Style combination · Pairs well

Saul and Elaine Bass Conceptual Film Graphics × Corporate Identity Modernism

Bass carried the same reduction to one symbol into the Bell System, Continental and United logos; pair the two when a brand needs an animated mark rather than a static emblem.

From the research on Saul and Elaine Bass Conceptual Film Graphics

Mix them and make something Saul and Elaine Bass Conceptual Film Graphics Corporate Identity Modernism

A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Corporate Identity Modernism, their arrangement from Saul and Elaine Bass Conceptual Film Graphics, the finish from Saul and Elaine Bass Conceptual Film Graphics. Not a real work, and not an image of either style.

What each style brings

Each part of the design comes from the style with the stronger say in it, and each style gives at least two.

Saul and Elaine Bass Conceptual Film Graphics Corporate Identity Modernism

Type from Corporate Identity Modernism: Grotesque & neo-grotesque
Geometric sans
Colour from Saul and Elaine Bass Conceptual Film Graphics: Flat fields
Limited spot colours
Form from Corporate Identity Modernism: Geometric primitives
Non-representational
Composition from Saul and Elaine Bass Conceptual Film Graphics: Isolated object
Sequential narrative
Surface from Saul and Elaine Bass Conceptual Film Graphics: Flat

The type

Open fonts standing in for each style’s own type, which is often hand-drawn or commercial.

Display · Corporate Identity Modernism

Civic

Inter Tight, standing in for Helvetica

Text · Saul and Elaine Bass Conceptual Film Graphics

The film-title and poster language Saul Bass built in Los Angeles from Preminger's Carmen Jones (1954), later made with Elaine Bass. Instead of star portraits, a film gets one symbol (a jagged arm, a body cut into pieces, a spiral) that runs through the poster and an opening sequence in which bars, cut-paper shapes and ragged hand-cut letters move and assemble to the score and set the mood. Their Scorsese titles, up to Casino (1995), carried the same single metaphor into filmed water, flowers and neon. Kuntzel + Deygas's Catch Me If You Can titles (2002) later transposed its handmade look.

Archivo; Saul and Elaine Bass Conceptual Film Graphics used Ragged, paper-cut display lettering with a 'subtly jagged imprecision', drawn and cut in the studio and by freelance letterers and Plain sans-serif credits moved as graphic elements

The colours

The ground and leading colours come from Saul and Elaine Bass Conceptual Film Graphics, with a counter-accent from Corporate Identity Modernism. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

Saul and Elaine Bass Conceptual Film Graphics Corporate Identity Modernism

#111111 ground · 36%
#efe9dc ink · 14%
#e0461f accent · 18%
#e8a92c accent · 14%
#0a4fa0 accent · 10%
#9a9894 accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #111111;
  --ink: #efe9dc;
  --accent-1: #e0461f;
  --accent-2: #e8a92c;
  --accent-3: #0a4fa0;
  --accent-4: #9a9894;
  --font-display: "Inter Tight", sans-serif;
  --font-text: "Archivo", sans-serif;
}

Use it with care

Saul and Elaine Bass Conceptual Film Graphics: The posters, title sequences, film scores and corporate marks are in copyright, and several logos are still registered trademarks: borrow the method (one cut symbol, a flat ground, bars that assemble in time), never a specific arm, spiral, dissected body or logo, and do not present new work as a Bass design. Credit Elaine Bass and the letterers where the record names them rather than attributing everything to Saul.