This document discusses Saul Bass and his pioneering role in developing title sequences and motion graphics. It outlines Bass' influences from European modernism and how he simplified styles to create emotionally resonant designs. Bass is credited with elevating title sequences into an art form and creating memorable designs for many films. His work emphasized simplicity, strong visual symbols, and conveying emotion. His title sequences set moods and expressed stories metaphorically. Bass' techniques trained modern motion graphic designers' abilities to abstractly extract key information and reconcile graphics and motion. His work demonstrated how structured motion can create emotion in digital art and informed later developments in effective information design, immersive experiences, and unleashing human emotion through visual manipulation.

1. EMOTION
IN
MOTION
EMOTIONAL ELEMENT IN DIGITAL ART
FROM SAUL BASS TO MOTION GRAPHICS

2. Saul Bass
Emotional Element
EMOTIONAL FNTION
IN DIGITAL
ABSTRACT
Motion Graphics
Function & Extension
Emotional Element
Emotional Element

3. Saul Bass
Pioneer
of
Motion
Graphics
[1]INTRODUCTION

4. Born in NewYork on 1920 May 8th. He was trained
as an animator at the Art Student League in New
York under HowardTrafton and Gyorgy Kepes at
Broolyn College.
He worked as a freelance designer until in 1946 he
moved to Los Angeles and established his own firm
Saul Bass and Associates.
SAUL BASS

5. ART
DECO
Surrealism
European
Modernism

6. European
Modernism
The European modernists imbued their work with an
inherent morality and social consciousness and were
often associated with left-wing politics.
Intrigued by the emerging technologies of the day, they
eschewed ornament, rejecting what they saw as the
frivolous strokes of Victorian and art nouveau styles.

7. 1.Emphasis on orderliness and
functionality of visual arts
2. Their work was both spare
(thinks of Mies’ famous dictum
“Less is more” ) and lyrical.
European
Modernism
To Jacques Nayral
Albert Gleizes (French, 1881-1953)

8. Surrealism
Surrealism is a movement where artist painted unnerving,
illogical scenes with photographic precision, created
strange creatures from everyday objects and developed
painting techniques that allowed the unconscious to
express it self and/or an idea/concept.
(The 20th Century Art,2001)

9. ART
DECO
Art Deco is a movement inspired by the advancement of
industrial machines, which is typically expressed by the
usage of streamlined, colored, overlapping and repeating
geometric elements.

10. [2]GRAPHIC DESIGNER
GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Bass was initially influenced by European
modernism, combining with domestic
situation and his personality. Bass adjusts it
and forms his own American simplified
designing style, which is full of pragmatic
simplicity and animated sophistication.
Bass mainly adopts simplified structure to
achieve his visual amplification.

11. [2]GRAPHIC DESIGNER
34 YEARS LONGIVITY
Annyas (an artist) made a calculation of
Bass’s corporate logos and found that the
average longevity is more than 34 years and
counting.
CIS
Saul Bass’s logo design also represent the
early successful design for Corporate Identity
System (CIS)
GOOGLE DOODLE
On 2013 May 8th, Google Doodle
celebrated the 93rd birthday for
his legendary contribution in art.

12. 34 Years Logevity
GOOGLE
DOODLE
Corporate Identity
System

13. GOOGLE
DOODLE

14. SIMPLIFICA
TION
Simplified structures, highly recognizable
graphics and uncomplicated colors

15. VISUALI
ZATION
Refined visual symbols

16. EMOTIONVisual Effects & Resonance
“Design is thinking made visual.”
“Interesting thins happen when the creative impulse is cultivated with curiosity, freedom and intensity”
----Saul Bass

19. GRAPHIC
DESIGNER
Compared to European techniques,
this modified style builds a more
emotional connection with viewers.
TITLE
SEQUENCE
DESIGNER

20. [3]TITLE SEQUENCE
DESIGNER
EARLY TITLE SEQUENCETitle sequences at that time were dreary as well. Only in
very special instances, the vast majority of title sequences
in the studio era were text against nondescript
backgrounds.
TEXT
INTEREST OF AUDIENCE
RESONANCE

21. [3]The Man with the Golden Arm
Later, they made more in collaboration in The Man
with the Golden Arm(1955), the whole cinematic
world was astonished and admired Bass as the
artist/designer “who invented the opening credit
sequence as a free-standing movie-before-a-movie
and elevated it into an art” (Jason, Sussberg)
Collaboration with Directors
Alfred Hitchcock: Vertigo, North by Northwest,
Psycho and so on. Stanley Kubrick: Spartacus, A
Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange. Billy Wilder:
Love in the Afternoon, One Two Three, The Seven
Year Inch and Martin Scorsese.
Otto Preminger
Otto Preminger hired Bass to design a logo and
posters for his films, The Moon is Blue (1953) and
Carmen Jones (1954), based on Bass extraordinary
visualized techniques in graphic design, Otto asked
one more related title sequence.
TITLE SEQUENCE
DESIGNER

22. The Man with the Golden Arm[3]TITLE SEQUENCE
DESIGNER

23. Why Man Creates[3]TITLE SEQUENCE
DESIGNER
This Film won the Academy Award of Documentary Short Subject, it becomes obvious that while Bass flourished
creatively within the parameters of a theme set forth by the filmmakers he created titles for, he had a great deal
more to express beyond his work as a title designer, which similarly indicates that Bass is willing to serve himself to
explore the essence of human emotion.

24. HOLLYWOODOutside
Hollywood had become self-important and incestuous after the Second World War.
Hollywood strikes led to the formation of Scenic and Title Artist 816,a union for graphic artists and designers in
the film industry comprised of sign painters and advertising artists.

25. TECHNIQUEInside
Graphic design background.
Entry level for modern after effects workers.

26. [4]MOTION GRAPHIC
MOTION GRAPHICS
Motion graphics use video footage or
animation technology to create the
illusion of motion or rotation, and are
usually combined with audio for use in
multimedia projects

27. COMPARISM WITH ANIMATION
MOTION GRAPHICS
Motion graphics pursues ”form” and ”reform” in time-structural design.
Emotional elements tie with motion and every frame prepares them as a
perfect layout for viewers (Robert, K, Greenleaf, 2003).
Refined basic graphics normally applies in motion graphics for amplifying
visualization. As Bass’ classic simplified style to explore the significance of
visualization, motion graphics focuses visual impacts and accentuates form
more than context.

28. COMPARISM WITH GRAPHIC
DESIGN
MOTION GRAPHICS
The most characteristic feature in motion graphics is motion. Motion
graphics concentrates on an interpretation of digital harmony.
Analysis of Bass’ graphic and title sequence works, he develops both of
them in a mutual process. For one thing, those amplified visual effects in
graphic design trains him to become sensitive for abstraction. For another,
discrimination of key frames polishes his eye for extraction. He makes
reconciliation between graphic design and title sequence design, which is
also the standing point for motion graphics.

29. EMOTION

30. 1
2
3
4
EMOTION:
is a term that refers to
Parkinson (e.g., 1994).
Its experience depends
on four features:
appraisal of external
stimulus or situation,
reaction of the body,
facial expression, and
action tendencies. STRUCTURED MOTION
BEGETS EMOTION
---John Whitney Digital Harmony
MOTION GRAPHIC:
Motion Graphics apply a
mechanism reconciling
multiple variables in a
harmonic cycle, which
indicates that motion
graphics is structured
and emotional elements
are actually inserted in it.
DIGITAL ART
Motion Graphics could
rapidly adjust to multiple
various digital media
environments such as:
television advisement,
portable game machine,
outdoors LED screen, live
performance and
interactive installation.

31. Emotional Element
Is given more features of our digital age

32. M
Effective Information
User-Friendly Experience
Immersion

33. Ideas are easier to be understood
in motion, and effectiveness
builds on the foundation of
comprehension.
Title sequences
Data visualization
Info Graphics
EFFECTIVE
INFORMATION

34. With the appearance of touch
screens and remote sensors.
Six-sense installation
Apps on iPhone and iPad
Web Frontier Developer
User Friendly

35. Game Design
Digital Projection
Live Control
IMMERSION

36. [5]CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
Bass’s work is remarkably prescient for the later
motion graphic in application to digital art. He
teaches us that “Design is thinking made visual”
and implies us that thinking makes emotional
vitality of design. Modern days, we explore
emotional attributes and function is because we
are intended to manipulate them more mature and
ultimately, to find an exit to unleash our natural
emotion.
In conclusion, his technique of simplified
sophistication is ought to be viewed as an
instrumental guide for our human locating our
mental niche. We should learn to interpret
everything from an emotional angel and utilize the
power we learnt from Bass and to cope with other
problems in our life.

37. SAUL BASSE SAID:
“My initial thoughts about what a title can do was to set mood and the prime
underlying core of the film’s story, to express the story in some metaphorical way. I
saw the titles as a way of conditioning the audience, so that when the film actually
began, viewers would already have an emotion resonance with it. ”

38. WENZHUO
DUAN
2014.12
THANKS