Adam Kovic is a creative director and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. He spent a decade producing video content and brand campaigns for companies mostly owned or devoured by WarnerMedia.
Today I'm going to show you how to recreate the STARFIGHTER title treatment in Photoshop and Illustrator — the same professional tools I spent five years learning at a now defunct trade school, so that I could one day become a contract junior design lead at a shell company that bills exclusively to Lucasfilm.
This is a fairly simple logo consisting of a star field, a large outlined title, and a secondary metallic wordmark placed over it. There are only a few technical challenges, and if you follow these instructions carefully you should be able to complete it in an afternoon!
STEP 1: MAKE THE STARS
Create a new Photoshop document.
I’m working at 3000 × 4000 pixels because the studio says this may eventually need to be printed, although they have not said where, at what size, or why.
Fill the background with black.
Create a new layer and fill that with black too. You can also duplicate the background layer by pressing Cmd + J or Ctrl + J
In the new layer, select Filter › Noise › Add Noise. Select Rasterize in the pop-up window so you can edit the new fill layer. Then make sure Monochromatic is selected at the bottom of the Add Noise dialog box and move the slider to the right.
Now go to:
Select Filter › Blur › Gaussian blur and add a little more blur. Don’t move the slider too far to the right or you’ll smooth out the noise.
Go to Image › Adjustment › Threshold. This will make pixels either black or white. Adjust the slider until you have black pixels on a white field looking like an inverted starry night. Select Ctrl + I on Windows or Cmd + I on Mac to invert the pixels.
Redo Step 3 to add more blur to the stars.
Congratulations. You just made the universe. It's a lonely place.
This makes the star field feel less computer-generated and more like actual space, which is important because realism matters tremendously in the background behind a logo somebody will eventually ask "do we really need all those dots? Marvel doesn't use dots."
Save your file.
Then save another version because you should have received a message this morning saying the dimensions on the ticket are wrong.
Do not rely exclusively on the ticket.
The ticket was written by your newly assigned project manager, Ahleighx.
She is twenty-three years younger than you and keeps referring to Photoshop as "I don't know what that is."
STEP 2: VERIFY THE ACTUAL ASSIGNMENT
Before proceeding, open the project ticket.
Read the instructions carefully.
Now open Slack.
Search for the project name.
You should find approximately 46 messages spread across four channels, two group DMs, and a private conversation from three months ago with the previous art director.
His profile reads: deactivated.
Nobody has formally announced this. You are just now learning about it.
Find his last message about the project.
It should say something like:
Studio wants something closer to the original but definitely not the original. Also, something Marvel would do.
This is useful.
Now compare that message to the new project manager’s comment from yesterday:
Make it feel epic, cool, and very Star Wars.
Take a screenshot of both.
Put them in a folder called CONTRADICTING_PROOF.
Inside that folder, make another folder called OLD_REFERENCE_DO_NOT_USE.
You will be referring to these folders many times this week.
STEP 3: BUILD THE MAIN TITLE
Download Star Wars font by using Google and searching "Star Wars font free OTF."
Install font.
Open Illustrator.
Type your main title in a very heavy geometric display face. Convert the text to outlines.
You want broad angular forms with strong diagonals and enough interior space to create that classic gigantic-space-adventure silhouette.
Manually adjust the letters.
Do not be afraid to modify the typography heavily. This is where design judgment comes in. The goal is to capture the 1977 original logo, this will surely be a hit with long-time fans. If it's too jarring, we can always go back to the more recognized logo.
You’ve been doing this for seventeen years. You're a pro, have fun.
The project manager has sent you a Canva file called FUTURISTIC GAMING LOGO BLUE MODERN TEMPLATE.
Do not click that link, it will just make you upset.
Adam Kovic is a creative director and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. He spent a decade producing video content and brand campaigns for companies mostly owned or devoured by WarnerMedia.
Writer, filmmaker, and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. Aaron's work covers culture, economics, and the occasional vintage Volkswagen. Media veteran and purpose-driven creative.
Adam Kovic is a creative director and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. He spent a decade producing video content and brand campaigns for companies mostly owned or devoured by WarnerMedia.
Writer, filmmaker, and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. Aaron's work covers culture, economics, and the occasional vintage Volkswagen. Media veteran and purpose-driven creative.
Adam Kovic is a creative director and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. He spent a decade producing video content and brand campaigns for companies mostly owned or devoured by WarnerMedia.
Adam Kovic is a creative director and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. He spent a decade producing video content and brand campaigns for companies mostly owned or devoured by WarnerMedia.
Writer, filmmaker, and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. Aaron's work covers culture, economics, and the occasional vintage Volkswagen. Media veteran and purpose-driven creative.
Adam Kovic is a creative director and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. He spent a decade producing video content and brand campaigns for companies mostly owned or devoured by WarnerMedia.
Writer, filmmaker, and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. Aaron's work covers culture, economics, and the occasional vintage Volkswagen. Media veteran and purpose-driven creative.
Adam Kovic is a creative director and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. He spent a decade producing video content and brand campaigns for companies mostly owned or devoured by WarnerMedia.
Adam Kovic is a creative director and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. He spent a decade producing video content and brand campaigns for companies mostly owned or devoured by WarnerMedia.
Writer, filmmaker, and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. Aaron's work covers culture, economics, and the occasional vintage Volkswagen. Media veteran and purpose-driven creative.
Adam Kovic is a creative director and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. He spent a decade producing video content and brand campaigns for companies mostly owned or devoured by WarnerMedia.
Writer, filmmaker, and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. Aaron's work covers culture, economics, and the occasional vintage Volkswagen. Media veteran and purpose-driven creative.
Adam Kovic is a creative director and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. He spent a decade producing video content and brand campaigns for companies mostly owned or devoured by WarnerMedia.
Adam Kovic is a creative director and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. He spent a decade producing video content and brand campaigns for companies mostly owned or devoured by WarnerMedia.
Writer, filmmaker, and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. Aaron's work covers culture, economics, and the occasional vintage Volkswagen. Media veteran and purpose-driven creative.
Adam Kovic is a creative director and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. He spent a decade producing video content and brand campaigns for companies mostly owned or devoured by WarnerMedia.
Writer, filmmaker, and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. Aaron's work covers culture, economics, and the occasional vintage Volkswagen. Media veteran and purpose-driven creative.
Adam Kovic is a creative director and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. He spent a decade producing video content and brand campaigns for companies mostly owned or devoured by WarnerMedia.
Adam Kovic is a creative director and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. He spent a decade producing video content and brand campaigns for companies mostly owned or devoured by WarnerMedia.
Writer, filmmaker, and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. Aaron's work covers culture, economics, and the occasional vintage Volkswagen. Media veteran and purpose-driven creative.
Adam Kovic is a creative director and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. He spent a decade producing video content and brand campaigns for companies mostly owned or devoured by WarnerMedia.
Writer, filmmaker, and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. Aaron's work covers culture, economics, and the occasional vintage Volkswagen. Media veteran and purpose-driven creative.
Writer, filmmaker, and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. Aaron's work covers culture, economics, and the occasional vintage Volkswagen. Media veteran and purpose-driven creative.
Writer, filmmaker, and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. Aaron's work covers culture, economics, and the occasional vintage Volkswagen. Media veteran and purpose-driven creative.
