‘Saul Bass’ invitation – Cooper & Beatty, 1958

This deceptively simple little card is an announcement for an exhibition of work by Saul Bass, well-known for his work on posters and title sequences for famous films, including Hitchcock’s Vertigo and Psycho, and several by Otto Preminger. Assembled by the American Institute of Graphic Arts, an important professional association of designers established in New York in 1914, Bass’s exhibit was shown at the offices of Cooper & Beatty. As part of their commitment to the design community the company would regularly have exhibitions of important or well-known international designers, often bringing the designer in to speak and meet Canadian designers. For many years Cooper & Beatty also exhibited the prestigious Type Directors Club Annual Exhibition from New York.

In 1958 Allan Fleming was already earning unprecedented recognition as a designer. His approach to design might be described as cerebral: using type and layout not so much to satisfy a given design aesthetic but to tell stories or create visual puzzles or, as in this case, capture the essence of the subject. Certainly, the wide central band of white space that dominates this design gives the reader pause, as though a problem on the press or in trimming the page has thrown off the registration completely. But once the subject becomes clear, Fleming’s intention emerges: the type is to be read not just left to right but top to bottom, like film frames moving through a cinematic projector. Designs such as this were shifting the printing trade’s orientation sideways in a similarly smart and abrupt manner.

As postwar graphic design evolved into a profession and a discipline, international contact and exchange such as this proved invaluable in helping to lift the creative standards of what had primarily been a technical trade. It also served notice to clients and competitors alike that Cooper & Beatty’s typographic services included world-class design thinking. –Brian Donnelley

Artifact Text

SAUL BASS You are cordially invited to attend an exhibition of the designs of Saul Bass in the executive offices of Cooper & Beatty, Limited, 196 Adelaide Street West, Toronto. The exhibition will be open from 11 am to 6 pm, October 1 to 10 and appears through the courtesy of the American Institute of Graphic Arts