Star Wars is one of the world’s most popular entertainment franchises, which was introduced in 1977. Today the franchise, founded by George Lucas, has evolved in many directions, including books and magazines, movies and tv series, and video and table games.
The iconic Star Wars logo, introduced in 1977 is the third version, created for the famous franchise throughout its history. The first two emblems though were almost not used, as the version of 1976 was for the Star Wars ore-release, and the one, designed in 1977 could only be seen on some early posters and printables.
What is Star Wars?
Star Wars is a media franchise, created by George Lucas at the end of the 1970s. The most famous part of the franchise is the film, and by today 10 Star Wars movies have seen the light. Apart from that, the franchise has its thematic attractions park, a label of toys, video games, and printed publications in various formats.
The logo of the Star Wars franchise from 1976, was designed by Ralph McQuarrie and featured a black logotype, placed on a white background. The inscription featured a custom sans-serif typeface with smooth lines, some of which were inclined to the center. The emblem looked stylish and modern, though too soft and elegant for the plot and mood of the franchise.
With the redesign of 1977, the emblem gained two levels, with extra-bold lettering placed one above another and narrowing to the top. It was a powerful and memorable badge with a very strong and masculine character, where the thick black lines had softened angles and straight cuts of the edges.
Later in 1977, the iconic Star Wars logo was introduced. And it came to stay. The white sans-serif inscription in wide smooth lines was outlined in black and had the tails of the “R” and both “S” elongated to the sides. This futuristic emblem became recognizable just in one second and today none of the franchise’s producers can be imagined without this monochrome logotype.
The Star Wars symbol covered movies (the original trilogy, prequels, sequels, etc.), as well as other visualizations ranging from TV series to computer games. What designers call the Lucas’s Universe retains all signature colors – black (stands for abyss, space, and countless worlds), and red (stands for battle, blood, struggle, and victory).
Once the saga’s cinematographic and mythical value became topped with a tremendous cultural significance, the Star Wars logo was a must for a demonstration of each and every related product – a cartoon or a miniseries. Finally, after the saga’s acquisition by the Disney Studio, the project expanded beyond the American continent. The symbol unified fans into numerous fan clubs and they would happily contribute to fanciful remakes of all types. Besides, first episodes would inevitably hit peak movie chart positions, both in popular and professional segments.
What was even more wonderful was not just the audience’s delight, but also some top critic’s reaction to the product. Experts were pleased to detect responses to challenges thrown by Akiro Kurosava, a famous Japanese film director, and compositional solutions that equaled Sergey Eisenstein. Besides, there were numerous flashbacks to Edgar Barrows, Edward Smith, Frank Herbert, etc. throughout the epic, which book and movie critics noted. All Mr. Lucas wanted to do was create a kind of fantasy world, whose special effects would have covered same old human weaknesses, vices, choices. It would be that same old battle between the Good and the Bad, which would turn out to be more controversial and come down to choosing the lesser of two evils…
Eventually, the Star Wars emblem symbolized a stunning success for the 20th Century Fox, which was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. And for the director, who became a legend overnight. And for the new fantasy world, which was in for years of evolution and numerous media incarnations.
The second movie – the Empire Strikes Back – was directed by Irvin Kershner, the third one – the Return of the Jedi – by Richard Marquand. However, millions of fans still bestowed the creator’s role on George Lucas. All the more so, because he turned out to be a true marketing genius. After the release of the first movie and the outbreak of interest toward the saga, he initiated production of consumer goods featuring the movie’s symbols and logos – T-shirts, toys, and computer games based on the plot. Millions of fans, inspired by the new characters, endowed brand owners with revenues, which exceeded shooting and distribution costs by times. Lucasfilm spent decades monetizing the audience’s interest in the new world by licensing the production of numerous items branded as Star Wars (later, the brand was acquired by Disney).
You don’t have to be obsessed with Star Wars and watch the movie a thousand times to notice the symbol of the Empire. The Star Wars Empire logo appears on uniforms of quite a few characters and also can be seen on flags, starships, and propaganda posters. The emblem allows you to tell which organization the character belongs to, which is very similar to the way emblems are used in our world.
The Galactic Empire’s emblem was chosen by Sheev Palpatine when he established the First Galactic Empire. The logo was supposedly based on the eight-spoked symbol, which was used by the Galactic Republic during the Clone Wars.
The latest version of the Star Wars Empire logo was a six-spoked roundel. The white element in its center resembled a stylized depiction of the sun, while the black part of the emblem looked very much like a wheel of a cart or carriage.
What about the real origin of the crest? The design was developed by John Mollo, who is more known as the person who created costumes for Star Wars: Episodes IV and V. According to Mollo, when working at the six-spoked Empire crest, he was inspired by shapes used in 18th-century fortifications. At least, this is what he told in an interview to Star Wars Insider magazine.
One of the most known emblems from Star Wars, the Star Wars Resistance logo can also be referred to as the Rebel Alliance Starbird (or just Starbird) and the Alliance crest, as well as other names. The reason why one symbol has more than one name is pretty simple: it was used by two different organizations.
Initially, the Starbird was used by the Rebel Alliance (also known as the Alliance to Restore the Republic). In the original trilogy, the Alliance was created by Bail Organa and Mon Mothma to fight against the Galactic Empire. The First Rebellion was based on an older and less organized movement secretly led by Organa.
The crest could be clearly seen on the flight helmets of the Rebel X-wing pilots. According to some researchers, the shape of the emblem could have been inspired by a graffiti left behind by a Mandalorian weapons expert and artist Sabine Wren in Star Wars Rebels. The original graffiti showcased the legendary bird phoenix. The phoenix/Starbird graffiti depicted the creature going up in the air, with its wings spread wide and its head facing to the right.
Thirty years later, Leia Organa created the Resistance, her own military organization to fight the First Order. As the Resistance was inspired by the Rebel Alliance, it was only natural that the new army force borrowed the emblem of its predecessor.
The Star Wars Resistance logo adorned helmets of quite a few starfighter pilots, including Poe Dameron.
The Stars Wars logo wasn’t made up out of an existing font but drawn from scratch specifically for the project. What catches your eye is probably the way the “S” merges seamlessly with the “T” in the first line and the “R” in the second line. This feature creates a visual “rhyme” linking the two lines of the logo.
Later, in 1998-1999, the Italian designer Davide Canavero (also known as Boba Fonts) created a whole font family inspired by the movie. In addition to the letters taken from the Star Wars wordmark unchanged, Canavero developed a full typeface in the same style and called it Star Jedi. So, basically, that’s the most widely used Stars Wars font as it is the closest to the original. There’re also several other types in the family, each of them being a modification of the original one.
For instance, the type named Star Jedi Outline comprises letters framed with a thin outline, while the typeface named Star Jedi Logo allows for single or double lines of text. Another type from this family is Star Jedi Special Edition, which is based on the font featured on the emblem of the official Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition.
In addition to the Star Jedi family, you can also find other typefaces inspired by the series. For instance, the Death Star type, which was created by a designer nicknamed Sharkshock. The typeface has tight kerning and is best displayed at large sizes.