Children's Products
Disney x CAMP
Overview
As a part of Friends of, I led the design and manufacturing of multiple objects that would be featured in the first-ever CAMP + Disney experience, "Disney's Mickey & Friends X CAMP: An Extra Big Adventure." CAMP + Disney experience; Disney’s Mickey & Friends X CAMP: An Extra Big Adventure.
Introduction
Mickey throws a birthday bash for all the campers at CAMP, and Goofy is stoked to take a group photo of everyone. But as he snaps the camera, Mickey and his pals vanish into thin air! Frantically searching for clues, the counselor stumbles upon an empty bag labeled SHRINK RAY and asks Goofy if he grabbed the camera from there. That's when they realize the awful truth: Goofy didn't take a pic, he actually shrunk Mickey! With nerves rattled, Goofy fumbles with the shrink ray, causing microchips to fly everywhere and shrinking the campers. Thankfully, the counselor finds a transponder in the bag that links her up with Gyro Gearloose, who's an expert at fixing the shrink ray and bringing everyone back to their normal size.
Inspiration
Shrink Ray
The shrink ray would make three appearances during the event - first as an animated prop in Goofy's hands, then as a room that campers would walk through, and finally, as a life-size model on the party table at the end of the experience.
To kick off the project, I began by sketching out various details and components of Gyro Gearloose's world. By incorporating this visual language into the design, I would be able to seamlessly integrate it into the overall experience and make it feel like a natural part of their world.
Initial Concepts
Final Design
Transponders
During the experience, the counselor would carry transponders that not only allowed her to communicate with Gyro but also served as a tool for locating the scattered microchips.
To make it more engaging for kids, we included a "happiness meter" on the transponder, which would increase as they made more noise, reinforcing the idea that their fun directly contributed to the success of the mission. As a result, we incorporated two buttons on the transponder - one to activate and reset it, and another to slowly increase the meter.
These requirements and the design of the shrink ray informed the design of the transponder, as both needed to share a common visual language.
Initial Concepts
Final Design
Backpack and Microchips
We were tasked with creating a shrink ray bag that the counselor would wear throughout the experience to collect and transport the microchips to the end, where the kids would use them to complete the circuit and fix the shrink ray. To ensure that the bag was practical, it had to be spacious enough to hold the microchips and easily accessible for kids to place the chips inside. Additionally, the bag needed to have a way for the transponder to attach to it and for the counselor to quickly grab the transponder when necessary.
In addition to the bag, we were also responsible for designing the microchips that the kids would collect. To ensure safety, we decided to make them out of EVA foam as they would be falling from the ceiling at certain points in the experience. The microchips also had a metal disk on the inside, allowing kids to stick them onto the wall of the gigantic shrink ray to complete the circuit and fix it.
