Blog #5 : Saul Bass

"Design is thinking made visual."-Saul Bass

Saul Bass is a huge part of design, he’s always one designer I like to look at when I have no idea’s, I choose this designer because I find no matter how much I already know about him, I always am learning more every time I study him.

One of the most influential places he has affected would be motion title sequence, his sequences have spurred a line of titles that are still being used today. Works from such movies as Catch me if you can (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaLDyrun_Cc) Duplicate Saul Bass style opening credits.

The idea Saul Bass lived by was “symbolize and summarize” since he used very simple graphics, he chose not to clutter the stage with things that didn’t matter. Instead focusing on drawing the users attention by using pictures that people would associate with certain elements that conveyed the story quickly, such as The Man with the Golden Arm (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGnpJ_KdqZE) where he draws the focus of the viewers to the crooked arm to convey the drug addict’s arm who the movie is focused on.

Along with the motion titles and movie posters he was also well known for graphic design long before these, designing such famous logo’s as AT&T, United Airlines and Girls scouts of USA (http://cineleet.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/bass-logos.jpg).

After all of this he also is said to have helped Alfred Hitchcock with the famous shower scene in Psycho, though there are some that dispute this claim, I think there’s no doubt there is a touch of Saul Bass in this scene when we are catapulted through the drain of the shower in the movie, just like his vertigo poster, the same type of imagery is used in my opinion. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JH5r_Kenaes)