Manners of Death
Creative Coding, Data Visualisation and UX/UI Design, 2021
I researched the various ways in which death occurs in the movies for which Saul Bass created the opening title sequences. Watching the films online provided me with the necessary information. Bass was an American graphic designer and Oscar-winning filmmaker, best known for designing motion-picture title sequences, movie posters, and corporate logos.
Fig 1. Line Graph. Link to p5.js sketch. Fig 2. Pie Chart. Link to p5.js sketch.
Fig 3. Manners of Death Dataset.
I focused my research and exploration on ways to present the data I collected in an engaging and fun manner. When I was researching Saul Bass style, I chose to focus on the following keywords:
Simple and flat
Limited colour palette
Paper cut out style
Strong silhouette
The final design was inspired by Saul Bass's title sequence for the movie 'The Anatomy of Murder'. Using the human body parts as buttons, I intended to display information about the manners of death used in Saul Bass' films between 1956 and 1991.
Fig 4. The Anatomy of Murder.
Fig 5. Manners of Death Data Visualisation.
Fig 6. Thumbnail Sketches and References.
Fig 7. Manners of Death Visual References.
Figma Application
I drew some draft layout thumbnail sketches on how I would like the design of the application to be. For the typography choice I tried to search for a typeface that is close to the style of the title sequence artist Saul Bass. I found the Hitchcock typeface suitable for my titles. The typeface was designed by Matt Terich as an homage to Bass' iconic lettering used in his title sequences.
Fig 8. Hitchcock typeface designed by Matt Terich.
Fig 9. Thumbnail Sketches.
Saul Bass was the inspiration for the typeface and colour scheme. As part of my testing, I tried a variety of fonts that might be suitable for the headings. I was looking for a typeface that was easy to read in a paragraph.
Fig 10. Colour Scheme and Typeface Testing.
Fig 11. Figma Frames.
Fig 12. Manners of Death Application.
