Challenge to create a corporate logo identity for Walt Disney Imagineering developed from a letterform sculpture.

1. Andrew M. Nelson Redondo
Corporate Alphabet Sculpture

2. Thumbnail
Sketches
Keywords:
• Innovation
• Imagination
• Engineering
• Family-Oriented
• Story Telling

3. Thumbnail
Sketches

4. Refined
Sketches
3d prototype

5. Logo
Concepts
Defining New Keywords:
• Out-of-The-Box Thinking
• Pleasing
• Stands Out
• Shows What Job Is
• Play-On-Words
• Playful (Not Over The Top)
• Professional
• Innovative
• Gears Turning = Forming New Ideas

6. Color
exploration

7. Color
exploration

8. Typeface
exploration
Imagineering
Imagineering
Imagineering
Imagineering
Imagineering

9. Final Logo
Color +BW

10. Business
Card
Concepts

11. Final
Business
Card

12. Logo
Sculpture

13. Logo
Sculpture

14. Reflection
F
or this project I decided
to reimagine the
logo for Walt Disney
Imagineering, which is
the design and development arm
of The Walt Disney Company,
responsible for the creation and
construction of Disney theme
parks worldwide. The reason I
chose to redesign their logo was
because for 6 months of 2012
I interned at the Walt Disney
World Parks and Resorts and
was part of the opening team
for New Fantasyland at Magic
Kingdom.
During that time I observed
how they brought new ideas,
technology, and ways of
storytelling to the public
from the ground-up. In turn, I
came to admire the way they
worked as I saw the same kind
of connections and aesthetics
I try to incorporate into my
designs as well. In doing so, I’ve
grown to wanting to have the
opportunity one day to work
at this division of the Walt
Disney Company. Nonetheless,
though, I felt that the original
logo was beginning to become
outdated over the years and
didn’t truly reveal or invoke
what I believe they are about.
After looking over my time as
an employee; my first thoughts
went to these keywords initially:
Innovation, Engineering,
Imagination, Family-Oriented,
and Storytelling.
However, after doing numerous
concepts for the new logo and
research along the side. I came
across more revealing terms
that in the end helped create the
final look. The words or phrases
I came across were: out-of-the-
box thinking, professionalism
with a touch of playfulness, and
play-on-words. After discovering
these extra terms it became
evident that I was going to need
to be clever as well as innovative
with the overall design and
sculpture.
In regards to the sculpture, I
wanted different parts to float
or pretend to be suspended in
air so I knew I needed material
to be lightweight and strong
at the same time to be held to
each other by thin pieces of
metal wire. I will admit I almost
gave up in trying to levitate
my gears along a z-axis as to
provide depth and volume from
every angle. In the end by being
determined I was able to figure
out the proportions and weight
differentiations to pull off the
sculpture. My reasoning from
the get-go was originally for this
piece to be imagined as being
outside of the headquarters.
From this standpoint, I spent
a full weekend scoping the
Internet for images of the
Glendale headquarters in
California as well as the Orlando
Division until I eventually
spotted the building only by
recognizing the building number
sign as the same shape used for
employee name badges.
Overall, I genuinely enjoyed the
process behind this project as
I came to respect and admire
Imagineering. I was also inspired
by my drive to become more
innovative in my work outside
this project as I became more
in-tuned by my experiences
and this group’s ideals. In the
end, I feel this gives them a more
modern look for the years to
come. In addition, hope they will
one day see this design and see
the amount of work I did in my
process.