Saul Bass Graphic Design Pioneer

Published: January 25th, 2012
Author: Ron
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saul bass graphic designer

The rest, as they say, is graphic design history

Born May 8, 1920 in New York City, Saul Bass was a graphic designer best known for his work on motion picture title animations. He worked with the greats like Alfred Hitchcock (Psycho), Otto Preminger (The Man with the Golden Arm) and Stanley Kubrick (2001: A Space Odyssey and A Clockwork Orange) among others. You have probably seen much of his design and film work and never thought about where it might have come from.

After attending classes at Manhattan’s Art Students League, he immediately enrolled at Brooklyn College where he studied with Georgy Keeps. His career took a turn when he worked with producer Otto Preminger for the film “Carmen Jones” in 1954. Preminger took one look at Bass’s work and asked him to produce the title sequence as well.

The rest, as they say, is graphic design history. That first experience gave Saul the idea that a film could take mood and setting within the first few moments of hitting the screen. Preminger invited Bass to work the opening sequence for “The Man With The Golden Arm” which became the defining moment in Bass’s career. Later, he worked with Hitchcock on “North by Northwest”, “Psycho” and “Vertigo”.

All of his early work was motion sequence and used a technique known as kinetic typography. This is what earned him the accolades he received. When he collaborated with director Martin Scorcese on “Casino”, he showed the world his abilities with computer animation as well. This gave him a rounded and highly sought after method that produced excellent results.

Saul Bass also worked for various companies designing their logos and respective trademarks.

He most famously designed the logo for AT&T that has now been used for decades, as well as the Continental Airlines “jetstream” logo in 1968, which became the most recognized logo of the 1970′s.

Sadly, Mr. Bass passed away in 1996 at the age of 75.

Saul’s work and legacy range greatly, the only thing that is certain is his dedication to quality, and creative control that is present in all of his art. He will be remembered for a long time for his logo design, and forever in our culture through the many films that he added his character to.