Zeitgeist's The Spirit of the Time Episode 31: Don Carson

PASSENGER 30:  Veteran art director, designer and illustrator of physical and virtual worlds whose projects include Mickey's Toontown, Splash Mountain (WDW), San Francisco's annual Dickens Fair, and theme parks and attractions for Universal, THG, The Jim Henson Company, Herschend Family Entertainment, and Walkabout Mini Golf for Mighty Coconut, Don Carson. Few designers have the talent and skills to find success creating both theme parks and video games, but Don Carson easily transitions between physical and virtual; pen and stylus; concrete and pixels. Starting his career as a show set designer at Walt Disney Imagineering in the 1980s, Don soon traded the glamor of Hollywood for the backwoods of Oregon where he began freelancing for the major owner/operators and design firms in the location-based entertainment industry. Then he played the CD-ROM game "Myst" and discovered a whole new medium in which he could use all his storytelling techniques in an experience that could last for days! Join us as Don climbs aboard the time machine for a fascinating journey through his unique career of marrying the freedom of exploration found in video games with the design process used for creating physical environments!