design blog

For my artist research i will talking about the designer Saul Bass. He a was an American graphic designer and filmmaker, his most active years were during 1954 and 1995. “He worked mostly for advertising until his first major break: a poster for the 1954 film, Carmen Jones” (poulwebb, 2012) Although his designs were mainly about film and posters, he also created film sequences and logo for a well-known mobile service. This first post, was one of his first Hollywood masterpiece. in this ‘Carmen Jones’ poster, Saul Bass used some edgy text in this design and I really like the colour he chose for this poster, they match really well I think the orange really compliments the brown and yellow. The movie is a musical and, in the poster, there are some faint musical notes in the back, this shows that Saul Bass understood the movie and made a poster design related to the movie. The smiley face and bright colours used set a happy mood.

Saul Bass main inspiration was his father who was worked with fur, his work amazed him, he mentioned talking about his father work “What he did that was quite extraordinary was draw flowers and birds. “He did decorative paper cut-outs too. He would take paper, fold it eight, ten, twelve times and then do his little thing with scissors. Then we’d have that grand moment where he unfolded the whole thing and it was just flowers and birds and trees, it was a whole world!” (Chiara et al., pg. 15 2017) Saul Bass would hand draw some sketches and parents would praise his work. Later Saul Bass discovered lettering and “Saul also wondered whether his passion for lettering and a desire to make art out of letters came from his father’s brother, a gravestone cutter who stayed in the old country” (Chiara et al., pg. 15 2017)

When movies were released in the past, they always showed a movie title, however in these titles there was no relation to the movie, what was included was names of actors, directors etc. It was boring, simple and had no emotion. Saul Bass saw this as an opportunity to create his own movie titles. In his movie title he would create little animations that was connected to the storyline. “Part of Saul Bass is genius was to understand what the movie was about and to do the designs for them appropriately” Youtube.com. (2010). it added more emotion to the movie and told a little about what the movie is about without telling too much. “when Saul bass started making prints the credits themselves were part of the film” Youtube.com. (2010). Saul Bass also created posters for the movies, he would try to understand the meaning of the movie then create a graphic illustration for this, he would try and sell the movie to his audience through his poster design. Smith, S. (2014).

The other three images I added are some examples of Saul Bass designs, majority of his designs included some silhouette and colourful backgrounds. Each of his designs tells a little bit about the movie without ruining the plot. The silhouette he used in his illustrations were a unique style this is because it isn’t a clean-cut silhouette like others out there. In this ‘Saint Joan’ poster I really like the background print the most it really stands out and bring the whole poster together. 

Saul Bass created his own typography and what I like most about his typographic on the posters is where he places them, for example in these posters I have selected, In the ‘anatomy of a murder’ poster I found it clever and creative how Saul Bass used a silhouette of a corpse and added the text on top of the silhouette instead of making it adding the text right at the bottom like most poster are. Even for his ‘Saint Joan’ poster the text is near to the middle and bottom and the silhouette in at the top. In these posters, Saul Bass poster includes a single geometric style illustration and text which delivers a strong message and keys into a mood. Saul Bass designs were more structured.

References 

Books

CHIARA, B., SILVIA, F., SOFIA, P. AND GIULIA, R. DesignVerso Saul Bass: through the looking glass Chiara, B., Silvia, F., Sofia, P. and Giulia, R. (2017). DesignVerso Saul Bass: through the looking glass. p.15.

Images 

<https://www.google.com/search?q=carmen+jones&safe=strict&rlz=1C5CHFA_enGB736GB736&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjp6Z2C25_sAhVKUBUIHR3MBw8Q_AUoAXoECC8QAw&biw=1097&bih=659#imgrc=6o2-9_jEPgmTtM> [Accessed 4 October 2020]. 

Google.com. 2020. [online] Available at: <https://www.google.com/search?q=SAINT+JOHN+SAUL+BASS&safe=strict&rlz=1C5CHFA_enGB736GB736&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=JV0C4849dTqduM%252CzaVADXMwMZTODM%252C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kRT-kHIObZqn7x-uc70QlyekhB3HQ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjC442u25_sAhXUuHEKHd-LBEEQ9QF6BAgOEEE#imgrc=JV0C4849dTqduM> [Accessed 6 October 2020].

Google.com. 2020. [online] Available at: <https://www.google.com/search?q=anatomy+of+murder+saul+bass&safe=strict&rlz=1C5CHFA_enGB736GB736&hl=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjj-vGA3J_sAhUnSBUIHcsWBxIQ_AUoAXoECBAQAw&biw=1097&bih=659#imgrc=UDBCLTDH7mHNuM> [Accessed 6 October 2020].

Google.com. 2020. [online] Available at: <https://www.google.com/search?q=vertigo+saul+bass+ORIIGNAL+&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwicwp-N3J_sAhVKeRoKHUluBiEQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=vertigo+saul+bass+ORIIGNAL+&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzoCCAA6BggAEAgQHjoECAAQHlDKL1j0RGC2RmgAcAB4AIABQIgBsAWSAQIxMpgBAKABAaoBC2d3cy13aXotaW1nwAEB&sclient=img&ei=tUF8X9yTL8ryacncmYgC&bih=659&biw=1097&rlz=1C5CHFA_enGB736GB736&safe=strict#imgrc=MQ4V77Jwj9gYSM> [Accessed 6 October 2020].

Podcast

Smith, S. (2014). A Life in Film and Design. [podcast] 1: Saul Bass - Part 1. Available at: https://podtail.com/en/podcast/the-poster-boys/1-saul-bass-part-1/ [Accessed 07 Sept. 2020].

WEEK ONE - InDesign

for my project i needed to create my work on InDesign. I wasn't too familiar with this software and I needed help im how to create a text box.  I had a one to one session on teams with my teacher, she shared her screen with me and gave me a tutorial on how to create a box with text inside and how to add different fonts/ colour/ size etc.

This tutorial was very helpful because i was able to see her screen and take notes.