The Star Wars logo is the stacked, all-caps wordmark used across the Star Wars franchise since the original 1977 film. It was created by graphic designer Suzy Rice, who was working at Seiniger Advertising when 20th Century Fox approached the agency about designing a logo for promotional materials for the film. Rice was sent to meet George Lucas, who had already rejected a number of logos. Lucas told her he wanted something “very fascist,” that would “be intimidating,” and that would “rival AT&T.” [1]
Design and History
Before Rice’s wordmark became standard, several earlier logo treatments existed. During pre-production, production illustrator Ralph McQuarrie created a triangular symbol featuring a lone figure before a red planet, which appeared on film cans, scripts and stationery. When the film’s title was shortened from “The Star Wars” to “Star Wars,” Lucasfilm’s Charles Lippincott commissioned a new logotype from Los Angeles designer John Van Hamersveld, which appeared on company stationery, production patches, a 1976 poster and promotional t-shirts worn at the 1976 San Diego Comic-Con. [2]
Title designer Dan Perri also created an early logotype consisting of block-capital letters filled with stars and skewed toward a vanishing point, designed to match the perspective of the film’s opening crawl. [3] That design was not the one that ultimately became the franchise standard.
Rice’s version was originally intended for a Fox brochure sent to theater owners. She based the letterforms on Helvetica Black, which she considered the most “fascist” typeface she could think of after reading a book on German type design the night before her meeting with Lucas. [4] She hand-drew the logo, stacking and squaring the words to fit the brochure cover. After Lucas remarked that it read like “Tar Wars,” Rice revised the leading and concluding “S” letters. [4]
The version used in the film itself was refined by Joe Johnston, an effects illustrator and designer at Industrial Light & Magic. According to Johnston, producer Gary Kurtz came to him one evening with Rice’s design and said the team needed the logo by the next morning to finish the film’s opening shot. Johnston told Kurtz he could not fix the logo but could redesign it entirely. He drew the stacked wordmark with a ruling pen and ruler, completing it overnight. [5] Johnston’s revision adjusted the “W,” widened the other letters and increased letter-spacing. [6]
Rice received no official credit in the film, as she was told the credits had already been created. Lucasfilm later acknowledged her contributions in the 2005 book The Star Wars Poster Book. [1]
Meaning and Symbolism
The logo’s design directive was explicitly tied to authority and intimidation. Lucas asked for something that would look “very fascist” and “be intimidating,” a request Rice fulfilled by drawing on German type design history. She chose Helvetica Black after reading about how Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels decreed that all Nazi Party signs would use a uniform font. The specific font Goebbels chose is not known, but it is said to have influenced Helvetica. [7]
Typography and Design
The Star Wars wordmark is based on Helvetica Black, modified with an outlined, all-caps treatment. Rice made several custom modifications, including joining the “S” and “T” in “STAR” and the “R” and “S” in “WARS,” flattening the “W” and extending the “R.” [8] The final film version, as drawn by Johnston, stacks the two words and uses the now-familiar blocky letterforms. [5]
The logo has remained essentially unchanged since 1977, appearing across sequel films, spin-offs, television series and merchandise. The opening crawl text that accompanies the logo in the films is set in Trade Gothic Bold, a separate typeface from the logo itself. [8]
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