Unlike previous versions of Star Trek, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's primary setting was not a Federation starship, but rather an alien space station. Production designer Herman Zimmerman and his design team set out to make their space station as unfamiliar as possible to Star Trek viewers, while retaining an underpinning of design credibility. Their solution was a style loosely based on reptilian scales and trilateral symmetry. These drawings document many sets on the Deep Space Nine station, as well as many of the episodic alien and Federation settings.