THX Logo PNG
The soundtrack’s smooth, clear sound is reflected in the emblem’s symbols. The THX logo is an ode to harmony, order, and consistency. Shows the outlined framework, the system of rules and requirements developed by the company, which guarantees decent sound quality.
THX appeared in 1983 as a division of Lucasfilm, the studio of George Lucas. The project was led by Tomlinson Holman, a sound engineer, academic researcher, and Lucasfilm’s chief technical officer. The abbreviation had two references: Lucas’s debut feature, THX 1138, from 1971, and Tomlinson Holman eXperiment, a name associated with Holman’s work in acoustics and sound reproduction.
The system grew out of a practical problem in cinema. Film soundtracks were mixed in studios with controlled acoustics. Yet, many theaters in the late 1970s and early 1980s played them through aging equipment, weak insulation, and poorly maintained rooms. Lucas saw the gap while working on Star Wars films, and Holman turned those observations into a set of technical standards for theaters.
The first THX-certified cinema was Coronet Theatre in San Francisco. Certification took place in May 1983, ahead of the premiere of Return of the Jedi. The hall was tested for background noise, room acoustics, reflection and absorption levels, sound pressure, and equipment setup. Holman developed the “baby boom” configuration, a dedicated subwoofer system mounted in front of the speakers.
In 1990, THX presented home theater certification at CES in Las Vegas. The program covered amplifiers, speakers, DVD players, receivers, soundbars, and car audio systems. THX Select and THX Ultra later divided certification by equipment class. In the same market, Dolby Laboratories worked with Dolby Surround and Dolby Digital, while DTS entered in 1993 with Jurassic Park. THX was separated from Lucasfilm in 2002. In 2016, Razer bought THX for about $35 million and expanded its certification toward gaming headsets, monitors, and speaker systems.
Meaning and History
THX has a long history dating back to 1983. The system was developed by audio engineer Tomlinson M. Holman, who later became an employee of Apple Inc. Initially, the film technology belonged to the American company Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC. The brand was later acquired by Creative Technology Limited and, in 2016, by Razer.
The first film with THX was the sixth part of the Star Wars series. The standard was invented specifically for her so that the soundtracks would sound good when Episode VI was shown in theaters. Over time, it has expanded into hundreds of other multimedia products and techniques related to video or audio playback. This is how the THX logos spread worldwide because they are a clear confirmation of certification.
The brand uses only one visual symbol: a simple two-dimensional “THX” lettering. It was formed from the corresponding letters in the words “Tomlinson Holman eXperiment” and is consonant with the title of George Lucas’ debut film, THX 1138. Since the system became quite famous, it has never changed its logo.
In the basic version, the letters are aligned in a single row and consist of black strokes of uniform thickness. Even though they are all capitals, the “T” seems higher. It has been enlarged so that its elongated horizontal line can cover the “H” and “X” at the top. There is also a similar strip at the bottom, but it does not connect with the abbreviation and is drawn along the line, like an underscore.
Due to the logo’s monotonous look, THX Ltd. often experiments with trailers, adding its permanent mascot, a construction robot named Tex. At the same time, designers make the inscription bright, colorful, and three-dimensional, accompanying it with the classic sound of Deep Note or modern soundtracks. The first such trailer appeared during the premiere of the sixth episode of Star Wars in 1983. At the same time, the logo debuted in cinemas in Hollywood and Dallas.
In the original version, the abbreviation looks as simple as possible. She has not undergone any graphic changes, remaining the official symbol of THX for several decades. The emblem’s design has a touch of kitsch because it does not meet the unspoken rules of modern style. The two-dimensional inscription seems outdated compared to the logos of other companies associated with the multimedia industry.
Font and Colors
An unknown modified grotesque with the same vertical and horizontal stroke thickness was used for the abbreviation. Perhaps the source of inspiration was Eurostyle. Subsequently, based on the wordmark THX, a font of the same name was developed and released in 2015. Its creators considered the overline and underscore, adding parallel lines above and below each letter.
Even though the logo is very colorful and voluminous in the trailers, in the official version, it is completely black. The icon consists of simple two-dimensional letters with no gradients or other color effects, and the company has not changed it since 1983, adhering to a minimalist design.