Star Wars freaks and typography nerds should really check out this excellent post over on the Tenth Letter of the Alphabet blog, all about the evolution of the Star Wars logo, from the very beginning to one we see today, complete with loads of hi-rez scans of many of the different versions and some of the great Ralph McQuarrie’s concept art.
The film, Star Wars, premiered on May 25, 1977. Today, on its 36th anniversary, I’m examining the evolution of the film’s logo. During the film’s pre-production, a decal was produced. In the first Official Star Wars Fan Club newsletter, reprinted in the Star Wars Scrapbook (Chronicle Books, 1991), there was an explanation about the decal by Ralph McQuarrie, who did the art:
…”It was done as a symbol for the film—to go on film cans and letters. George [Lucas] had had one for American Graffiti, and wanted one for Star Wars.”
…”It was done while we were working on costumes,” said McQuarrie. “This was how we first pictured Han Solo. It could be a sort of Luke character, but I think it’s more like Han. Anyway, George decided that Han Solo should be a more relaxed character, and his costume was changed. But this decal was designed before the change.”
via Tenth Letter of the Alphabet: Anatomy of a Logo: Star Wars
