Even in more serious themed environments such as Halloween-themed amusement parks, things might be darker and drearier, but the color is leveraged artistically to trick your brain into feeling like you’ve just stepped out of reality and into the theme of the park.

This requires an extensive understanding of art and how the human mind interacts with color to be done correctly.

A professional doesn’t just choose colors that seem like they match the theme. They choose colors that elicit emotion, encourage certain behaviors such as spending more money or being more stressed or relaxed, and of course, make sense within the overall theme itself.

Color is worked into every aspect of the park, as well. From the way buildings and features are painted, to the exact color of costumes and staff attire.

3: Using Space and Placement Effectively

This is an aspect of amusement park creation that involves both technical prowess and art skills.

From an artistic perspective, the way everything is laid out needs to create an experience.

There needs to be an initial experience that draws guests in, and the layout should push each guest through an overall “story” where they experience an increasingly more exciting activity with each feature before reaching the main attraction or group of attractions for a killer climax.

Think about when you go to a certain famous mouse’s amusement park and first enter.

You see a massive landscape before you that makes you want to explore it all, you move into smaller attractions and commercial opportunities, and right in the middle, you have the most exciting rides highlighted by a famous castle from everyone’s childhood.

That’s the art of themed environment design.

From a functional point of view, the artist must consider how many people are predicted to be in the park at once, and how necessary features such as bathrooms and eateries will be implemented in a way that is convenient and boosts the financial success of the park.

The artist must also consider how walkways will work whether they’ll be convenient for guests, and whether or not their designs will reasonably accommodate guests with limitations.

Another functional aspect to consider is how the land is being used. The amusement park can’t be cramped, or it becomes inconvenient on busy days and might even be a safety issue.

It also can’t be too spread out, or it can drag the experience with long walks between features and lots of empty, boring, space. You also don’t want to buy plenty of land just for half of it to be left empty.

It’s not enough for one side of this to take precedence over the other, either. Without plenty of artistic creativity, the park will be boring or provide a lackluster experience. Without any concern for function, it can turn guests off or exclude would-be guests entirely.

Striking the right balance is crucial for creating a successful amusement park.

4: Lighting

Lighting is often a subtle part of theme parks, but it has a massive impact on the sense of immersion that guests develop while at the park.

Lighting isn’t just there to ensure guests can see everything in the park. It’s also there to change a guest’s mood depending on what a certain feature is meant to achieve, highlight key features and make them stand out from their surroundings, and generally draw the attention of the guest to whatever they’re supposed to be engaging with.

This can be a difficult thing to get right, but a professional theme park designer works extensively with lighting to create the right effect.

5: Sound

Finally, sound is another part of the artistic vision of the park. Like lighting, it’s often subtle, but it can have a profound impact on guests.