Origin of Starfleet logo?

[SharkD]

I was working on some Wikipedia articles when it occurred to me that the Starfleet logo looks kind of like this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CIE1931xy_blank.svg

except with the non-spectral purple hues (a triangular chunk out of the bottom) removed. e.g.

Does anyone know the history of the Starfleet logo?

 

[C.E. Evans]

I think original costume designer William Theiss just randomly chose an arrowhead shape, something that represented flight.

 

[B.J.]

I've asked this question before in the Art subforum, with no real definitive answer.

I think original costume designer William Theiss just randomly chose an arrowhead shape, something that represented flight.

This is the most likely answer. Many different organizations around the world use a variation on the chevron to represent flight. Various USAF Space organizations, the Russian and Chinese space agencies....

Seriously, it's derived from the NASA logo.

....and NASA.

 

[Thot Tnak]

I've asked this question before in the Art subforum, with no real definitive answer.


This is the most likely answer. Many different organizations around the world use a variation on the chevron to represent flight. Various USAF Space organizations, the Russian and Chinese space agencies....

....and NASA.

The Arrowhead symbol itself means progress as in moving forward (in flight)

 

[JonnyQuest037]

A non-canonical ST book claims it has do with warp technology, but is chronologically in error...

Do you mean Federation, by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens? I remember that sequence, and I thought it was a clever bit of extrapolation.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I'm not following your train of thought here. How does that explanation for the Starfleet emblem not fit the "Space, the Final Frontier" opening?

 

[Thot Tnak]

I'm not following your train of thought here. How does that explanation for the Starfleet emblem not fit the "Space, the Final Frontier" opening?

Man was already in Space before warp technology and NASA preceded Starfleet with its arrow logo ...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NASA_logo.svg

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Man was already in Space before warp technology and NASA preceded Starfleet with its arrow logo ...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NASA_logo.svg

Oh, you mean the arrow that doesn't look very much like the Starfleet emblem, outside of it being pointed?

It's horizontally-oriented rather than vertical.
It has a waver to it that is absent in the Starfleet emblem.
It's red rather than the metallic color of the Starfleet emblem.
It has a round background of a different color, unlike the TOS version.
It's much skinnier.
And it's intertwined around the name of the organization.

Why, it's like they're identical!

 

[Thot Tnak]

Oh, you mean the arrow that doesn't look very much like the Starfleet emblem, outside of it being pointed?

It's horizontally-oriented rather than vertical.
It has a waver to it that is absent in the Starfleet emblem.
It's red rather than the metallic color of the Starfleet emblem.
It has a round background of a different color, unlike the TOS version.
It's much skinnier.
And it's intertwined around the name of the organization.

Why, it's like they're identical!

Well, you're entitled to your opinion as am I.

Btw, take a look at the Starfleet circular patches of TOS. They too are quite similar to NASA patches...

 

[arch101]

Doesn't the Starfleet symbol kinda resemble the badge of the Galactic empire in Asimov's Foundation books a bit? Always thought so.

 

[Nebusj]

Doesn't the Starfleet symbol kinda resemble the badge of the Galactic empire in Asimov's Foundation books a bit? Always thought so.

The logo whose entire description is ``sun and spaceship''?

 

[NCC-1701-B]

The delta design was pretty popular in the 60s anyway, it was used all over the place.

 

[SharkD]

Okay, I just did an image search for the Starfleet logo. I must have misremembered, because none of the hits look like I thought they did.

 

[Thot Tnak]

Well, you're entitled to your opinion as am I.

Btw, take a look at the Starfleet circular patches of TOS. They too are quite similar to NASA patches...

http://www.moonrising-themovie.com/images/vectors2.png

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Most aerospace agencies and many private aerospace companies around the world have used some variation on the delta pointed skyward and/or the star, which looks both like a star and like the arrow of a compass rose, a historical symbol of exploration. The logo for Humanism looks like the inverse of the Starfleet logo on each side (forming a human shape), and the Vulcan IDIC logo also has the arrow pointed at the stars, but in this case also representing Mt. Seleya.

(click to enlarge)

 

[Thot Tnak]

Most aerospace agencies and many private aerospace companies around the world have used some variation on the delta pointed skyward and/or the star, which looks both like a star and like the arrow of a compass rose, a historical symbol of exploration. The logo for Humanism looks like the inverse of the Starfleet logo on each side (forming a human shape), and the Vulcan IDIC logo also has the arrow pointed at the stars, but in this case also representing Mt. Seleya.

(click to enlarge)

The NASA red Chevron in all its incarnations is the basis for the ST logo.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

The NASA red Chevron in all its incarnations is the basis for the ST logo.

Uhh, yeah, I know that, which is why I included the NASA logo. I was trying to combine both real world inspirations and possible in-universe inspirations for the logo.

 

[Silvercrest]

I thought it was inspired by Chronowerx?

 

[Timo]

The logo whose entire description is ``sun and spaceship''?

...I always visualized the classic LEGO Space logo there, with the spaceship going around the sun drawing a line behind. But a phallic diagonally placed ship eclipsing the sun is probably what Asimov had in mind, thus a good match for the TNG thing.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[ZapBrannigan]

As a boy, I loved the Motorola "M" logo because it looked like two mirrored Starfleet emblems. And of course, they were a technology company, which was better than if it were a sewing shop or something.