Part 4: Saul Bass

Academy award-winning filmaker and graphic designer, Saul Bass is perhaps best known for his seemingly inherent skill for design on animated motion picture title sequences. Possibly the most notable of which is his work for Preminger's The Man With The Golden Arm.

A concept carried by more than one of Bass' designs.

From this we can clearly see Bass' roots in graphic design. As was the case with Peter Saville, Bass' simple highly graphic style conveys the purpose in its most basic form. A long standing traditional style in such a field. Even with little to no use of image, Bass' work was considered the best as far as animated title sequences go.

It is such work that I find so appealing with regards to my own practice, as the moving image is an area of personal interest. However it is more concerned with the ways in which such effects are achieved and the effectiveness of the solution(s) created rather than the purpose as such. For instance in the image above, we see how Bass uses no images yet is still able to create a sense of drama/suspense in the build-up to the feature - a mark of 'true' design ability.