Yesterday, I was watching DS9's Second Skin, in which Kira is used in a plot to implicate Legate Ghemor. Most of this episode is set in a Cardassian home. Then I had a side thought of how they had to design a lot of stuff (such as the windows, mirrors, chairs, etc), just to make the home look "distinctively Cardassian" (whatever that means). (Of course the same is true for DS9 but I see that in every episode so I got used to that). Usually we just see the ships that a species uses, but in some cases we also see more: homes, how public buildings on their home planet look like,etc. I was wondering, all taken together, which species in Trek generally do you think has the best looking design aesthetic (or if you want to go for a different angle: the design aesthetic that probably would work best for that race), and why ? There's something about the Cardassian design style I like, but overall I think I still favour Starfleet/human design. Klingon design is too dark and "agressive" for me (not even to mention all red lights and the smoke), and what I have seen of Romulan designs is too drab for me (grey and green), though I do like how their ships look from the outside ...
Which Starfleet design? The more muted tones of the 24th century or the more vibrant tones of the 23rd century, or the colder metallic tones of the 22nd century? Now in the case of the Cardassian style for me the grey needs to be a several shades lighter but some might prefer the darker grey.
I was thinking of the 24th century designs. My opening post by the way wasn't meant to focus exclusively on colour schemes but also on other design aspects, such as the shape of doors, tables, etc.
There's an awful lot of species for which all we have to go off of is ship design - they haven't shown much of, for instance, Romulan civilian design. I suspect they would be my answer, though, if their ships are any indication - them, and the humans. Of course, from a meta perspective, the answer is going to be the humans, anyway. Because we designed the rest.
It's impossible to not like one Starfleet design or another above the rest, because they are designed to be the most homey for our tastes, but honestly? I kind of like the subdued earthy tones & look of Ferengi designs
I always thought species 8472 had the most unique, utterly alien design - in the sense of creativity and not just another humanoid species.
I love the design of DS9, it was just so utterly different to what we'd had before. Those Cardassians were often a horrible lot, but at least they looked good whilst they did it. I agree with the Borg as well, I love the way the alcoves seem to go on forever inside the cubes, and they can look quite scary. under the right storytelling circumstances.
The Borg, but only the First Contact, Season 4 of Voyager-onward look. I like that instead of the pasty white look of TNG, they actually made an effort and had Klingon Borg, Borg with moving parts, fiber optics, etc. It made them look more alien and less generic and more scary.