Animated Memories

In 1982 one of my favorite animated movies of all time was released, "The Secret of Nimh". A close friend of our family and the man I would come to know as Santa Claus bought me this shirt. That's a story I'll go into later.

If you can't tell, it's "Dragon" the cat from the Secret of Nimh. This shirt and I were inseparable. Everything about this shirt made me feel special. It was cool, it was hip and it made me feel like I was an important kid at school.

This is my first clear memory of a graphic design inspiring something in me. Everything about this design was epic. The beautiful still image from the movie, the custom font for Dragon in the awesome gradient, and of course the movie title font. The logo graphic that I remember so clearly burning its way onto the movie screen. I was awe-inspired by the visuals and wanted anything that had to do with the movie. Somewhere in the world, a team of artists had inspired the imagination of a little boy to learn to draw and create things that other people would want to add to their lives.

Little did I know at the time, the raw power of graphic design and the part it plays in our human lives or the part that it would later play in my life. All I knew was that something awakened in me when I saw that movie and it never died.