David Carson A brief look at his work
David Carson was born in Texas in the United States. Many of his design influences have come from his early childhood while travelling around America, Puerto Rico and the West Indies. His first significant exposure to graphic design education came as part of a three-week workshop in Switzerland, where the Swiss graphic designer Hans-Rudolph Lutz influenced him. He then worked in a high school near San Diego from 1982 to 1987. During this time he also carried highly experimental graphic design as the art director of the magazine Transworld Skateboarding. Among his abilities of art directing, graphic designing and film directing, he was also a professional surfer. His immense interest in the surfing culture persuaded him to return to the West Coast where he helped launch the magazine Beach Culture. The magazine only lasted three years but Carson's pioneering approach to design, particularly toward typography challenged the fundamental aspects of all design and graphic communication. Carson's work was often arresting and powerfully communicative. From 1991 to 1992 he worked on Surfer magazine. The straightforward styling of the covers was a strong contrast to the later "How" magazine
This idea was also used across posters, print ads and postcards. The first line is also very catchy and the whole text draws you deeper and deeper into the ad until you hit the punch line. After this came his break into an international profile when he helped launch Raygun magazine, designing the first 30 issues. David Carson's approach to graphic design and communication is distinguished by rejecting precise methods, in favour anti-modernism. INTERNET SITE SHEETThis final piece of work is for two ads for an Internet search company, which play off the idea of extracting the right information. As you can see in the corner of this ad, unlike the majority of designers, Carson likes to show the reader that he is the designer and insists on most of his ads to carry his name. Here you could associate with Carson as his unique use of typography filled each cover to give an interesting introduction to the contents. This particular advert for Ray-Ban sunglasses is a good use of a visual pun. By doing this, Carson may feel that his name is more of an endorsement than the actual logo or that his name is only used with the most prolific brands. CUERVO GOLD SHEET Another interesting advert, this time with heavy typographic influence is this one for Cuervo Gold Tequila. His underlying feelings about design are that his approach is concerned with the personal expression in a communication, and is not a system that can be taught, but a complex exploration of the individual's reaction to a given problem or task. This magazine, aimed at the youth market with the sub-title of "the bible of music+style", received more attention for Carson's design than for its relatively conventional text content. WORKSHOP SHEETAt the same time he worked for low-cost or free with student workshops, talks and related activities. After this very successful period of Carson's life, his work began to attract wider audiences: it was featured by many mainstream publications, including the New York Times in May 1994, and Newsweek Magazine in 1996.
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Acceptance Essays
