If there’s a pithy phrase that can be applied to title designer Nina Saxon’s career perhaps it’s Always be hustling.
As Part One of our career retrospective discusses, Saxon started out as a visual effects artist on Star Wars (1977) and then spent the ’80s in a state of near-constant hustle, launching what was to become a 40-year career as a designer of memorable film and TV title sequences. With iconic work for box office hits Romancing the Stone (1984) and Back to the Future (1985), she helped to usher in the era of the branded blockbuster film.
She is one of very few designers to have had a multi-decade career in film and TV titles, and part of this is due to her training in psychology, her ability to read a room and navigate its dynamics. The other part, of course, is due to her creative vision and her determination.
Along with the vibrant logotypes Saxon made in the ’80s for slam-dunk hits, she also established connections with the directors, editors, and producers who would become her friends, collaborators and recurring clients. She learned Painting with Light from Robert Abel, found a mentor in editor Donn Cambern, developed relationships…
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