Advanced Typography & Publication Design: Discussion Point 2: Soul Bass Vs Wang Zhihong

Wang ZhiHong (1975-)

An award-winning graphic designer based in Taiwan, 38 year old ZiHong graduated from Department of Advertisement Design at Fu-Hsin Trade and Arts School in 1995 and started his studio in 2000. He has collaborated with trade publishers in launching his imprints “INSIGHT” and “SOURCE”, two bold works featuring translated titles on art and design, with many renowned Japanesse and Taiwanesse artists including, Kashiwa Sato, Araki Nobuyoshi, Kenya Hara, Yayoi Kusama, Tadanori Yokoo and Otl Aicher. A six-time winner of Golden Butterfly Awards (One of Taiwan's most treasured Graphic design and Creative Industry awards), Taiwan’s highest honor for excellence in book design. This has been the main focus of his work for the last few years. He has also won the Kaoru Kasai’s Choice Award and Silver Awards from HKDA Global Design Awards, as well as Excellent Works from Tokyo Type Directors Club Annual Awards.

What I find Most interesting about some of his work is the attention to detail within context. The examples below show ho ZiHong used the essence of the work itself to create a meaningful conceptualisation of his own finished design. READ and BREAD are perhaps the clearest examples.

You Can Find more of his work, here, at his website.

Saul Bass: (1920-1996)

"Design is thinking made visible."

Born in Manhattan, Saul Bass was an American graphic designer and Oscar winning filmmaker, best known for his design of motion picture title sequences, film posters and corporate logos. He is also most noted for the close affiliation and work he has completed for Alfred Hitchcock Films, with his most famous animation being the opening sequence for "Anatomy of a Murder".

Bass uses modernist techniques combined with simple form and animation that created revolutionary results for the time. It was this kind of innovative, revolutionary work that made Bass a revered graphic designer. Before the advent of Bass’s title sequences in the 1950s, titles were generally static, separate from the movie, and it was common for them to be projected onto the cinema curtains, the curtains only being raised right before the first scene of the movie. (So in other words, it's him to blame for the ever growing title sequences to wade through!)

However, it has also been noted that once you see the opening titles to a film that Saul Bass has done, you can walk out of the theatre because you know exactly what the film's about: he has shown you the entire thing in the first minute or so. Which in the case of "Anatomy of a murder" (see below) seems true.