Where his innovative style of visual communication attracted new readers it also repelled many who considered his work fractured, hence misleading.Īlthough his covers for Ray Gun were often radical and bold, it fascinated the young readership, thus the big corporations also hired him for their brand advertisements through both print and electronic media. To put in simpler words as Albert Watson stated, the disorganized use of his typography has its own purpose, such as the each stroke of a painter’s brush evoke different emotion, imagery and idea, so does Carson’s designs possess such attributes. His work is characterized by the chaotic typography and pattern it embodies, disarray of photos overlapping each other, seemingly meaningless at the surface but holding a larger picture. In fact, to keep the spirit of the magazine alive he notoriously published a tedious interview with Bryan Ferry in Zapf Dingbats (symbol) font. Once again, Carson proved himself as he tripled the magazine’s circulation and attracted a wide readership. In 1992, he was offered a job at an alternative-music magazine Ray Gun, whose publisher saw true potential of his graphic design skills. Notwithstanding, Carson made a name for himself through the opportunity, as his designs were recognized for his for his unique style and typography and consequently earned over hundred design awards. After the publication of only six issues, the magazine folded. In 1989, he was landed a job at the magazine Beach Culture, as an art director. In 1987, he also lent his expertise to the extension of the magazine, Transworld Snowboarding. During his time at Transworld Skateboarding, he developed a signature style with the use of unconventional ‘dirty’ type photographic techniques. He became the art director for the magazine in 1984 and revised its style and layout until his tenure ended. His early experiences also include working for Transworld Skateboarding magazine which paved way for his experimental designing. In the beginning he worked as a designer for a magazine, Self and Musician, covering surfers’ interests. Today, we can see mainstream work emulating his style all over the world.David Carson embarked on his passion for graphic designing in his later life. The influence of David Carson on contemporary graphic design is pronounced. It was completely different to anything being produced at the time. You can see this in issue 17 of Ray Gun magazine from 1994. – Design & Styleĭavid Carson frequently used the overlaying of typography, texture, imagery and the use of transparency effects. However, supporters would argue strongly that with a lot of David’s work, communicating the feeling is more important than the content itself. Take, for example, a layout he designed for Ray Gun in which he displayed the written content entirely in Dingbats. Critics tend to focus on the lack of legibility in some of his work. However, there is no doubt his ‘grunge’ approach was instrumental in redefining our concept of ‘the grid’ in layout. His work polarised opinion within design circles. In particular, he pioneered where this new technology could take us stylistically. David was very much at the forefront of this. – Design & TechnologyĪt about the same time, computer aided graphic design was emerging. David was propelled into the limelight in the early-to-mid-nineties on the back of his work on Ray Gun, an alternative music and lifestyle magazine. He became art director for a number of surf, skate and street lifestyle magazines. ![]() Where it all kicked into gear – Design & Surfīy the mid-late eighties, David managed to combine his love of surfing and beach culture with his passion for design. At his peak he was ranked 9th in the world. ![]() It’s no secret that David Carson loves all things surfing. For the rest of the time David nurtured his other love-professional surfing. During the early 80’s, based in San Diego, he spent most of his time working as a High School teacher and moonlighting in design. Once he took those first few steps he was hooked. However, in 1980, he signed on for a two-week course on the subject. In fact he started out with a BA in Sociology and had never heard of the term ‘graphic designer’. How it all started – Graphic Designĭavid started in Graphic Design almost by accident. They described him as one of ’30 most influential Macintosh users over the 30 year history of the computer’. Did you know he was once named the most famous Graphic Designer on the planet by Creative Review? He was also one of only two graphic artists named by Apple in their awards ADA. In GSM10 we take a look at the work of American design legend David Carson.
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