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Design Essay

4/5 - Good read, big book, helps me understand more about Saul bass and shows me some niche work he did, also goes through his life as a designer and how he became important

I’m reading this for my Design Essay so granted won’t be a full review as I’ll be rushing through it taking notes:

Some notes:

Quotes to use: Pg12

Saul Bass Wasn’t Just an artist who contributed to the first several minutes of some of the greatest movies in history, in my opinion his body of work qualifies him as one of the best filmmakers of this, or any other time -Steven Spielberg

Saul could find the precise words to express the most complex visual ideas and he could create images to express any verbal context - Irving Kershner



He expanded the boundaries of graphic design to include film title sequences

He Disapproved of advertising that used snobbery, social status or gratuitous sex to sell goods Pg 16

He attended the first International Design conference Pg 30

“In the 1950s, Saul generated a virtual explosion of work in nearly every area of design from adver-tising, including billboards and illustration, to identity design, environments and architecture. He created trademarks for numerous companies and reshaped the images of others through distinctive advertising, packaging and television commercials. To clients willing to embark on the adventure with him, Saul brought his appetite for ideas, his playfulness and his delight in engaging viewers in spirited games of visual thinking. “ Pg41

He was one of the first freelance graphic designers to move into album cover design, designing covers for albums such as Tone Poems of Color (frank sinatra), Barber Shop Harmony (the sportsman quartet) Pg53

Saul Bass also offered his design services to different various causes like the Southern California Peace Crusade, Plantiffs against the Blacklist, Human Rights week and many more Pg54

He designed only one children’s book which was Henri’s Walk to Paris , he also tried his hand with packaging design as well for products like Flo Ball pens, Reynolds Gift Wrap and Chicken of the sea canned tuna

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Saul Bass as well did movie titles as we know but he also did some work on television graphics as well Pg94 as well he also did commercials on tv for IBM and the RCA Pg96

Saul Bass brought a modernist design sensibility to film titles and revolutionised not only what they looked like but also how they were thought about Pg106

Because he was so well known as a graphic designer, many people assumed that Saul's role in creating title sequences was limited to storyboards and typog-raphy. Instead, in most cases, Saul was taking on the roles that normally would be divided among the film's director, producer and editor. He noted, "Of course, with each title that I did, I was responsible for the entire piece of film... the concept, the visuals, the track, the whole thing. Shooting it and, incidentally, I rarely used the cinematographer that worked on the film itself, because by the time I got into it, he was already out of it. I directed cinematography to get whatever live action was involved." Pg107

he essentially created a new art form