the mehallo blog. beta.

TRIO was a brilliantly odd cable network that sort of ended up being shuffled about and sort of vanished from tee vee in an acquisition by NBC that included similar net Bravo and a bunch of other things. That’s the short way to put it. In all, NBC ended up channeling its money and energy into Bravo.

Some of TRIO’s wares included Brilliant But Canceled, re-airings of great television programs that were too smart for their own good. Today, TRIO lives as a web archive (with a link back to Bravo, of course) – and Brilliant But Canceled is now a web blog.

In all this, Scott Stowell‘s open designed the look of the network, with design studio No.17 creating the logo; filmmaker Chris Wilcha and music supervisors Agoraphone along for the ride.

Official TRIO page here. Open’s portfolio (with videos) here. AIGA TRIO design article here.

They were brilliant, tho canceled.

Tags: cool finds, design, design history by steve
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Here’s a trilogy of videos for Swedish electro-pop group The Knife.

Found via Victoria Arriaga

Tags: cool finds, design, music by steve
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Star Wars vs. Saul Bass (2007)

Star Wars vs. Saul Bass (above) is described as ‘If Star Wars was filmed two decades earlier and Saul Bass did the opening title sequence, it ‘might’ look like this.’ The animation was created as part of a school project.

A more recent mashup is Tron vs. Saul Bass (below).

Tron vs. Saul Bass (2009)

The designer has also made a bunch of matching posters, sort of how Bass used to.

Tags: cool finds, design, design history by steve
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So for years I was under the impression that Saul Bass also designed the logo (above) for KTVU Channel 2 in Oakland. But only the master can do so much; turns out Michael Vanderbyl is the guy behind the two.

Can’t always be right (thanks for the update Jeff).

Below, KTVU 50th Anniversary spots from 2008. If you’re from the Bay Area – and happen to remember the 1970s – these may seem familiar:

Tags: cool finds, design history by steve
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Located on the corner of 16th and Q Streets in Sacramento stands a colorful pole sculpture whose history is tied to that of legendary designer Saul Bass.

And back in 2006, former ADAC president Michael Kennedy dug up a ton of history/detail on the construct – which he compiled in an article for the club’s newsletter.

I’m reposting that article here.

Today, the sculpture is a nice punctuation for Sacramento’s coolest restaurant, Hot Italian. A study in stark black and white interior and graphic design, Hot Italian sits directly across the street.

Recently, I took some night shots.

Tags: art, cool finds, culinary, design, design history by steve
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Intro

Here are some highlights from a candid documentary (shot in 1986) on Saul Bass. The doc is available as a 2-DVD set here.

On making money vs. quality work

Advice to design teachers

Advice to students

Thoughts on his legacy

Tags: cool finds, design, design history, education, thoughts by steve
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Rumsey Taylor’s 2005 Saul Bass site features detailed interactive, frame-by-frame analysis of Bass’ movie title work; as well as some movie reviews.

View em in detail here.

Tags: cool finds, design, design history, education, typography by steve
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‘Bass on Titles presents a comprehensive, well-rounded retrospective of Academy Award-winner, Saul Bass’ film title sequence design.’

With really bizarre dialog screwy sound looping fx. Watch it above. From 1977.

Tags: cool finds, design history, education, typography by steve
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Brendan Dawes’ cool little tribute to graphic designer Saul Bass.

Tags: cool finds, design history by steve
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‘For the MuseumStore, typographer Jack Stauffacher designed a special line of products using the SFMOMA letters. Items include T-shirts, canvas tote bags, reusable grocery bags, mugs, ceramic double-walled coffee cups, and acrylic tumblers’

Details here. (Products are not quite at the SFMOMA site yet, hopefully they are coming soon!)

Plus
At Design Observer, Book Shelves from Stauffacher’s Greenwood Press. Photographs by Dennis Letbetter.

Tags: cool finds, design, photography, typography by steve
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Knitting & Sewing Doodles, a dingbat font by Wisconsin-based Rae Kaiser. Available at MyFonts.

Tags: cool finds, design, fashion, fonts, typography by steve
2 comments  . . .