I created my own poster of recent film 'Tropic Thunder' in the style of Saul Bass. I cut simple shapes out of a variety of different papers and arranged them accordingly.
David Carson
American graphic designer David Carson was born in Corpus Christi 1952. As a child he travelled a great deal due to his father’s work. When doing his Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology Carson went to Switzerland to partake in a short graphic design workshop. It was here that he met a great source of inspiration, Hans-Rudolph Lutz.
His archive of magazines that he contributed to continued to expand over the 80s and 90s, it included various surfing magazines and style magazine ‘Ray Gun’. He is famous for his experimental typography which is sometimes close to illegible.
In the late 90s he moved from magazines to corporate work for multinational companies such as Nike and Levis.
His archive of magazines that he contributed to continued to expand over the 80s and 90s, it included various surfing magazines and style magazine ‘Ray Gun’. He is famous for his experimental typography which is sometimes close to illegible.
In the late 90s he moved from magazines to corporate work for multinational companies such as Nike and Levis.
This is one of the covers David Carson designed for magazine ‘Ray Gun’. It immediately captures attention due to its originality and randomness; there is half a vivid red tomato that appears to be floating above the ground. This stands out against the black and white photo. There is also a girl wearing a short leopard print skirt who looks like she might have been on a night out. Perhaps she is bent over about to be sick – maybe that is why Carson possitioned her head over the tomato.
The font the magazine name is written in has a drop shadow to make it stand out. The lack of colour adds a serious element to the cover. The colours Carson has used are all of the same tone.
The font the magazine name is written in has a drop shadow to make it stand out. The lack of colour adds a serious element to the cover. The colours Carson has used are all of the same tone.
The man in this image appears lonely; his back is slumped forward making him seem depressed. His white surroundings add to this desolate feel; it makes me think of someone walking through the snow. The layout of the lettering means that it looks like the man’s shadow. The cut of his suit and the shape of his hat do not seem modern.
The cover of this magazine shows a man wearing swimming shorts with his legs kicking out as if he were about to dive into a pool. The man’s arm is pointing downwards towards the barcode and the words ‘premiere issue’. This leads your eye around the page. The title ‘Blue’ is written in orange; the opposite colour. There is no blue on the cover whatsoever; the rest is sepia.
Neville Brody
Neville Brody is a British graphic designer born in 1957 who’s portfolio of work continues to expand. He is the former art director of the Face Magazine after which he proceeded to carry out work for various other international magazines including The Observer. He uses experimental techniques to achieve original designs; his work for Face which began in 1980 was extrememly innovative for the time. However he began making his way by designing posters for local gigs. Today he works with research partner Fwa Richards at his company Research Studios which they launched in 1994.
As the title suggests this poster is made up of four cassettes inserts. Being such an original idea it makes it a very successful piece. The poster shows a boy grinning at something; you’re drawn to his gap-toothed smile. In the lower left hand corner there are some shapes that’s could be trees and clouds. There is another child in the top right hand corner who is also smiling. The central boy is pixellated which makes it feel dated.
This is a magazine spread Brody designed for an article on Brian Eno. As it is a magazine article Brody has used justified columns with bold headings. The introduction is larger and bolder than the main article. The ‘o’ from the heading ‘Eno’ overlaps with a black cross. This cross is mirrored in white on the opposite page over the top of the black and white photograph. The focus of the photo is an ashtray and not Eno; he is resting his head on his hand looking away from the camera.
Here is another spread for face magazine that Brody designed. He has labelled each face modelling sunglasses with a number. The numbers then match up to the relevant captions in the bottom right hand corner.
Saul Bass
Born in 1920, died in 1996, Saul Bass began his artistic career at Art Students' League in Manhattan.
Bass’ highly acclaimed work can be distinguished by his simple but characteristic style. He is probably most famous for his animated title sequences which made films such as ‘Vertigo’ and ‘Psycho’ a major attraction, his first being Otto Preminger’s ‘Carmen Jones’ in 1954. Previous title sequences were not of particular interest to the audience and therefore most cinemas did not open the curtains for them. However, Bass specifically requested for the curtains to be opened so his work could be viewed.
Throughout his career he also created many film posters one of the most famous being ‘The Man with the Golden Arm’. He used paper cut into irregular shapes to build up images incorporating elements from the film. This was a relatively new concept and led to the success of his work; previously film posters were illustrated with photos of the famous actors and did not connect to the film’s plot.
‘The Man with the Golden Arm’ was a film about a jazz player who had to overcome his heroin addiction. His original poster is a simple but effective design. In the centre gold text frames a black silhouette of an arm. As the arm is the only identifiable shape the poster has, attention is drawn to it. It not only directly relates to the title but also gives peo
ple an idea of what the film was about; the man injected into his arm.
The use of dark colours may reflect the despair the drug addict felt throughout his rehab. Bass has also limited the number of colours he used, which suggests loneliness.
The angular shapes are cut out free hand giving them an uneven edge. This reminds me of cut outs by Matisse due to the block colour and simple shapes.
The poster Bass designed for ‘Vertigo’ again uses very few colours but is still eye-catching – the bright red background grabs attention, perhaps symbolising danger.
Bass uses a white spiral, which is drawn in such a way to suggest, as the title implies, looking down from a height. In the centre of the spiral is a silhouette of a man and the outline of a woman. The man on his own looks as though he is running away from something but as a pair they look as though they are dancing. As they are placed at the centre of the spiral it makes me think that perhaps the illness is of great affect and importance (good or bad) to them. In the poster it appears to engulf the two.
There is little text; two names of the actors starring in the film, the director and the title. It is all written in the same uneven style; when two of the same letters appear they do not look the same.
My favourite Saul Bass poster is for ‘Advise and Consent’;
I really like the way Bass uses text to create a object, in this case a bag. As the writing is compressed from a distance it merges together to look like shading.
Unlike most of Bass’ posters the title is not very large, instead it has been incorporated into the tag that hangs from the bad.
Bass’ highly acclaimed work can be distinguished by his simple but characteristic style. He is probably most famous for his animated title sequences which made films such as ‘Vertigo’ and ‘Psycho’ a major attraction, his first being Otto Preminger’s ‘Carmen Jones’ in 1954. Previous title sequences were not of particular interest to the audience and therefore most cinemas did not open the curtains for them. However, Bass specifically requested for the curtains to be opened so his work could be viewed.
Throughout his career he also created many film posters one of the most famous being ‘The Man with the Golden Arm’. He used paper cut into irregular shapes to build up images incorporating elements from the film. This was a relatively new concept and led to the success of his work; previously film posters were illustrated with photos of the famous actors and did not connect to the film’s plot.
‘The Man with the Golden Arm’ was a film about a jazz player who had to overcome his heroin addiction. His original poster is a simple but effective design. In the centre gold text frames a black silhouette of an arm. As the arm is the only identifiable shape the poster has, attention is drawn to it. It not only directly relates to the title but also gives peo
ple an idea of what the film was about; the man injected into his arm.The use of dark colours may reflect the despair the drug addict felt throughout his rehab. Bass has also limited the number of colours he used, which suggests loneliness.
The angular shapes are cut out free hand giving them an uneven edge. This reminds me of cut outs by Matisse due to the block colour and simple shapes.
The poster Bass designed for ‘Vertigo’ again uses very few colours but is still eye-catching – the bright red background grabs attention, perhaps symbolising danger.
Bass uses a white spiral, which is drawn in such a way to suggest, as the title implies, looking down from a height. In the centre of the spiral is a silhouette of a man and the outline of a woman. The man on his own looks as though he is running away from something but as a pair they look as though they are dancing. As they are placed at the centre of the spiral it makes me think that perhaps the illness is of great affect and importance (good or bad) to them. In the poster it appears to engulf the two.There is little text; two names of the actors starring in the film, the director and the title. It is all written in the same uneven style; when two of the same letters appear they do not look the same.
My favourite Saul Bass poster is for ‘Advise and Consent’;
I really like the way Bass uses text to create a object, in this case a bag. As the writing is compressed from a distance it merges together to look like shading.Unlike most of Bass’ posters the title is not very large, instead it has been incorporated into the tag that hangs from the bad.
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