Saul
Bass
Meaning
in
Simplicity
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The goal, and the ultimate Achievement, is to make people feel as well as think.
Saul Bass
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A Man on the Move
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aul Bass, a man who is widely believed to have revolutionized design as we know it. Who’s influences are everywhere, from the movies, to big name company logos. He popularized minimalist design to the dismay of many company heads and his creativity when placed in charge of movie title sequences is still making waves today.
Saul started out in New York City and after a few years of experience in the industry he moved to California. He made his first publicized movie poster in 1954 and because of that he got asked to direct the title sequence for the same move, Carmen Jones. This was his big break because after that he worked with directors such as Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, and Martin Scorsese.
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Various Poster by Saul Bass 1955- 1980
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Posters are supposed to be striking
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hey’re supposed to draw a person’s eye from a ways off and entice the viewer to inspect the poster further. Saul Bass’ posters accomplished this with extremely minimalistic design. Saul incorporated saturated colors with illustrations that popped out of the page and gave us an idea of what the movie is about all at the same time. He was a master at making posters for movies like Exodus, and The Shining. These poster’s stood out when compared to some of the other movie posters at the time. Cheesy text and complex designs
saturated the growing cinema market. Saul’s designs were radical in their simplicity and because of this many of his works were boiled down to a version he never would have created. Often these versions would incorporate some elements from his original but most of his work would be erased. Marketing teams were too scared to jump off the bandwagon of the current trends. Since then Saul and other designers have popularized minimalist design and has influenced today’s design greatly.
Examples of generic movie Posters from the 50s
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“Projectionist– pull curtain before titles”
Psycho opening sequence by Saul Bass 1960
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ilm reels with Saul Bass title credits and this note were delivered to movie theaters. Before Saul title credits were often projected on a closed curtain. They were unimportant to the audience and were seen as another couple minutes to go to the restroom. Saul added life and movement to the title sequences he worked on. Starting out he worked very graphically using solid colors, to demonstrate movement, or a feeling. For example in the title sequence for Psycho, Saul used simple lines and slicing apart type to connote the feeling of the movie. The music also plays a huge role in this. Without music much of the tone would be lost so early in the movie. Saul thought that a title sequence was able to put a movie into context and to act as a prologue to a movie. That’s seen in opening sequences like The Cardinal. Saul Bass successfully incorporated graphic design into title sequences and in the process revolutionized the title sequence.
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Vertigo opening sequence by Saul Bass 1958
Ocean’s Eleven opening sequence by Saul 1960
Opening Sequence of The Cardinal by Saul Bass 1963
“At one point it occurred to me that the title could make a more significant contribution to the storytelling process. It could act as a prologue. It could deal with the time before.�
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On April 25th, 1996 Saul Bass died.
H
e however left us with a legacy that all designers and artists should strive for. His logos have an average lifespan of 34 years, his posters and title sequences are still being referenced today. Saul’s influence in cinema still inspires title designers, and gives them what is important about design. Getting across an idea as simple as possible is what Saul did with each of his designs. If a poster, logo, or even a title sequence looks good but doesn’t mean anything then there’s no point for anyone to look at it.
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Bibliog ra
phy
Bigman, Ale Changed Graphic D x. “Saul Bass: Th e Man Wh esign.” 9 2018, 99d o 9designs, esigns.co 99designs, m/blog/ g raphic-d fa 14 Mar. mous-des esigner-o ign/saulf-a-c bass“Saul Bass entury/. .” Art of com/des the Title, igner/sau w l-ba ww.artoft hetitle. “Saul Bass ss/. Movie Tit On His A pproach T le Sequen ce o D Oct. 2015 s.” Mediu , medium m, ART & esigning .com/art SCIENCE proach-to -science/ , 21 -designin sau g-movie-t itle-sequen l-bass-on-his-apces-47fd5 37c457b.
Design ed Compo and written by Patr sed in B ick Dub a Copyri is ght © 2 skerville, an d Hitch 018 Pat Maine c r o i College ck Dub c is, Port k of Art land, M ai
ne,
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