Gimme that Bass!

Saul Bass is one of my favorite graphic designers.  I'm a big fan of his works, especially his movie posters and flyers for musical events.  His designs are simple, but they are so moving and powerful and they allow you to draw up your own conclusion as to what the movie, play, or musical is supposed to be about. 

Anatomy of a Murder. 1959. Through the use of simple shapes, colors, and lines, Saul Bass achieves a well-balanced and proportioned movie poster. In its entirety is simple but I believe because it is so simple, it causes the eye to move all around the illustration just in case you happened to overlook something the first time.

Vertigo. 1958. The poster uses a great emphasis on line & shape in both the figures and the font causing a sense of balance throughout the whole poster. However, the spiral encases a point of emphasis surrounding the two figures.

Saint Joan. 1957. The colors used in this piece cause a somber feeling but it achieves a sense of unity at the same time, especially in the background with all the different red & purple tones -- maybe those colors symbolized "fire" sense of Joan of Arc was burned to death. Although the squares are not perfect, they do come together and create a neat background for the simple figure to stand in front of. The overall texture of the poster, excluding the font, is rugged, which happens to emphasize Joan of Arc's lifestyle -- rugged.