Happy Birthday, Saul Bass

May 8, 2013 8:07 AM

Google is celebrating what would have been graphic designer Saul Bass' 93rd birthday with a Doodle celebrating some of his most famous title sequences. The doodle, set appropriately to Dave Brubeck's "Unsquare Dance, " pays homage to Bass' visual work on Psycho, The Man With The Golden Arm, Spartacus, West Side Story, Vertigo, North by Northwest, Anatomy of a Murder, and Around the World in 80 Days.
posted by troika (30 comments total)

Hmmm, the problem I always have with Bass pastiches is that they never seem to capture the texture of his designs, it's slight but it's there, and almost every re-creation smooths them out into blank squares.
posted by The Whelk at 8:12 AM on May 8, 2013 [3 favorites]

I love the title sequence he did for Gran Prix.
posted by octothorpe at 8:23 AM on May 8, 2013

The Gran Prix titles are downright fetishistic. Great stuff. I'll always be partial to the Northwest by Northwest titles. Gold standard in title design, IMHO.
posted by Doleful Creature at 8:29 AM on May 8, 2013

I loved this google doodle because it did what only a small handful of google doodles have done for me before:

1) hover over image to see who it's for
2) I have no idea who that is
3) watch the google doodle
4) OH THAT GUY
5) ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
posted by phunniemee at 8:31 AM on May 8, 2013 [4 favorites]

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.
posted by mazola at 8:33 AM on May 8, 2013 [2 favorites]

Ocean's Eleven
posted by blucevalo at 8:39 AM on May 8, 2013 [2 favorites]

My dad worked for the Bell System. Between his omnipresent Bell logo and all of his other work, Saul Bass practically designed the world I grew up in.

I hope whoever butchered his AT&T "death star" rots in hell.
posted by entropicamericana at 8:39 AM on May 8, 2013 [2 favorites]

Bass pastiches

Basstiches, surely.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:46 AM on May 8, 2013 [2 favorites]

I didn't realize Bass designed the Bell logo. I always suspected it had been done by the same person who designed the original EPCOT Center logos. Now they seem like ripoffs!
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:53 AM on May 8, 2013

...the problem I always have with Bass pastiches is that they never seem to capture the texture of his designs...

This, absolutely.
It saddens me whenever yet another "homage" to Bass makes its rounds, it's always just yet another mischaracterization of his style and design sense, fueled by the ownership of a copy of Adobe Illustrator. Yes, Bass' work was graphic. But, it was far from soulless and sterile.
posted by Thorzdad at 8:55 AM on May 8, 2013

Every Saul Bass thread deserves a mention of Why Man Creates (previously). I first saw that movie in 6th grade and there are moments from it permanently imprinted on my mind.
posted by roll truck roll at 8:57 AM on May 8, 2013 [2 favorites]

Actually the end credits of Monster INC where "Bass-inspired" and came really close to hitting the spirit of the design, texture and all, then most Bass-style stuff I've seen.
posted by The Whelk at 8:57 AM on May 8, 2013 [2 favorites]

Wow! I just came here to say how tired I was getting from the constant output of the Google Doodle army and half an hour later, I've really learned something and developed a strong appreciation for Saul Bass's body of work. Thanks everyone!
posted by salishsea at 8:59 AM on May 8, 2013

The Whelk - I didn't notice this before making the post, but Matthew Cruickshank, the doodle's animator, illustrated a Monsters University book.
posted by troika at 9:08 AM on May 8, 2013 [2 favorites]

Last time I was with my nieces, my favorite of their children's books was the Wall E Little Golden Book. It perfectly nails both the classic LGB look and the minimalistic storytelling style of Wall E. I love knowing that someone on Pixar is doing those books right, rather than just passing them off to some moron.
posted by roll truck roll at 9:22 AM on May 8, 2013 [1 favorite]

There's a fine line between homage and fromage, and with someone of such unimpeachable genius as Saul Bass I'd hate to be the designer charged with staying on the right side. Cruickshank did a very good job.

I don't think it's too much of a stretch to compare Bass with Bach. Both had the ability to produce lapidary work of sublime simplicity that defy replication. Both are instantly recognisable yet undefinable. Both define a milieu, and effortlessly transport you there in a moment. Neither fade, not by an iota, no matter how many times you experience them.

Good call, Google.
posted by Devonian at 9:43 AM on May 8, 2013 [1 favorite]

Google Doodles, particularly the ones that pastiche a particular artist's style, are starting to feel less like some well-meaning employee having fun and more like a marketing team's attempts to harness Google's image to something substantial. They are Google vicariously declaring itself to be as iconic as Saul Bass, Douglas Adams, Ella Fitzgerald, Martin Luther King. They're tastefully done, but only just, and have become less so over time. They're like the corporate marketing equivalent of photoshopping celebrities into the background of your party photos.
posted by oulipian at 9:46 AM on May 8, 2013 [1 favorite]

bonus to Google for being aware that Brubeck did more than one song!
posted by thelonius at 10:16 AM on May 8, 2013 [2 favorites]

My dad worked for the Bell System. Between his omnipresent Bell logo and all of his other work, Saul Bass practically designed the world I grew up in.

See also Paul Rand.
posted by Sys Rq at 10:22 AM on May 8, 2013 [1 favorite]

Saul Bass worked on many of my very favorite movies.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 10:45 AM on May 8, 2013

Star Wars vs. Saul Bass (which I'm pretty sure I first saw linked on the blue).
posted by gimonca at 11:04 AM on May 8, 2013

Every time I went to Google today I was too busy to figure out what today’s doodle was, so thanks for pointing it out. (But yikes, I only caught Spartacus and WSS on the first pass.)

And I'm not as cool as you cool kids, cos I think being the Google doodle person seems like a great job.
posted by NorthernLite at 11:27 AM on May 8, 2013

Modern title sequences inspired by Saul Bass:

Catch Me if You Can
The Incredibles
Archer
posted by mhum at 11:44 AM on May 8, 2013 [1 favorite]

Here's one of his last, and one of his best in my opinion.
posted by Mcable at 1:20 PM on May 8, 2013

Doodle doesn't get past the play screen for me on OS/X, Chrome and Safari...
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 1:49 PM on May 8, 2013

thelonius: "bonus to Google for being aware that Brubeck did more than one song"

It's not that hard to google that, after all.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 2:30 PM on May 8, 2013

Mr. Bass's designs are brilliant and so glad I was introduced to his work. Here is another designer I admire that comes to mind when I think of the breathe of work Mr. Bass did; Erik Nitsche. Love!
posted by happysocks at 2:47 PM on May 8, 2013

Did you know he also directed a feature film? One of the most weirdly wonderful sci-fi films ever made, imho. I give you: Phase IV.

(And if you're really feeling adventurous, I suggest watching as a double feature with Shane Carruth's latest, Upstream Color.)
posted by otherthings_ at 4:36 PM on May 8, 2013

Love love love him.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:40 PM on May 8, 2013

bonus to Google for being aware that Brubeck did more than one song!

That's right! There was Take Seventeen and a Half, Take Five Hundred Forty Seven x Fourteen, Take My Wife Please, Take the Last Train To Westchester, Take Another Little Piece of My Fake Book, Baby... The man was prolific!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:44 PM on May 8, 2013