MinaLima unveils new designs for Harry Potter theme park
UK consultancy MinaLima has created new designs for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Florida’s Universal Studios Orlando.
MinaLima, which has designed the graphics for all eight films in the Harry Potter series, created the graphics for the new Diagon Alley area of the theme park, which is now open.
This includes street graphics, store interior graphics and shop window displays.
MinaLima co-founder Miraphora Mina says says that the graphics are intentionally typography-heavy, either taking fonts from archive materials or designing them in-house for specific applications.
She says, ‘The design direction was to fill every available surface with graphics, and the striking yet faded “ghost graphics” were to be suggestive of a history of the place’.
Universal Studio’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter opened in 2010, with the Diagon Alley addition this year looking to create a larger area for visitors to explore recreations of scenes from the films, including functioning retail spaces.
Eduardo Lima, MinaLima co-founder, says, ‘Our task was to help tell the story (the revelation of a wizarding world hidden behind a “Muggle” London facade) by virtue of graphic pointers.
‘Key to creating this “world” was trying to give individual personality to each shop or advertisement, and yet allowing them to all sit harmoniously as a unique, extraordinary environment.’
As well as creating pieces that reference key visual icons from the films, designs specific to the theme part were also created, such as the Elf Employment Agency and Hopping Pot Buildings, both of which are totally new conceptions.
Mina adds, ‘We needed to keep the aesthetic light hearted, and of course quintessentially British.’
I visited last week. They have done an absolutely amazing job; the experience is all-encompassing and immerse. Brilliant work by everyone involved.