saul bass is a graphics legend, bringing us many of the logos of familiar brands

and his work in classic film title design.

it is no wonder that the man combines all of this experience in a design pitch to a client:

in bass’s nearly thirty minute video pitch, much of the time spent isn’t even showing the design updates; it is spent educating the client on why they should change, on how they should change, and how their brand is currently perceived and differentiated in the respective environment. the bell logo was in commission from 1969 to 1984 nationally, and could even be found regionally as late as 2009. so by all means this design was a success, but did the overall success start at the beginning with successfully educating the client on the place of design in respect to their company, and that entity’s goals – present and future? did the broad stroked adoption of this identity system, by regionally marginalized branches, stem from the approach of the pitch?

how much time do you spend with your client sharing your research and educating them on the value of design in your pitch?