Film

Remembering Saul’s Drive-Time Interviews

By Delphine Hirasuna | May 8, 2013September 4, 2014

Today would have been the legendary Saul Bass’s 93rd birthday and Google Doodle has paid tribute to him on its homepage by piecing together some of his signature film title sequences – “Vertigo,” “The Man with the Golden Arm,” “Psycho,” “Anatomy of a Murder,” “West Side Story,” among others.

This brought to mind my brief encounter with Saul. About two years before he died, I was assigned to interview him for an article on film title sequences. In his late 70s then, Saul had downsized his Sunset Boulevard studio maintaining what he called “a repertory group,” a small core staff with additional expertise brought in on an as needed basis. At the time, he was doing a title sequence for his friend “Marty’s”(Scorsese) film, and explained that at this stage in his career, he only wanted to work with “nice people who respect and like us and who we respect and admire…I don’t want to deal with clients who think we’re just doing a job for them. With rare exception, all our clients think we are wonderful and we think they are wonderful.” From a career standpoint, that seemed to me like the ultimate luxury.

Brand Language

A Logo You Can Hear

By Delphine Hirasuna | March 26, 2013September 4, 2014

Orchestre Symphonique Genevois, comprised of about 70 amateur musicians, is Geneva’s premier amateur orchestra. In rebranding itself, the Orchestre sought an identity that combined the elegance of classical music with contemporary communication and interactive media. Swiss brand strategists KW43 Branddesign took this assignment literally and developed a logotype that evoked both the look of music and the actual sound. The dot of the “I” and the whimsical finials for letters like r, y and g can be read as musical note heads. Put the notes together and they create a melody that the Orchestre calls its new “sound logo.”

Product Design

Food as “Protagonist” of Manga Plates

By Delphine Hirasuna | May 19, 2011September 4, 2014

Manga Plate

As a senior project at the Kyoto Institute of Technology in Japan, designer Mika Tsutai came up with this manga comic drawing approach to decorating Japanese-style plates. It’s a sight-gag that really works best when dining Japanese style, where each dish is served on its own small plate, rather than served with side dishes and entrée placed together on one large dinner plate.

On Tsutai’s manga plates, the food itself becomes the “hero” or subject of the story — e.g., the fist drawing striking a pulverized food mass; the strawberry slices forming the woman’s earrings, a volcano erupting a red lava flow. The presentation is meant to be appreciated as a single visual image. Even the arrangement of plates imitates the panels of manga comic strips. This is just as Tsutai intended. “By placing these dishes in a particular manner, you can transform your dinner table into a story, just like that of a page from a Japanese comic,” he says. It’s an interesting concept for those who like to be entertained while eating, but it’s hard on the cook who has to plan the menu around the storyline. Via Design Boom.