Thinking Made Visible : Movement, Narrative, and the Work of Saul Bass

An exploration of Saul Bass''s innovative and inspirational design work-corporate, architectural, and cinematic-with particular emphasis on how he creates dimensionality and the illusion of motion

From logos of some of the most common American brands, to film posters and opening-credit sequences, to the architectural design of one of the most seemingly mundane retail spaces in American life, Saul Bass''s work and that which he inspired is all around us. In Thinking Made Visible: Movement, Narrative, and the Work of Saul Bass, Jacob Dickerson focuses primarily on Bass''s poster designs for films such as The Man with the Golden Arm and corporations like AT&T. Dickerson also examines Bass''s original documentary films on innovation and solar power as well as his designs for Exxon and BP service stations. The emphasis is on Bass''s consistent use of motifs such as images of hands and suns, arguing for a hopeful and humanitarian interpretation of his work. Dickerson also explores the role of space-both visual and physical-and how Bass created a sense of motion to tell stories even within a single still image.