Disney characters’ inherent popularity—their 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
 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.
A good introduction June 12, 2009
E. Johnson (Kansas, USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is a beautiful little introduction to the way Disney creates appealing designs. It's not an in-depth text, but that's not what it claims to be. Instead, the author gives a nicely structured overview of the various facets of design used to make Disney's parks and attractions more appealing.
I read it because they are masters at what they do -- look at the crowds that keep coming back -- and it's important to me, as a programmer, to have at least a clue of what works. It was well worth my time.
Even if it hadn't been useful in my eyes, this was an appealing book and I enjoyed the time I spent reading it. What more could I ask for?
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.
 Designing Disney by John Hench January 12, 2009
D. Mahdik (San Jose, CA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I took a few minutes to read all the reviews of this book first, and I must agree with the previous reviewers. They were all spot on about this book.
My company is in the theme park design business so we naturally gravitate towards any Disney related books that we can learn from, and speaking from that "point of view"... anyone interested in "details" about how Disney thinks and works (How their designs happen) should certainly add this one to their library.
As time goes on the 'greats' who created the Disney magic are leaving us one by one, and from what we (at Denny Magic Studios) observe in the theme park business...Other parks are really not paying enough attention to what these old timers did, and what they had to say... So in our humble opinion, we think that the existence of these written "words of wisdom" are really important jewels that should be studied and put to work well into the future.
Right now in 2009 we are all in this "rough" economy, but things WILL improve soon and pundits have said that we are moving from an industrial society to a creative society, and creativity needs to be fed with a healthy dose of entertainment. Fellows like John Hench had the right ideas, and those ideas and techniques are even more important to preserve, and put to good use... today, more than ever before.
Of the Disney books out there, this is the best. August 8, 2008
Chris Donovan (North of Boston MA USA)
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
A bit lacking in the real nuts and bolts, but this is clearly a well done overview into the minds of some of the best Disney has to offer. Easy to read, and also a pleasure to read, left me wishing that disney appoints some one to really pick John's mind in case he leaves us some day, now that would be a tragedy, if we loose 1/2 of what this man has learned over a delightful lifetime of serving his customers and guests. Reading this brought me back to the B/W days of TV waiting for Walt, but Walt couldn't have ackomplished anything if it wasn't for the love of the work these people do, and have for the work they love to do.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 13
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