These Products Are Made to Thrill!

We’ve had a lot of fun adding new and commemorative products to our online store. It gives you a chance to bring a bit of Cedar Point home during these winter months (and even during the summer ones if you’re unable to visit).

Over the years, we’ve had many requests for different types of new product to add to our gift shops and online. Today, one of those requests is being granted, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to share it with you today (full disclosure: I am a fanboy of this particular product).

Are your walls looking a little bare? Want to celebrate your favorite park? Hang your favorite coaster in your home office?

Enter all-new, one-of-a-kind poster art, designed exclusively for Cedar Point by Made to Thrill.

We could have sold standard photo posters, but why not go outside the box (or frame, in this case)? The result is beautiful retro and art deco-inspired artwork.

Can you guess which one’s my favorite?
 

So, what is Made to Thrill? I had a chance to catch up with Josh, the creative force behind these designs:

TC: What’s your design background?

J: "While my formal education was in film post-production and motion graphic design, the majority of my professional career has been spent as a user interface designer. That basically means I design things that help people understand, navigate, and interact with digital applications. For the past couple of years, I've been working in the automotive industry designing on-board displays and mobile companion applications to enhance the experience for drivers and passengers."

TC: When did you get into creating art for the amusement industry?

J: "I started creating work as 'Made to Thrill' in 2015 as an additional creative outlet for myself. It was born out of ambition to create art of my favorite coasters and attractions that I selfishly, just wanted for myself. It quickly turned into a sustainable hobby and despite growing production runs each year since, it still remains something I do just for fun."

TC: The designs are very retro/deco - why is this approach so special?

J: "My retro-futurism influences are rooted in early memories of family vacations to theme parks in the '80s and all of the in-park signage, collateral, and merch that went along with it. The aesthetic reconnects me to my nostalgia for that time and harkens back to travel posters of years past, while mixing it up with modern experiences. In other words, I just think it's pretty cool and reminds me of going to places with people I care about."

TC: What’s your favorite Cedar Point piece you’ve created out of this collection?

J: "I've gotta go with Magnum. All of my work as Made to Thrill is predicated upon the mantra, 'If you know, you know.' I felt this with Magnum. Outside of the logos, there aren't any visuals that inherently suggest roller coaster or theme park. If the viewer doesn't connect with the intended subject matter, the fallback is that it's a spaceship flying over an interplanetary structure of some kind. In turn, the artwork may appeal to a wider audience not limited to just coaster enthusiasts, but also fans of '80s sci-fi and space travel. And then there are people like me that'd fall into all of those buckets, which is probably why I dig it the most out of the set.

And it also happens to be my favorite coaster at Cedar Point not just for the airtime, but because of what it meant for the industry."

TC: What else should our fans know about you and Made to Thrill?

J: "While I never thought I'd become so well versed in supply chain management, shipping methods, and customer service, Made to Thrill has been a fun ride, no pun intended. 

Though with this collaboration with Cedar Point, I feel like Made to Thrill has come full circle. The niche style of artwork I most resonated with didn't exist in park gift shops. So I created them for myself. And now, the artwork I've created is available in park gift shops.

To be honest, I don't think that was my goal when I started out, but as a designer and long-time coaster enthusiast, it sure feels amazing to see that. I'm incredibly humbled to have a small part in Cedar Point's 150-year history and I hope fans of the park enjoy the art as much as I enjoyed creating it."

We’re so excited to have Josh’s design and vision within our family of differentiating product and I can’t wait to see what’s to come.

Want to get your hands on these creations? Beginning this Friday, January 29, you can pick up these two Cedar Point “skyline” art posters in our online store.

Then, the coaster collection will be available for sale exclusively to Winter Chill Out participants at the park on February 20, then will be released online February 24.

Collect them all and have a ball with a Cedar Point wall! (That was horrible rhyming and I’m sorry!)

Which one are you picking up first? Let me know below!