• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Origin of Starfleet logo?

Status
Not open for further replies.
I just always assumed it was the NASA logo. It's a short trip from a diagonal delta to the Starfleet emblem.
 
The logo for Humanism looks like the inverse of the Starfleet logo on each side (forming a human shape)

50px-Happyman.svg.png

Yes and actually the very first symbol for Humanism (designed by the American Humanist Association) was done in 1961. It looks more like the starfleet emblem (between the legs) than the modified versions in later years. As we all know, Roddenberry was a big Humanist, and one can argue that it is the philosophy that underpins all of Star Trek.

On that note, the Starfleet emblem is as much a philosophical statement than anything. Forever reaching upward, not simply meaning to the stars, mind you.
 
I just always assumed it was the NASA logo. It's a short trip from a diagonal delta to the Starfleet emblem.

I realize it's a bit of a retcon, but if you include Enterprise, the evolution becomes even more explicit:

starfleet%20logo%20evolution_zpsvyrpqig4.jpg


(* Note: I know the third one isn't an official logo from the show, but I couldn't find a good closeup of the TOS-era SF logo used on the side of the Enterprise. Full credit goes to "viperaviator" on DeviantArt.)
 
Why is anyone still trying to argue points?

Who's arguing? I thought I was agreeing. And as far as I can see, no one had specifically mentioned the UE Starfleet logo in the thread yet, and since it's even closer to the NASA logo than the TOS-era one, I thought it was salient. Didn't mean to offend.
 
Why is anyone still trying to argue points? Before the Federation Starfleet was United Earth Starfleet and before that was NASA!
If you didn't want to hear others' opinions on this, why are you contributing to the thread? Just write up an essay and post it to your blog or something.

The logo is obviously derived from the NASA Red Chevron and that symbolic meaning has already been explained .
To you, yes. To me & a few others, not so much. I've got a BFA in graphic design and I'm a graduate of the Kubert School, so I know what I'm talking about when it comes to design elements. I've already outlined why I think the arrow element is just as likely a coincidence as an intentional homage.

No offense. It's just that 2 pages of theory vs logic of spaceflight history and what Gene had to go off of in the '60s doesn't seem helpful.
Yes, but your supposition doesn't automatically mean that it's a fact. If you can dig up some quotes from Roddenberry, Matt Jefferies, or William Ware Theiss saying, "Oh, yes, we totally based the Starfleet arrowhead on the NASA symbol," then you have something. Until then, it's just your personal theory.
 
Man, I already told you that I agree with you that it was probably inspired by the NASA logo (possibly among other aerospace agencies and corporations), and that was my position from the start, but your absolute insistence on shutting down all other speculation and discussion is so annoying that I now want the answer to be something else just for shits and giggles.

I like to hear other people's ideas. I'm sure others do too. Stop being a killjoy.
 
Hmm... this from the guy who based his first faulty assumption (key word) on a non-canonical ST novel based on warp tech?
:wtf: When the hell did I say that was my assumption? I said it was an idea that I liked in a book that I enjoyed. Not the same thing. You're the one trying to work out an entire design history for a fictional symbol, not me.
 
Man, I already told you that I agree with you that it was probably inspired by the NASA logo (possibly among other aerospace agencies and corporations), and that was my position from the start, but your absolute insistence on shutting down all other speculation and discussion is so annoying that I now want the answer to be something else just for shits and giggles.

I like to hear other people's ideas. I'm sure others do too. Stop being a killjoy.

Sorry Mod, but I cited. I didn't speculate and all NASA info IS relevant to Gene Roddenberry and his ST concepts of the 1960s when TOS appeared.

Chronology will always reveal who was right in the end. Both the NASA Chevron's and Arrowheads are equal in meaning- moving ahead in progress. Specifically per ST= spaceflight . The final frontier as such.

And I accurately connected NASA to UES then FS. How am I wrong?

Every Trekker purist I've ever met agrees.

No one buys the non-canonical ST book ref to Cochrane's warp tech explanation which is chronologically further along.
 
Last edited:
Nobody's right or wrong in a thing like this, unless there's an indisputable primary source involved...and even then, people can question the source. It's all just speculation, however well informed.
 
Every Trekker purist I've every met agrees.
"I agree with me, and if you were me, you would, too."

No one buys the non-canonical ST book ref to Cochrane's warp tech explanation which is chronologically further along.
For crying out loud, I was talking about an in-universe explanation that I thought was a neat bit of speculation. How are you not getting this?
 
Last edited:
The logo is obviously derived from the NASA Red Chevron
If you want to consider purely "inuniverse," it looks more like the current Chinese national space agency symbol than the American. Maybe that's where it (inuniverse) came from?
 
I know it's an old thread but old is good....

origin of star trek logo..... just watched 1956 film "Mole People".... great old scifi.

The film uses the sign of "ishcar" as their god.... the sign is unmistakably the star trek logo and represents all law and all salvation.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top