Commenters on the article remind us that the fine print at the bottom of the Disney chart says "Note: This Chart Designates Operations and Not Authorities." However, the article uses the different charts to suggest differences in the way designers and clients approach projects, not a difference between Disney's and most corporation's organizational structure.

Still, the fact that a company can even conceptualize its own company-wide organizational processes like this (let alone take the time to chart them visually) is credit to the company, no matter how traditionally hierarchical its actual authority structure is.

(Thanks, Andrew Hearst.)

I was so impressed with this video that I decided to break form and share it with you.

Check out more videos by Pogo here.

Truly one of my favorite illustrators. I really admire Blair's grasp of color.

Her palettes start with these natural, desaturated colors that she layers over with bright, decidedly unreal hues. Everything ends up being so well-balanced on the page. It gives her pieces this great blend of the mundane and the fantastic.

I think a lot of illustration today practically assaults the viewer. The linework is slick and often heavy; colors are too-bright against a minimal field. By contrast, Blair's is more contemplative-- there is restraint at work.

Most of all, I dig Blair's forms: that strong, yet fluid, "gestural geometry" I find so appealing in artists like Modigliani and Matisse and in contemporary illustrators like Bruce Timm. (I think it speaks to the architect in me.)

Cynics might dismiss her work as "cute", but Mary Blair was ahead of her time. Look at all the work today that is inspired by Disney animation --Pixar, for example. Blair's legacy is a part of that.

For more examples of Blair's work, check out these collections on Flickr and Drawn!.