Michael Okuda

Michael Okuda is a graphic designer who is best known for his work on Star Trek.

Career

Work in Star Trek

In the mid-1980s, he designed the look of animated computer displays for the Enterprise-A bridge in The Voyage Home. This led to a staff position on The Next Generation in 1987 as a scenic artist, adding detail to set designs and props. His most famous contribution to The Next Generation is the GUI of the fictional LCARS computer system used throughout the Enterprise-D and other Starfleet starships. In homage to its creator, this visual style has come to be known among fans as "okudagrams".

Okuda also served as a technical consultant on the various TNG-era Star Trek series along with Rick Sternbach, advising the script-writers on the technology used throughout the Star Trek universe such as the transporters and the warp drive. This work resulted in a technical manual which was distributed to prospective script-writers along with the series bible. The manual was later published in revised and updated form as the The Next Generation Technical Manual by Pocket Books. Michael then went on to write a number of Star Trek books with his wife, Denise. Okuda continued working at Paramount Studios on the Star Trek series that followed The Next Generation, and worked as an art supervisor in Deep Space Nine, Voyager and through to the cancellation of Enterprise in 2005. He also worked on the...
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