American designer Saul Bass was born in 1920 in New York city. He was the son of Jewish immigrants and began drawing from a very young age. In college, he attended night classes at Art Students League and was taught by Hungarian artist and key figure of the bauhaus movement Gyorgy Kepes.
Bass left New York for California in 1940 and started working in advertising. When given the opportunity, Bass designed a poster for the 1954 film Carmen Jones, and his work gained the attention from filmmakers who urged him to do the title credits as well.
Down below we can see examples of some of his most famous film posters:
He definitely has a distinctive style, using a fairly minimal colour palette and strong geometric forms. Asides from its vibrance and pleasing composition, His posters are also very conceptual, which is what drew me to his work.
Bass revolutionized film credits, bringing dynamism and originality. I like how his opening credits add to the movie rather than being something we wish to skip over.
I wanted to focus on film as it’s the area of Bass’ career which fascinates me the most, but he also designed many famous logos such as Kleenex and Continental airline.
Bass’ unique style inspires me and also got me more intrigued in the world of motion graphics and film.
Sources:
https://99designs.ca/blog/famous-design/saul-bass-graphic-designer-of-a-century/
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