#Ratings: Saul Bass Logos

American Bell Telephone Company

I suppose I'm partial to this because I saw so many variants growing up. The old city library in my hometown sat across from the Northwestern Bell building. I move 1,000 miles away and am greeted by Southwestern Bell phone books. On vacations or visiting family I found Mountain Bell or Illinois Bell or somebody-or-other's Bell. I really thought there was a Bell in every state, time zone, or region, to the point I couldn't understand why Northeastern Bell couldn't exist. The logo is over 50 years old and I could totally spring for this logo on a cellphone cover. (A-)

United Airlines

Even today when I see this my mind constructs this as some weird-looking W. And it's really not a double U but a single U - for United, genius. Well, the blue half looks like a U. When my find finally accept the blue U, I then turn to the other half and try to find a red A. But it's just another U. Some people referred to the logo as the tulip, but they haven't done so since United took the Continental Airlines visual identification after their merger. Seeing this logo also prompts me to hum Rhapsody in Blue. How many logos remind you of songs? (B+)

Warner Communication

This one is really a W and visible at the end of a certain Saturday-morning-rabbit-and-roadrunner cartoon show in the early 1980s. Simple shapes, pure nostalgia - and it's still in use. (A) 

Girl Scouts

This one has always reminded me of the phrase "profiles in courage". Perhaps in some twisted universe it could also be used in conjunction with the Orion slave girls as seen on Star Trek. Let us not be silly. (B+)

Fuller Paints

I like the color wheel design of this except, when reproduced, the upper left colors tend to bleed together. However, is six colors too many? Would this logo been more clever had it only included the primary colors of red, yellow, and blue? And then I start to wonder how crazy such a can of paint would be, its interior split into three separate tanks. One could arguably paint any color with one can. But in the end such a thing sounds too messy and Bob Ross's The Joy of Painting would not have been as interesting. (B-)

Frontier Airlines

I dunno, the F for Frontier Airlines doesn't get rated an F but I cannot help think of Firestone when I see this. Maybe it's the similar red color. But then the white stripes remind me of tires. I know they're not white-walled tires, so maybe my mind thinks it's a nod to the Michelin Man. I just know I don't think of flight when I see this. (C-)