Colorforms is a creative
toy
A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment. Simple examples include toy blocks, board games, and dolls. Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed specifically for adults and p ...
named for the simple shapes and forms cut from colored vinyl sheeting that cling to a smooth backing surface without adhesives. These pieces are used to create picture graphics and designs, which can then be changed countless times by repositioning the removable color forms. The name also refers to the specific
registered trademark
A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a form of intellectual property that consists of a word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination that identifies a Good (economics and accounting), product or Service (economics), service f ...
brand these products are produced under, as well as the company that manufactures the toys, Colorforms Brand, LLC.
Sets initially featured basic geometric shapes and bright primary colors on black or white backgrounds. Eventually, however, the Colorforms line evolved to include full-color illustrated playsets, games and puzzles, interactive books and creative activity sets for children of all ages. The licensing of media properties related to contemporary
pop culture
Popular culture (also called pop culture or mass culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as popular art pop_art.html" ;"title="f. pop art">f. pop artor mass art, some ...
became integral to the product and company's success. Since its inception, more than a billion Colorforms playsets have been produced and sold.
Design
Colorforms are sheet-thin, die-cut
vinyl
Vinyl may refer to:
Chemistry
* Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer
* Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation
* Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry
* Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...
pieces in colorful geometric "forms" and abstract shapes (figurative or object), often with over-printed images that are to be attached to a smooth plastic-laminated
paperboard
Paperboard is a thick paper-based material. While there is no rigid differentiation between paper and paperboard, paperboard is generally thicker (usually over 0.30 mm, 0.012 in, or 12 Inch#Equivalents, points) than paper and has certain superior ...
background, much like placing
paper dolls against a paper backdrop. The pieces stick to the background without chemical or static
adhesion
Adhesion is the tendency of dissimilar particles or interface (matter), surfaces to cling to one another. (Cohesion (chemistry), Cohesion refers to the tendency of similar or identical particles and surfaces to cling to one another.)
The ...
, and in a secure but non-permanent manner when a
vacuum
A vacuum (: vacuums or vacua) is space devoid of matter. The word is derived from the Latin adjective (neuter ) meaning "vacant" or "void". An approximation to such vacuum is a region with a gaseous pressure much less than atmospheric pressur ...
is created between the two polished surfaces, holding the piece in place. The Colorforms vinyl pieces can then be repositioned on the board a virtually unlimited number of times to create new designs and scenarios. The sets aid in promoting creative expression, concentration skills, comprehension of spatial relationships, and manual dexterity in young children.
History
The Colorforms concept was developed by Harry and Patricia Kislevitz in 1951,
firmly rooted in the
Modernist
Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...
design ethos and reflecting the
Color Field abstract style prevalent at the time.
The basic concept behind Colorforms is the ability to adhere and reposition abstract and geometric color form shapes on random surfaces to create art. Both recent art students, the couple discovered the idea when they acquired several rolls of flexible paper-thin colored vinyl used to manufacture plastic pocketbooks and found that it would stick to the glossy paint in their bathroom and allow them to reposition it at will without affecting either surface. Simply cutting shapes out of the material and sticking them to the wall turned out to be amusing enough that they left extra vinyl with a pair of scissors for guests to add to their creations. The positive reactions they got to the project led Harry to believe there was market potential for such a product.
The original Colorforms sets were spiral-bound booklets hand-assembled by the husband-and-wife team in their New York City apartment. The first 1,000 sets were sold "
on concept" to the
FAO Schwarz
FAO Schwarz is an American toy brand and Toy store, retail chain. The company is known for its high-end toys, life-sized stuffed animals, Interactivity, interactive experiences, Product placement, brand integrations, and games.
FAO Schwarz clai ...
toy store.
Shallow boxed sets containing screen-printed, die-cut pieces, and illustrated backgrounds began appearing soon after. The company used the slogan "It's More Fun To Play The Colorforms Way!" in print ads and television commercials to promote their products. Prominent graphic designer
Paul Rand
Paul Rand (born Peretz Rosenbaum; August 15, 1914 – November 26, 1996) was an American art director and graphic designer. He was best known for his corporate logo designs, including the logos for IBM, United Parcel Service, UPS, Enron, Morni ...
was commissioned to create the company logo that remains in use today;
he also gave input for a "signature-edition" playset.
The company rarely employed an in-house creative staff, relying instead on the Kislevitz' own artistic direction provided to top freelance illustrators for layouts and finished work. Indeed, even the company's
creative director
A creative director is a person who makes high-level creative decisions; oversees the creation of creative assets such as advertisements, products, events, or logos; and directs and translates the creative people who produce the end results. Creat ...
from 1965 until 1986, toy designer and inventor
Mel Birnkrant was not a formal Colorforms employee, working instead for a
royalty
Royalty may refer to:
* the mystique/prestige bestowed upon monarchs
** one or more monarchs, such as kings, queens, emperors, empresses, princes, princesses, etc.
*** royal family, the immediate family of a king or queen-regnant, and sometimes h ...
percentage.
The defining feature of most Colorforms playsets is their signature plastic "Stick-Ons" that can be placed and repositioned on top of graphic backgrounds to create endless scenes and scenarios at a child's whim.
Company timeline
*1951 - Harry and Patricia Kislevitz experiment with new flexibly vinyl sheeting material to decorate their apartment by cutting out shapes and affixing them to smooth surfaces; they realize that this could be applied to an activity toy set, thus beginning the Colorforms concept.
*1957 -
Popeye
Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, Elzie Crisler Segar.[Shrinky Dinks
Shrink art, Shrinky Dinks, or Shrinkles is a toy and activity kit consisting of sheets of polystyrene which can be cut with standard household scissors. When heated, the cut shapes become about nine times thicker while their horizontal and verti ...](_blank)
kits; during its licensing period, Colorforms created and marketed more than 50 different Shrinky Dinks toy activity and creativity kits.
*1997 - Toy Biz acquires Colorforms.
*1998 -
University Games acquires Toy Biz.
*2000 - Colorforms listed among the Top 10 Toys of the Century by the Toy Industry of America (TIA).
*2011 - Colorforms named one of the Top 100 Toys of All Time by
''Time'' magazine.
*2014 - Out of the Blue Enterprises acquires Colorforms
*2018 -
9 Story Media Group acquires Out of the Blue Enterprises
Products
Original character sets focused on household themes such as Miss Weather, a girl whose wardrobe changed with the weather, and Miss Cookie's Kitchen, a woman with a variety of kitchen tools and utensils. Later sets relied on the use of licensed cartoon characters such as Mickey Mouse and Gumby. Colorforms products have expanded beyond the simple "paper doll" concept to more than 75 Colorforms toy products currently in distribution, with more added every year.
Licensed characters
The first Colorforms product to utilize a licensed character property featured
Popeye
Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, Elzie Crisler Segar.[King Features Syndicate
King Features Syndicate, Inc. is an American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product License, licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, columnist, newspape ...](_blank)
cartoon character, released as a boxed set in 1957. Since then, licensed products have remained critically important to the Colorforms marketing strategy, with hundreds of brands connected to Colorforms. Later Colorforms licensed various properties, producing sets supporting varied cartoons, TV series, movie releases, and popular musical artists, like
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...
, ''
Peanuts
''Peanuts'' (briefly subtitled ''featuring Good ol' Charlie Brown'') is a print syndication, syndicated daily strip, daily and Sunday strip, Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run ext ...
'', ''
Gumby
Gumby and Pokey figures
''Gumby'' is an American cartoon character and associated media franchise created by Art Clokey. He is a blocky green humanoid made of clay.
Gumby stars in two television series, '' Gumby: The Movie'', and other medi ...
'', ''
Tarzan
Tarzan (John Clayton, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, a feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer.
Creat ...
'', ''
The Three Stooges
The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short-subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical, farce, and slapstick comedy. Six total ...
'', ''
Doctor Dolittle'', ''
Star Trek
''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the Star Trek: The Original Series, series of the same name and became a worldwide Popular culture, pop-culture Cultural influence of ...
'',
Batman
Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...
and
Superman
Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...
(along with a whole pantheon of comic-book superheroes), and ''
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
''Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'' is a 1968 children's film, children's Musical film, musical fantasy film directed by Ken Hughes and produced by Albert R. Broccoli. It stars Dick Van Dyke, Sally Ann Howes, Lionel Jeffries, Gert Fröbe, Anna Quayle, ...
'',
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...
, ''
The Smurfs
''The Smurfs'' (; ) is a Belgian comic franchise centered on a fictional colony of small, blue, humanoid creatures who live in mushroom-shaped houses in the forest. ''The Smurfs'' was created and introduced as a series of comic characters by ...
'', and even ''
Steve Urkel''.
In a licensing twist, Colorforms developed their own character property,
Sugar & Spice to compete with
Strawberry Shortcake
Strawberry shortcake may refer to:
* Strawberry shortcake (dessert), a shortcake served with strawberries
* Strawberry Shortcake, a cartoon character and franchise created by American Greetings
** Strawberry Shortcake (TV series), ''Strawberry Sho ...
(1979) when master license holder,
Kenner Products
Kenner Products, known simply as Kenner, was an American toy brand owned by Hasbro. Kenner Products began as a toy company founded in 1946, going on to produce several highly recognizable toys and merchandise lines including action figures for t ...
would not allow wide usage of character rights throughout the toy industry. Colorforms turned around and sold their character concept to other companies that got shut out of the 'Shortcake' craze. Another property that Colorforms was never able to translate into their own form was the lucrative ''
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...
'' franchise, again because Kenner held the toy products master license very tightly. Similarly, Colorforms licensed the ''
Curley McDimple'' property from the
Off-Broadway
An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...
musical when
Shirley Temple Black, the actress whom the McDimple parody was based on, refused to license her likeness to them.
Other products
1968 saw an interesting diversion from the typical two-dimensional toy lines that Colorforms specialized in, when they released the Outer Space Men (a.k.a. Colorform Aliens) bendy
action figure
An action figure is a poseable character model figure made most commonly of plastic, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, military, video game, television program, or sport; fictional or historical. These figures are usually ...
s. This group of aliens, hailing from other planets in our
Solar System
The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sola ...
, were designed to tie into the popularity of
Mattel's Major Matt Mason astronaut line (1966); Colorforms nicely complemented the larger manufacturer's line due to Mattel's dearth of
alien adversaries. Colorforms also offered a respectable
"knockoff" of the
Silly Putty
Silly Putty is a toy containing silicone polymers that have unusual physical properties. It can flow like a liquid, bounce and can be stretched or broken depending on the amount of physical stress to which it is subjected. It contains viscoelas ...
concept—the pliable rubbery clay-like substance that picked up newspaper-ink images when pressed upon it, with Moon Putty and Monster Print Putty – the former packaged in a hard plastic moon container and the latter packed in a little plastic human skull for heightened "monster" effect.
The Colorforms company was the major licensee of the
Plasticine
Plasticine is a putty-like modelling material made from calcium salts, petroleum jelly and aliphatic acids. Though originally a brand name for the British version of the product, it is now applied generically in English as a product category ...
brand of modeling clay in the United States from 1979 until at least 1984; Plasticine is a non-drying putty-like modeling material made from a proprietary mix of chalk and
petroleum jelly
Petroleum jelly, petrolatum (), white petrolatum, soft paraffin, or multi-hydrocarbon, CAS number 8009-03-8, is a semi-solid mixture of hydrocarbons (with carbon numbers mainly higher than 25), originally promoted as a topical ointment for i ...
. This provided Colorforms with a viable competitor to
Kenner's
Play-Doh.
Colorforms acquired the rights to license and distribute
Shrinky Dinks
Shrink art, Shrinky Dinks, or Shrinkles is a toy and activity kit consisting of sheets of polystyrene which can be cut with standard household scissors. When heated, the cut shapes become about nine times thicker while their horizontal and verti ...
in 1981, and continued creating and promoting their products until the brand was sold to
Milton Bradley
Milton Bradley (November 8, 1836 – May 30, 1911) was an American business magnate, game pioneer and publisher, credited by many with launching the board game industry, with Milton Bradley Company, his eponymous enterprise, which was purchased ...
in 1988.
The company has also, at times, carried a wide range of children's board games, and both child-targeted and high-end jigsaw puzzles.
Ownership changes (1997–present)
In 1997, Colorforms was acquired by
Toy Biz.
A year later, Colorforms was sold off to
University Games Corporation. In September 2014, it became a new division of
Out of the Blue Enterprises, as Colorforms Brand, LLC. In January 2018, Toronto-based
9 Story Media Group acquired Out of the Blue, also inheriting Colorforms. In 2019, both companies teamed up with DHX Media to make Netflix's ''
Charlie's Colorforms City''.
References
External links
*Townsend, Allie (February 16, 2011)
"All-Time 100 Greatest Toys: Colorforms" ''
Time
Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
''.
{{Authority control
Art and craft toys
1950s toys
1970s toys
Toy brands
Toy companies of the United States
Products introduced in 1951
Scholastic Corporation