Re: Speling Erors..and marketing stuff...

From: Ed Rudnicki <erudnick_at_pica.army.mil>
Date: Tue, 9 Apr 96 13:43:26 EDT

>Oh yeah, the stuff like those Leather Flight Jackets in that H-B "Style Guide"
>thing were almost without exception never made. Basically, the whole thing
>was created to show around the network of potential licensees in order to
>give them some idea of what they *could* get a license agreement to produce.
>The Jackets are *obviously* geared towards viewers considerably older
>than the 6-11's, so at least someone realized that the merchandise demand
>wouldn't stop at action-figures and bedspreads. They've got some pictures
>of the watch concepts in this thing, which is really the only thing I can think
>of that they actually went ahead with.

The purpose of the style guide is both to suggest possible product
ideas, and also to ensure that the merchandide actually produced
looks like the licensed characters depicted therein/on.


>The really funny thing about this whole book is the great detail that H-B
>goes into to ensure that the packaging and color scheme is just so - even
>down to the printing font used: "Vulcan Schriftena", created specifically
>for the Kats and their environment! In light of this, isn't it incredibly ironic
>that Razor's nose on Turner's own Home Video boxes is a clueless shade
>of white? I'd be embarrassed.

Most style guides are like this, and unique fonts are the rule
rather than the exception. This allows one to let the viewer/
consumer know which product they're looking at even without
pictures. It's also an important device for making the real thing
stand out from the imitations, though of course SWAT Kats
merchandise never got to that stage :(

Turner is not alone at all in putting out lousy video cover art. Far
from it, sadly :(





Ed

Received on Tue Apr 09 1996 - 14:20:15 PDT