Dezeen Magazine

Star Wars planets receive fictional flag designs by Scott Kelly

Art director Scott Kelly has designed a collection of 103 flags to represent the planets featured in sci-fi film series Star Wars.

The designer created the emblems for planets featured in the series of films – the latest and seventh of which is released this week – as well as those included in Star Wars comic books, animated series and video games.

Star Wars flags by Scott Kelly
Alongside the release of the seventh Star Wars film, Scott Kelly has designed fictional flags for the planets, including Saleucami

Each of the emblems blends together traditional flag design and motifs, such as the canton and chevron, with stories and landscapes.

"The project is a combination of my two childhood obsessions: Star Wars and flag design," said New Zealander Kelly, who started designing the graphics a year ago.

Flags for Star Wars by Scott Kelly
Scott Kelly created this flag for the planet of Toola and other planets featured in Star Wars comic books, animated series and video games

"As a child the two most important posters on my wall were my Flags of the World poster and my map of the Star Wars Galaxy," he added.

The flag for Tatooine – protagonist Luke Skywalker's home planet – features a yellow background, intended to reflect its desert environment, with a single red stripe and two circles to represent the suns that the planet orbits.

Star Wars flags by Scott Kelly
The flag designs – like this for the planet of Malastare – blend together traditional flag design with stories and landscapes

The Death Star flag features a grey background with an orb split into two halves, to refer to the planet-sized space station built by the films' villain Darth Vader.

Bespin, which is home to rogue smuggler Lando Calrissian and featured in 1980 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, is represented by a cloud-shaped motif in orange and blue, surrounded by orange and blue stripes.

Star Wars flags by Scott Kelly
The flag for Luke Skywalker's home planet Tatooine features a single red stripe and two circles

The planet of Endor, which appears in Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, is represented by a white tree on a green and black background. The icy surroundings of Hoth are reflected in a single blue stripe, covered in white zigzags.

Kelly researched and referred to the fictional historic, economic, physical, political and societal attributes of the planets to create the designs.

Star Wars flags by Scott Kelly
A single blue stripe covered in white zigzags, represents the icy surroundings of the planet Hoth

"Some flag designs would focus more on the structure of their government," he told Dezeen. "If it was a planet run by a corporation I would tend to use a graphic that represented the nature of the corporation."

"For planets such as Toola or Tatooine it would be based more on the physical environment of the planet," he added.

"From there I took creative liberty to make them as striking and plausible as possible. While I don't pretend to be an expert on either flag design or the Star Wars universe these are my loving interpretations."

Star Wars flags by Scott Kelly
Bespin is represented by a cloud-shaped motif in orange and blue, surrounded by orange and blue stripes

The original Star Wars film trilogy was created by American film director George Lucas in the 1970s and 1980s. It included Episodes IV to VI of the saga set "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away".

Episodes I, II and II were released between 1999 and 2005. The eagerly anticipated latest instalment, Episode VII: The Force Awakens, is opening worldwide this week.

Star Wars flags by Scott Kelly
The planet of Endor is represented by a white tree on a green and black background

Lucas is hoping to continue the franchise's legacy with his Museum of Narrative Art in Chicago, which has been designed by MAD Architects.

In an interview with Dezeen earlier in the year, graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister described the Star Wars poster as "ultimately a piece of shit".