Saul Bass: Anatomy of Film Design

For film and design students, this book about Saul Bass is requisite reading. He is a legend in the design world. He created movie titles for such films as Psycho, Vertigo, Casino, and over thirty-six others, along with posters and commercial art. He storyboarded numerous movie scenes and may have directed many more. He had a right of first refusal to design work for companies such as AT&T and Lawry’s. I overheard him once lecture a designer on typography. Bass said, “The function of typography is to be read.” One can see Bass’s influence in movie and TV titles such as Mad Men.

This book is jam-packed with Bass’s work throughout his long career. Bass lived to be seventy-six years old and was highly productive during most of his adult life. It was inspiring for me to meet Saul Bass and find him so approachable. For several decades he was a most influential commercial designer, whose use of the grid method of design created clean, impactful images. He had a knack for seeing through to the big idea and rendering it simply. This book is a slow read, but for those interested in Bass, it is essential.