Vertigo Theme

Version 1.2 of the Vertigo theme for Tumblr is now available, with support for notes and follower...

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 22:45:00 +1300

Version 1.2 of the Vertigo theme for Tumblr is now available, with support for notes and follower lists. To upgrade to the new version, copy the contents of this text file into the Custom HTML field of the Customize panel on your Dashboard. Vertigo is now in the Theme Garden too!

Version 1.1 of the Vertigo theme for Tumblr is now available. The main additions are support for...

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 18:56:00 +1300

Version 1.1 of the Vertigo theme for Tumblr is now available. The main additions are support for search and an upgrade to the sIFR font replacement technology that fixes (finally) the inability to click links in replaced text. In response to a user request the theme now also replaces smilies in text :-). If you use the theme and wish to tip the author, you can do so here and I’ll probably put it towards this, thanks!

To upgrade to the new version, copy the contents of this text file into the Custom HTML field of the Customize area on your Dashboard.

Vertigo is a free Tumblr theme by Matthew Buchanan, inspired by the design work of the late Saul...

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 23:28:00 +1200

Vertigo is a free Tumblr theme by Matthew Buchanan, inspired by the design work of the late Saul Bass and released 24 June 2008 under Creative Commons.

To install the theme on your Tumblr site, copy the contents of vertigo-theme-1-2.txt into the Custom HTML field of the Customize area on your Tumblr Dashboard. (If this doesn’t make sense, Richard Dunlop-Walters has a tutorial that explains the process visually.)

The theme includes a single custom colour named “Accent”, which allows you to change all the orange elements to a different shade (look in Customize under “Colors” once the theme is installed). Bright colours work best with the dark background.

An excerpt from Archie Boston’s documentary on Saul Bass,...

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 23:07:00 +1200

An excerpt from Archie Boston’s documentary on Saul Bass, in which the designer talks about collaborating with his wife Elaine and about getting paid to play with toys.

Title Design by Saul Bass

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 18:46:31 +1200

Title Design by Saul Bass:

An interactive image gallery presenting title credits for each of Saul Bass’s film projects, from Carmen Jones (1954) to Casino (1995), with a brief overview of each project.

A genius mashup of Saul Bass and Star Wars, created for a school...

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 18:45:00 +1200

A genius mashup of Saul Bass and Star Wars, created for a school project by Brian Hilmers. The Remastered Deluxe Edition video response adds a little George Lucas “magic”.

"Design is thinking made visual."

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 18:42:00 +1200

“Design is thinking made visual.”

- SAUL BASS (1920-1996) was not only one of the great graphic designers of the mid-20th century but the undisputed master of film title design thanks to his collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock, Otto Preminger and Martin Scorsese.

When the reels of film for Otto Preminger’s controversial new drugs movie, The Man with the Golden Arm, arrived at US movie theatres in 1955, a note was stuck on the cans — “Projectionists: pull curtain before titles”.

Until then, the lists of cast and crew members which passed for movie titles were so dull that projectionists only pulled back the curtains to reveal the screen once they’d finished. But Preminger wanted his audience to see The Man with the Golden Arm’s titles as an integral part of the film. Read more.

The iconic poster for Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, designed...

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 18:38:13 +1200

The iconic poster for Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, designed by Saul Bass.

North By Northwest (1959)

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 18:17:26 +1200

Roger Thornhill: The moment I meet an attractive woman, I have to start pretending I have no desire to make love to her.
Eve Kendall: What makes you think you have to conceal it?
Roger Thornhill: She might find the idea objectionable.
Eve Kendall: Then again, she might not.

"If any one person can be credited with having introduced the idea of “high concept”—the..."

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:15:00 +1200

“If any one person can be credited with having introduced the idea of “high concept”—the single striking image or pithy phrase that immediately sums up a creative work—to the movie industry, it would have to be Saul Bass.”

- From Philip Kemp’s short biography of Saul Bass.

Saul Bass on Wikipedia

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:12:00 +1200

Saul Bass on Wikipedia

Making dismembered body parts cool since 1959. The opening...

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:11:00 +1200

Making dismembered body parts cool since 1959. The opening titles to Otto Preminger’s Anatomy of a Murder, by Saul Bass.

Portrait of Saul Bass by Harry Verstappen.

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:10:00 +1200

Portrait of Saul Bass by Harry Verstappen.