Classic film fans woke up to a wonderful treat this morning from Google, which decided to honor the late legendary graphic designer Saul Bass on what would have been his 93rd birthday. The internet giant’s Google Doodle for the day is an animation inspired by Bass’ legendary title designs and posters.
The doodle starts off with the Google name being cut up just like at the start of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, then moves to Otto Preminger’s The Man with the Golden Arm title. That’s followed by an animation inspired by Bass’ poster for Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus, which dissolves into West Side Story. Google then moves to Hitchcock’s Psycho and North By Northwest. The rest of the animation features the titles from Preminger’s Anatomy of a Murder, the original Oceans 11 and Around the World In 80 Days.
According to Bass’ biography from the Design Museum, Bass’ work made seeing a movie from the absolute beginning important at a time when titles were seen as just a few cards that told audiences who was in the movie. Bass linked the themes of the films he worked on with his titles. The titles for Psycho show off the fractured nature of Norman Bates’ mind, while Spartacus’ titles showed humanity trying to break from bondage.
While he is best known for his work in film, Bass designed many iconic logos, as shown at the American Institute of Graphic Arts, such as the AT&T logo.
Bass was born in New York in 1920 and died in Los Angeles in 1996 at age 75.
image: Google