Michael Okuda Information

Author / Graphic Designer
Los Angeres, CA

Biography:
As the lead graphic designer for Star Trek, Michael Okuda has earned screen credit on more Star Trek productions than anyone except Gene Roddenberry. Michael was responsible for the control panels, computer readouts, alien written languages, and other cool stuff in Star Trek: The Next Generation through Enterprise, and on Star Trek movies 4-10. He provided graphics for The West Wing and The Bourne Legacy, as well as for Clint Eastwood's Sully. Most recently, Michael did graphics for Eastwood's The 15:17 to Paris and served as graphics consultant for Universal's Aliens Ate My Homework, based on the beloved children's book by Bruce Coville.

Michael's life-long fascination with the real space program led him to design the mission patch for the STS-125 space shuttle flight, worn by the astronauts on Space Shuttle Atlantis on the final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. His NASA work includes the team emblem for Mission Control (Flight Operations Division), the project logo for the Orion Multipurpose Crew Vehicle, and the Spaceflight Memorial Patch (with Bill Foster), which hangs on the wall of Mission Control at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. Other space-related work includes designs for the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, The Planetary Society, and the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

Michael has been recognized with three primetime Emmy nominations for Best Visual Effects and with NASA's Exceptional Public Service Medal. He served as a technical consultant to Star Trek's writing staff, wrote the text for Star Trek: Ships of the Line, and with Rick Sternbach is coauthor of the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual.

Along with his wife, Denise, Michael wrote the Star Trek Encyclopedia, published by HarperDesign. They also were co-producers on The Roddenberry Vault, and served on the Smithsonian Institution's special advisory committee on the Starship Enterprise filming model.

Michael graduated from the University of Hawai'i at Manoa with a bachelor's degree in communications and is a member of the Art Directors Guild, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and the Visual Effects Society. Mike thinks science is the coolest thing ever and he really wants to be the first graphic artist in space.