The Polaroid Pronto! line of cameras and accessories

Click on image to enlarge. These are the packages for a whole new line of cameras that made their appearance in 1976 called Pronto! The marketing was a repeat of what Stan Calderwood had done with the less expensive one-piece plastic Colorpacks that sold for a lot less than the folding Color Packs. Pronto!s were a down-market molded plastic version of the already successful SX-70, but with a name that could be remembered throughout the world. The product identity design still says SX-70 but with a twist. As an inexpensive product that would probably be stacked in large outlets, I strove for a design that would create a strong and unique image.

By this time I had invested in precise typesetting equipment made by Berthold. The output from a glass disk was so sharp that a character could be enlarged up to a meter or more without soft edges. To enhance this capability I installed a Dupont Cromalin proofing system that allowed me to make perfect dummies of items such as the Pronto! kit shown here. This photo was made from the dummy shown below that, once approved by Polaroid, could be used for sales promotional collateral material allowing much more lead time than the conventional method of waiting for press proofs and shooting them.

Click on image to enlarge. This is the dummy made from Cromalin proofs produced from extremely sharp film positives that I had assembled on a light table in the way negatives are stripped up to make offset plates. I had also used 3M Color-Keys but they could not be used for dummy construction, nor could they approximate the real thing when photographed. The dummy is sitting on top of a conventional ready-for-camera mechanical from which the box printer made his plates.