"The Shining" Movie Poster by Saul Bass

Title: "The Shining" Movie Poster
Date: 1980
Artist: Saul Bass
Design Movement: International Style

Saul Bass was an incredible part of the history of graphic design. His work became some of the most recognizable and sought after, especially in the film industry. He worked with many of the greatest directors of all time including Alfred Hitchcock, Martin Scorsese, and Stanley Kubrick. This particular poster was made for Stanley Kubrick and I find it extremely interesting because it follows his usual style of cut out text on a single color background, yet it's for a horror movie. Most people would have made it with yellow/orange text on black. I think this is more successful for not doing that because not only does it grab your attention more this way (and it's less cliche'), but also because of the figure in the oversize letter T which now feels like it is in the dark. That wouldn't work in a yellow block. I think the letter T is interesting too because of how it allows itself to be bigger than normal to allow room for the figure.

New Man by El Lissitzky

Title: Neuer (New Man) from Figurinen, die Plastische Gestaltung der elektro-mechanischen Schau "Sieg über die Sonne" (Figurines: The Three-Dimensional Design of the Electro-Mechanical Show "Victory over the Sun")

Date: 1923
Artist: El Lissitzky
Design Movement: Russian Suprematism and Constructivism

El Lissitzky was a significant figure in Russian and Western European art in the early 1900's, especially for the Jewish cultural renaissance during that time.
I find this particular work of art by him to be exceptionally interesting and beautiful, mainly because of the focus on dimension and how shapes and lines can terminate and disappear behind other lines and shapes. The colors used are also very important and intriguing to me, and I like the strong half circle line that directs your eyes from the red square (which you see first) up to the corner where the red star is.