THANKS to Lauren O’Grady via Twitter for this tip-off about the creative use of familiar favourites in new context – to sell a message. An image from the promotion of the Star Wars Weekends at Disney, Florida. What this got to do with ‘teachers’ – plenty.
Star Was fanbois aside, this image I thought was the strongest amongst the set. The representation of wonderment that kids display at airports gazing out the obligatory giant windows, is one of those ‘moments’ everyone remembers. Add to this the use of a familiar, but out of content image – and the art director has captured the essence of the message ‘revisit wonder and introduce new wonder’. You want to get on that Fighter!How long did this ad take to make – decades. Conceptually drawn from experience – both intellectual and emotional flows along side the art directors understanding of empathy with the audience. I wonder how damaged the craft has become in the race to capture diminished returns of the once all conquering ‘Ad-men’.
This ad message makes you want that ‘feeling’. It appeals to you in ways the words could never do. It takes the past and recycles it for both a new purpose and to re-ignite interest in adults. This image to me, represents what can be archived, when we creatively use ‘old ideas’ in ways that apply to ‘new ideas’. Great art direction is timeless. yet seems out of fashion in the brawl to ‘be noticed’. Mixed quality, mixed messages, mixed returns in an ever shifting landscape has cause siesmic shifts in required repertoire and understanding of art directors. But a great idea always sells a great idea.
But if all you see in this is Star Wars, then I’ve lost you.
These posters are NOT even seen by the public – they have been designed to be shown ‘internally’ at Disney and the Park – to raise internal emotional interest and motivation in what will probably be ‘more work’ for staff. That is what makes them really clever.
How do we do this in education? What are the icons and capstones of our past, that we can use to enthuse the future? – Do we even want it?
Playable 
Perhaps creatively using ‘old ideas’ in ways that apply to ‘new ideas’ is a key skill of an effective teacher…
I like the idea of airport in this image as it creates a sense of awe and also of an impending journey or adventure… Which got me thinking that perhaps this metaphor of the sense of transition and journey is one we can apply directly to learning… where teachers are the expert tour guides who gently share with learners a new world of adventure… and while they may not always know the destination (as it is shared with the learner), teachers understand the process of exploring, traveling and finding out the local details…
Although in many ways the student is the gateway for the teacher’s learning and exploration of new worlds as well…
hmmmm…