#also a reason i started signing my name more legibly and why my blog web address is always there but apparently no one can even read that

[originalartblog]

Apparently much-needed reminder that reposting artists' art (by saving the images or screenshotting them and reuploading them yourself) on other platforms without the artists' expressed permission and without credit is theft and an insult to their passion and craft. You are profiting (in views, in attention, in feedback) from someone else's work and ideas, who do not get that feedback for sharing their creation.

If you are an art reposter, you are a thief and I have no respect for you.

[ryrepko-blog]

Biography

Saul Bass Biography

Saul Bass was a successful and prominent American graphic designer during the twentieth century. He is most recognized and remembered by his title sequences at the beginning of television shows and motion pictures, and the corporate logos he designed that still live on today. You’ve probably encountered his work before without even knowing it.  

         Saul Bass was born on May 8th, 1920 in The Bronx, New York, United States to Russian Jewish parents. His parents, Aaron and Pauline Bass who immigrated to the States from Europe in 1907. His father owned a small shop as a furrier, and his mother was a homemaker. He also had an older sister, Slyvia. Bass had a middle-class childhood. His family were known in the community for their generosity and kindness. (Comer 1).

Bass discovered his interest in art and design at a very young age. He was intrigued by movie posters, store signs, and all the different commercial advertisements that he would see out in the world. He started to study and draw them as a child, and his parents encouraged his interest. He recalls looking back and wondering if his love for creating art could have been a result of watching his father work all those years growing up. Although he was “just a furrier”, Bass still considered him to be an artist, and watching him invest so much time and effort into his work process inspired Bass in his own process (Comer 1).

He attended James Monroe High School in the Bronx where he graduated in 1936. During his high school career, he became the editor for the school’s literary and arts publication, The Monroe Doctrine, along with being editor of the yearbook (French 1). He won two awards from the Art Student of New York City, one for excellence in design, and one for excellence in craftsmanship (“Saul Bass” 2004). After graduation, Bass worked as a delivery boy and painted signs for local stores on the side to earn extra cash. Eventually a scout came across one of his storefront painting and after learning who painted it, went on to locate Bass and offer him a scholarship to Art Students League in Manhattan (French 1).

In 1936, he began formally studying there. He took his classes during the night, and worked during the day. While there he grew to admire one of his professors, Howard Trafton. He was a commercial illustrator and professor at his college. He aimed to show his students something in a new, less ordinary way. Bass took this and ran with it, and it would continue to play an evident part in his future designs (Douglas 1).

After college, despite it being the depression, Bass was able to secure a job. His first two jobs had relatively nothing to do with design, but a year after leaving college, he compiled a portfolio and took it around town to various agencies and made multiple calls until he eventually got a call back. Later in 1938, he was offered a position at Warner Brothers, where he would make twice as much. That same year Bass married Ruth Cooper, who he would later have two children with (Douglas 1).

His career eventually led him to relocate in Hollywood, California. It was during his time working there that he collaborated with a filmmaker, Otto Preminger to design a poster for his 1954 film, Carmen Jones. Preminger was so impressed that he asked him to create the film’s title sequence as well (Brown 1). Prior to Bass’s time, title sequences were much more basic, and had no real concept or design behind them. They consisted of just the minimum, the required credits. When Bass designed title sequences, his goal was to symbolize and summarize the film, or give the audience some kind of an idea on what they were about to watch. He recognized that for a film to be truly great and successful, the entire film had to be great, meaning they couldn’t get lazy with the title sequence (Brown 1). After all, that’s the first thing the viewer will see. So, he utilized the possibilities of what a title sequence could be, reinvented it, and mastered it. From that point on Saul Bass was the favored choice when film makers wanted the credits or closing to really add to the audience’s experience. Title sequences and films were never the same. His designs are considered to be some of the most inventive design work of the twentieth century.

In 1941, Bass was offered a position at Twentieth Century-Fox, this was a big career move and raise for him, so he took it. Although he was glad this job gave him more of a say in style and execution, he realized much of it was still fixed with a set formula, ads crammed with anything in hopes to attract the viewer’s attention. Displeased with this style, he left in late 1943 vowing to never work for film advertising again (Douglas 1). Determined to be the artist and designer he wanted to be, he took a fifty percent wage cut and joined Blaine Thompson Company, a well-known agency in New York. The only condition, no film advertisements (Comer 1). He was finally happy with the work he was creating.

One day on his commute to work one day he read that a designer and author he admired was currently teaching at Brooklyn College, and immediately enrolled. He began taking night classes and studying with Gyorgy Kepes, a Hungarian born designer, painter, and art theorist. Kepes was a great inspiration to him and became a mentor to him. He stayed at Brooklyn college from 1944 until 1946 (“Saul Bass” 2004).

After several other jobs at agencies working as everything from the art director, account person, to an office head. What he really wanted to do was design. By 1955 he finally had a practice of his own, Saul Bass & Associates. He hired Elaine Makatura as his assistant, and the two almost immediately clicked creatively, and romantically. Leading Bass to divorce his wife Ruth and remarry to Elaine in 1961. The two made a great team and collaborated on projects for the next four decades. Right around the time Bass created his agency, he created what is still considered to be one of the best title sequences in the film industry, for a movie called “The Man with the Golden Arm”, by Otto Preminger. He went on and designed for more films including Vertigo in 1958, North by Northwest in 1959, and Psycho in 1960 (“Saul Bass” 2004).

In the early 1960’s, Bass and his wife branched away from title sequences, and had two more children with Elaine, one in 1964 and one in 1967. They began working on films of their own, a series of shorts, the most popular being, Why Man Creates (1968), which won an Academy Awards. It was during this time in his life that he and his wife got into corporate identity projects. Some of their highest profile projects included: AT&T, Exxon, Quaker Oats, Girl Scouts, and United Airlines to name a few. Bass’s logos are some of the most long lasting in the industry; the average life span of a Saul Bass logo is about 34 years. Some of his logos are still in use, even 19 years after his death (Brown 1). The reason they’re still in use is because they are timeless, and it’s unlikely anyone could do it better.

Although Bass enjoyed and was great at identity design, him and Elaine were eventually persuaded back into film titles my Martin Scorsese who asked them to do the title sequences for his three films. All the directors Bass ever worked with agreed that there was just something special about the way Bass created a title sequence that made the movie that much more magical, so much so that the movie would never be the same without it (Comer 1).

What made Bass an innovator in design was that while he had a distinctive style, he was constantly evolving and finding new solutions to new problems. He once said, “You can’t find the answer by using somebody else’s answer to another question… It is not so much a moral issue. It just doesn’t work” (Brown 1). Bass died on April 25, 1996 of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 75 years old. It was a loss to the design world and to the many who admired him and his work. Even with him gone, his legacy and impact on the graphic design lives on, inspiring and affecting designers and non-designers alike.

References

 Brown, David R. "1981 AIGA Medalist: Saul Bass." AIGA | the Professional Association for Design. N.p., 2017. Web. 8 Apr. 2017. <http://www.aiga.org/medalist-saulbass>.

Comer, Caitlin. "My Blog." Mid-Century Commercial Artists. Garreth Blackwell, 2015. Web. 8 Apr. 2017. <http://learn.graphicdesignincontext.com/bass/saul-bass-a-biography-of-his-life-and-achievements/>.

Douglas, Ava. "Saul Bass." History of Graphic Design. N.p., 2017. Web. 8 Apr. 2017. <http://www.historygraphicdesign.com/the-age-of-information/the-new-york-school/182-saul-bass>.

French, Philip. "Saul Bass: A Life in Film & Design by Jennifer Bass and Pat Kirkham – Review." The Observer. Guardian News and Media, 29 Oct. 2011. Web. 8 Apr. 2017. <https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/oct/30/saul-bass-life-film-review>.

"Saul Bass." Encyclopedia of Biography. Encyclopedia.com, 2004. Web. 8 Apr. 2017. <http://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/film-and-television-biographies/saul-bass>.

My Critiques

1. The Man with the Golden Arm - I chose this poster because of the composition. I like the Mondrian type layout, with the geometric shapes throughout. Typically, I wouldn’t like the look of the focus point being directly in the center, or close to it, but somehow it works here. The rectangles frame the title well, with the arm having those same geometric shapes that the rest of the poster does. Even though the shapes are not the same on each side, they have different sizes, weights, and colors, the poster still has balance. The typography in this is really nice, how it separates the top fourth of the poster, and the title wraps around the arm and hand and is easily legible. It’s interesting to me that he was able to only use purple once and it still look okay, but I suppose maybe that’s what grounds the poster since it is a somewhat dark color.

2. Vertigo – I chose this poster just because it was really cool to look at. It’s obviously not moving but if you look at it long enough you can kind of see the black shaped person and outline falling down a hole of some sort. With that shape being sort of complex, I like that the color scheme is very simple, three colors, and the typography is very clear and not overwhelming. I do have one critique with this though, and it’s that the word masterpiece touches the illustration and I wish there was more of a space there. The contrast between the black shaped figure and the outline is good too, and that also adds more to the idea that the figure is falling in my opinion.

3. Anatomy of a Murder - This has been one of my favorite posters since I first seen it. The simplicity of it great. You know what it’s a poster for as soon as you look at it, and it’s also visually interesting and pleasing to the eye. The colors, black and red, also symbolize murder in a way. Red for blood, and Black can be associated with dark, bad thoughts. Since the illustration, itself is perfect how it is, I’m glad he put all the text at the bottom together rather than adding it to the illustration. It’s organized well and also grounds the poster. If there’s one thing I don’t like about this poster it’s the black figure at the end of the text, I just kind of think it’s repetitive and unnecessary.

4. Exodus – I chose this piece because it seemed different than a lot of his other posters. The fire and text was different to see. Typically, he would use flat colors so it was nice to see how he did this. It looks realistic and like the wind is blowing it around as it burns the poster. The flat blue background is nice in contrast to the fire, and the black shadows reaching for the gun behind the fire gives me a feeling of desperation. The type “EXODUS” also has that kind of feel of danger or emergency. I like the right alignment of most of the parts works well because that’s the direction the fire is going.

5. The Fixer - I chose this poster because of the line work. I think the line work is really incredible because lines are so simple, but the way he uses them is really interesting. He creates a type of mood with the flow of his lines and the person walking through it gives me the impression of such a vast space, and he does it only using the curves and distance between each line. The color choice goes well with the simple design, I like that he stuck to just three colors. I especially enjoy the detailed castle in the background, it’s rather entriquette compared to the rest of the poster. The poster has good balance even though the castle is settled to the top right. His use of negative space is really nice, my eye follows the castle, to the person, all the way down to the title which has really simple line work like a majority of the poster. It looks hand-drawn also, which I like and appreciate more than a normal font.

[soulshapeslifestyleinteriors]

HOW TO LAUNCH YOUR ONLINE BUSINESS!  

Launch it challenge

HOW TO LAUNCH YOUR ONLINE BUSINESS!  -

Week 5.

Agh Saturday! How good is it!  Well Im going to be honest it was going great until my hubby jumped on the computer and accidentally deleted my previously half written Selfie Saturday blog, #annoyed.  Anyway perhaps it was because I was making fun of his brown jumper + brown pants and asking him if he is trying to be a tree on purpose. #dorkydad #treeman #treepose

Anyway, final week of the'Launch it Challenge!'

Week 5, we are going online guys! Let's get your domain name + website off the ground. 

Domain names

So now you have your amazing business name, you may just want to slow down a second because to get the final tick of approval, you will need to search the domain name data base to see if your business name or variation is available. What is a domain name? Well if your a tue beginner to all this, let me briefly spell it out. A domain name is your online address. With out a domain, you can't really exit online so in our "How to launch your online business challenge" a domain name is 101 of online business. Who you purchase your online address, you will then be able to use it as your actual website address + also to create custom email addresses. 

There are lots of domain name hosts , these are just a few to go check out. I have used crazy domains mostly but there really are so so many so don't limit yourself to these few. Just wanted to make it easy for you to have snoop and get your head around it.

 https://au.godaddy.com/domains/domain-name-search     

https://www.crazydomains.com.au/

https://www.name.com/domain/search

Theres a few sites to get you going. It's free to search and you only pay when you find a domain name that you want to purchase. Honestly most are similar in price but occasional some will have specials so it can be worth shopping around to save a few dollars. So how it works, you will pop your potential business name into the domain name search area.  Let's have a play around with a hypothetical name ummmmmmmmm lol thinking, thinking, ok our business name is 'launch it' so now I will throw launchit (no spaces) into the domain name search + hit enter. So now you will see a bunch of options come up, launchit.com, launchit.com.au, lauchit.net.au, launchit.melbourne. So there are heaps of domain name combinations that will be offered to you, but of course only the ones that haven't already been taken by some other business savvy peep. The most popular domain name combos are obviously .COM,  if your in Australia, .COM.AU, New Zealand .COM.NZ , Europe .COM.EU , you get it!

Now if your business is strictly online and you offer an international service then you will want to aim to get .COM. Why?  Well you will show up in search engines all over the world rather than just your country. It also communicates instantly that you are an international brand. I currently have www.soulshapes.com.au but I also have soulshapes.com on back order as it is currently used by a small photography business in America. Now on this point, if your domain name is not available you will need to go and visit the website to assess whether you want to continue with your business name. Just because your domain name is taken, does NOT mean you have to give up the idea of using it yourself. Go and find + research website with the domain name you wanted for yourself. Look into what sort of company they are. If it is a small company in a different industry in a total different country you may just need to tweak your name a little and you will be fine to still use it yourself. If a company has trademarked a name then that is different again and there are search engines available to search trademarks too. I know in Australia you can search through the business name registry and it will also list trademarks.  In Australia you can have a similar name to another business but it can't be exactly the same. Now if your wanting to stand out as a leader your not going to want a name similar to anyone else in your industry. You will firstly look un original and you will just get lost in website searches. So as I said if you have a name and someone else has something similar but it is not trademarked, they are in a different industry and country I say go for it!  Maybe add on a little extra variation like "launch it Australia" or "Launch it Live"to avoid any copyright issues and even further personalise your brand. With regards to trademarked names I would advise getting a professional to look into your name before going ahead. Make sure your chosen name is legal, and register your name with your country's Business Name Registry before going into our next step which is creating your website!

  Creating you website

This is the FUN bit, but it is also a bit of a headache if you have never done it before. I guess my first bit of advise is, if you have not done this before and you do have a budget you may want to just skip this and outsource it. Sometimes outsourcing can be the best thing you can do for your business and if your wanting cutting edge, top of the range layout and flow then outsourcing could be something to consider.  Although, yes many website platforms make it super easy to create your own website and of course Im about to go into all of that, it's still worth noting that their is a lot more to a good website than just throwing up a few paragraphs of writing and photos. If your looking at creating a large online store and you really want to have an international presence then yes follow these tips, I can totally give you heaps of advise to get you up online, but I will only be touching on it and you will still need to do your own extended research on copyright, layout, graphic communication ect. So  just wanted to to emphasise there is a heap of work that goes into a good website and outsourcing to those who do it everyday may be quicker than trying to teach yourself to become a net nerd overnight. If you don't have a budget, and you are ready to put in lots of hours in layout and content research then whoop lets get on it!

Now that you have your domain name lets go find you a host. These are just a few to get the ball rolling.

www.godaddy.com

www.wordpress.com 

www.squarespace.com

www.websitebuilder.com

www.crazydomains.com.au

You can also head to http://www.webhostingbest10.com/best-website-hosting to check out some reviews on the top 10 website hosts around the world. 

Obviously you will want to check out price, versus value. A few things to look for are, how many pages do you get? Do you get a free personalised email? Some will include SEO optimisation which is where they will help your website show up in search engines + help people actually find you. SEO is so so so important and actually quite tricky. Especially if your competing against a heap pf other large, well established companies with fully developed websites + link backs. Its definitely a great add on to have! You can do your own SEO but again theres quite an art to it and it will take a whole lot of research to get your self up on all that so it is also another great reason to outsource (at least the SEO component).

Once you have had a play, looked at a few templates and worked out which is the best value for you, go ahead and sign up and so you can get started. #exciting #youronline

When you start to create your website, you will be asked what name you want to use for the site. Once entered youwill initially be given a domain name with the hosts name attached. So if you created your site name as "launchitlive" and you are with wordpress.com, then your web address will read www.launchitlive.wordpress.com. Now we of course do NOT want the host name in our web address and because your a super savvy domain name holder your now going to want to customise your address to your personalised domain address. Every platform has tabs in which you can go ahead and customise your sites account details. Details such the website address are customisable and you will need to find where you can import your own domain name and follow the prompts. Don't be scared if things are starting to look a little too geek town like at first,  it really is simple and you will be just entering your personalised domain name that you want your host {wordpress) to take over and host on your behalf. So you will need to specify the exact domain name in full www.launchitive.com.au + also the current host for the domain name. So if you purchased your domain name from crazydomains.com.au you will enter that in to the section that asks for current host address. Once you have popped those two important details into your website host - import domain name area, your new domain name will start to transfer over to and become your new website address. Once you have started the process of transferring your domain name over to your new host (your website) you don't need to do any more. But it is really worth noting that sometimes it can take a few weeks for a domain name to transfer over to a new host. If your wanting to get your site up asap then purchase your domain name from the same place you intend to host your website. This is the quickest way to get your self up and running and possibly will ensure fewer glitches.

Ok so your domain name is up, and your website now reads www.lauchitlive.com.au and the wordpress component has gone! Yes looking good!

Colours, Font + Layout

Ok now this is what I am good at and is really up my alley as a designer. Your now ready to start telling the word all about your services/ products. If your like me you may just want to jump straight on and start playing.

To save yourself sometime, I would actually get a few things clear in your mind before jumping on a playing around like a mad person ( yea this me).

List the colours you love and think suits your brand

Think of the imagery that suits your brand

Choose legible, easy to read fonts. Think about the style of font too, is communicating 2017 fresh + modern or 1995 tacky town

Is their any additional themes you might want to have associated with your branding? (Vintage, country, modern, simple ect)

Do you have testimonials from clients/customers that you can add to your site? (So important!!)

Will you be including a blog? If so what will you call it, what will you talk about with your readers?

Have you got your company policies/ terms and conditions ready to go? (you may need to outsource this)

Really think about the layout and how the information will flow from one page to the next

Once you are clear on the above it will make creating the site so much easier than figuring it all out along the way. In saying that I created mine as I went along and it did take me a lot longer which is why Im giving you this heads up! As I said Im only just touching on all of this as to go into it fully would mean quitting my job as an interior designer + I really need to get back to my own actual work!

Good luck and if you do want any more info feel free to ask me a question below.

Have a gorgeous weekend + I hope you got are feeling suer inspired, ambitious and ready to kick some entrepreneurial ass!  Check in for next weeks "Selfie Saturday". Im going into why it's so important we start to create functional space to practice yoga + meditation in our home + workplace. #designshift #designgoals

 Melanie Sherwell - Interior Designer

Soul Shapes- Lifestyle Interiors