Why Star Trek's Graphic Design Makes Sense

Propstore's Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction: Los Angeles Summer 2024 propstoreauction.com/auctions/catalog/id/397 Learn more about Michael and Denise Okuda's work at www.facebook.com/Michael.Denise.Okuda vimeo.com/187841208

The Okudas are heroes to any Trek fan. Great to see you interviewing them!

When I saw the thumbnail in YouTube for this video, my first though before I even clicked it was "I hope they can talk to the Okuda's someday."

Star Trek wouldn't be Star Trek without the Okudas

The Okuda's are why I became a Graphic Designer. Okudagrams were my gateway drug, at age 6 I read in the Star Trek The Next Generation Technical Manual about what Adobe Illustrator was and who the Okudas were. As a 45yo Creative Director for a major company, I owe my career and a debt of thanks to the Okudas. I've had the pleasure of meeting them and conversing a handful of times in puerson and online, and am forever in their tutelage.

I've known since I was a little kid in the 80s that if I ever won the lottery, I'd have a movie theater in my house that was designed like the Enterprise D bridge....those hallways, console panels, the overall design...my childhood lol

The "User profile" part comes up in the Parallels episode, in which Worf complains that the controls have been changed.

I see Adam and Star Trek, I get excited. I see Adam and Star Trek AND the Okudas, I'm fucking ecstatic.

I was 15 when TNG finished. I was 100% obsessed with that show. I had the TNG Techincal Manual written by Michael Okuda. I took it to school with me, i read it at night. I loved that ship, and they did such an amazing job creating a believable lore and design. Fantastic video sir.

Oh my God The Video I have been waiting for all my life. As a 45 year old Graphic Designer/ Animator - this is absolutely my favourite Graphic Design of all time. Michael and Denise are my heroes.

One great example of "Painting it Purple" from animation is in the Merrie Melodies cartoon "An Itch in Time". They had a gag of the dog getting bitten by a flea, and dragging his backside around the house while yelping -- but they thought the censors might cut it. So they added an extra gag: in the middle of racing around the house, the dog stops dead, turns to camera, and says, "Hey, I'd better stop this -- I might get to like it!", then resumes the dragging. It was designed specifically so it could be cut out entirely without missing a frame of the intended animation. The censors didn't mention it at all.

I'd happily watch hours of Adam and the Okudas talking shop.

I can't express how much I love LCARS. They're incredibly clever. TOS had panels that were almost too 'alien', that looked like an arrangement of unlabelled gemstones on a table. LCARS are still mostly meaningless, but they look functional and made the show more believable. They also just look pleasing.

Painting it purple, what a great term. I did this in the US Army in the early 80s. When we had inspections, I would leave a small deficiency for the Sgt to find. Once he found something, he would move on. My roommate spent hours making things perfect. The Sgt would take it a a challenge to find an issue. Thus things like a speck of dust in an air vent became a big issue to them. For me it would be, dirt on the bottom of a shoe and move on.

I can't upvote this enough. The Okudas are royalty in the Star Trek firmament, and to have someone like Adam chat with them is just.... . The auction lots are lovely, but the real treasures here are the people. Adam, if you wanted to start a channel featuring interviews and discussion with some of the industry's unsung makers and designers, that would be well worth watching (for historical value as well as entertainment).

I will forever be grateful to the Okudas for their work on the TNG Blu-rays.

I love the idea that whatever button you push, it is the right button. This is directly reflected in our smart phones today. The app locations are specific to the user and change over time. I just rearranged mine because I added an app that I use more frequently than others. I can easily believe that button on a display would relocate from time to time.

"... They're based on YOUR user profile, so the button you hit is correct." Shades of Galaxy Quest: "They designed those controls after watching YOU. Take her out."

The thing that makes the Okudas such great Trek Designers is that they are SUPER FANS

That Bird of Prey concept model is awesome. Great retro styling - it looks like it could come straight out of an old Flash Gordon serial, and yet you can still see the Romulan design lineage in there.