Jedi seems to be the beginning of the design led approach most prominently displayed in the PT era.
The maquette for Sy and Lucas' prompting that it be a she with Jagger lips probably created Lapti Nek and Jedi Rocks. That whole scene in From Star Wars to Jedi where his decides Snooty would be a vocalist rather than just a dancer (around 250ish) reminded me of similar meetings leading to the creation of Steve Greivous.
The real creation of the film probably happened in the editing which I would imagine would give even more control and distance him from even more pre-release critique.
An alien with slit eyes might only become offensive when you add a fake oriental accent. The sculptor might not have a clue what the creature would final end up sounding like (I prefer surfer dude Fed myself.. he is like, totally awesome).