[Image from AIGA]

Birth: 8 May 1920 – New York, New York, USA
Death: 25 April 1996 – Los Angeles, California, USA. (non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma)

From cover for brochure Strathmore Paper Company, 1991

Designer Saul bass broke tradition in the mid-50s with his savage, jagged-print objects and use of broken type. Bass redefined film’s visual language. His bold, confident lines and simple images recall the best Soviet commercial design of the 1920s, while adding a decidedly American twist to the final product. Best known for his work with directors Alfred Hitchcock, Otto Preminger and Stanely Kubrick. Bass’s visual opinion was so valued, he served not only as title designer but as a visual consultant on films. He also made storyboards for the infamous shower scene in Psycho.

Saul Bass studied at the Art Student’s League in Manhattan until he was old enough to attend Brooklyn College.

In 1946, Saul moved to Los Angeles where he started a graphics design company focusing on advertising films, trailers, posters and logos.

Saul’s first big break came on an advertising job for the film The Blue Moon. Otto Preminger was pleased with his work and gave Saul a contract for the film Carmen Jones in 1954 but it was his design concept for Man With the Golden Arm in 1955 that made him well known. In the mid 1960’s Bass grew tired of laying out sequences for other directors and started making his own short subject films, while also turning to corporate design with his firm, Saul Bass and Associates. In the late 1970’s he returned to graphic design where he created logos for products and corporations including United Airlines, AT&T, Lawry’s seasonings, etc.

In the 1980’s Saul returned to designs for several films like Goodfellas and Cape Fear.

1959 - Kose Cosmetics
1959 - Lawry’s Foods
1963 - Alcoa 1963 - Warner Books
1964 - Kibun Foods
1964 - Wesson Oil
1965 - Celanese
1968 - Continental Airlines
1968 - Rockwell International
1969 - Dixie

1971 - Quaker Oats Company

1973 - United Airlines

1972 - United Way

1974 - Warner Communications
1978 - Girl Scouts of America

1978 - Minolta

1981 - Exxon
1981 - Frontier Airlines
1984 - AT&T

1988 - YWCA
1991 - Minami Sports
1993 - Japan Energy Corporation

Unknown date:
Avery International
Fuller Paints

Security First National Bank
Security Pacific Bank

1954 – Carmen Jones, Otto Preminger
1955 – The Seven Year Itch, Billy Wilder
1955 – The Man with the Golden Arm, Otto Preminger
1956 – Around the World in 80 days. Michael Anderson
1958 – Bonjour Tristesse, Otto Preminger
1958 – Psycho, Alphred Hitchcock 1959 – Anatomy of a Murder, Otto Preminger
1960 – Spartacus, Stanley Kubrick
1960 – Exodus, Otto Preminger
1961 – West Side Story (opening), Robert Wise 1961 – West Side Story (closing), Robert Wise
1962 – Advise and Consent, Otto Preminger
1963 – It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, Stanley Kramer
1963 – The Cardinal, Otto Preminger
1965 – In Harm’s Way, Otto Preminger
1965 _ Bunny Lake is Missing, Otto Preminger 1966 – Seconds, John Frankenheimer
1989 – The War of the Roses, Danny DeVito
1990 – Goodfellas, Martin Scorsese
1991 – Cape Fear, Martin Scorsese
1993 – The Age of Innocence, Martin Scorsese
1995 – Casino, Martin Scorsese

Saul Bass on the Web
Saul Bass Interview
Saul Bass Movie Posters

AIGA: Saul Bass by David R. Brown
Titles Designed by Saul Bass
Saul Bass: Designer Information
Communication Arts: Pioneers Saul Bass
Digital Media FX: Saul Bass A Film Title Pioneer
Speak Up: AT&T Says Bye-bye to Saul Bass
Cinemacom

Saul Bass and Associates
Saul Bass by Pat Kirkham, Martin Scorcese (Contributor)
6 Chapters in Design: Saul Bass, Ivan Chermayeff, Milton Glaser, Paul Rand, Ikko Tanaka, Henryk Tomaszewski by Ivan Chermayeff, Milton Glaser, Paul Rand, Ikko Tanaka, Henrvk Tomaszewski, Saul Bass, Ginza Guraffiku Gyarari (Corporate Author), Philip B. Meggs (Editor)
Saul Bass: A Life in Film and Design by Joe Morgenstern
Album Cover Art of Soundtracks by Saul Bass (Foreword), Frank Jastfelder, Stefan Kassel
USA-Plakate: Sean Adams, Walter Allner, Saul Bass