Star Wars and when Design became a requirement
In the month of the release of another movie of the new trilogy of the acclaimed Star Wars saga, which I’m very fan.
I raised a point here in the company that I work on that design has become a requirement of the public, so much that during our debates on design and its trends, we started to demand more quality in the products that we consume in the day to day and as a consequence that affects even the fancy products present in futuristic fiction worlds such as Star Wars.
As an example I mentioned Stormtroopers, which are among the most emblematic images of Star Wars and while the characters are the most recognizable throughout the franchise, it is clear that the design of their helmets, armor and weapons suffered variations from film to film. And finally, what most impacted our conversation, is how the design created for the new trilogy, not only disregards the standard science fiction created in 1977 by Lucasfilm team and how they show that today the taste and importance taken by the design, even came to theaters to have influenced much the design of an iconic character like this.
Troopers armours design through movies:
The helmets above clearly show how the Clone Trooper Phase 1, a character created in 2002, already exhibited a quest for simplicity and efficiency, such as the successful technological products of 2002 in a time that design was already becoming a differential for technological products.
However, as the Stormtrooper was created before the Clone Trooper, this simple and functional equipment had to undergo a visual adaptation that would transfer this transition to the equipment used by the classic character, so in the movie The Revenge of the Sith of 2005 and the series Clone Wars of 2008 began to use a helmet that was clearly between the simple and functional of Phase 1 and the iconic Imperial Stormtrooper created in 1977.
However, if we take into account that in fact this was done in reverse order, it is clear that the helmet “involuted” to the classic version. To finally end up as the new trilogy of 2015, it clearly sought to meet a modern taste for design of better designed and elegant products, the helmet is actually much closer to its estranged cousin of the Clone Troopers (by the chronology of the films) but clearly using several visual references to the classic helmet of 1977.
Where we realized that all the armor gained a more simplified redesign, with a much better ergonomics and a visual alignment with simpler and rounded lines, contrast balance and even the weapons gained a more advanced visual work remembering the line of modern FPS games instead of heavy weapons, line style laser-ray.
Unisex Design
Another fun and important point to note is how the armors were also influenced by modern issues, to the extent of showing armor with more unisex patterns, while the previous armor obviously exhibited a more masculinized uniform, mainly because today the public also demands form (including today a female Stormtrooper character, Captain Phasma and the protagonist of the new trilogy, Rey).
And to show more clearly this to HalloweenCostumes.com uses an infographic to showcase the evolution of Stormtrooper’s design over the years (using the chronology of the films, of course), starting with the first Clone Trooper helmet seen in the movie Attack of the Clones , followed by the Clone Trooper of the Clone Wars series and also featured in the movie The Revenge of the Sith and the more detailed helmet design of the Imperial Stormtroopers seen in the original trilogy. The infographics also examine the sleek helmets worn by First Order Stormtroopers, who appear in The Force Awakening and will appear again in The Last Jedi, which debuts on December 14.
As a conclusion to all these references, what I perceive and assume as evidence is that product design has become not only a necessity, but a requirement of all audiences, perceived by various sectors from entertainment to services and products . So nothing more than ideal than preparing your company to start 2018 with a design from another galaxy and enjoy this wave.
May the force be with you!
