Semester Paper - Davie Carson

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David Carson

“Graphic design will save the world right after rock and roll does.” (Carson, quotesondesign.com/david-carson-2/ ) This quote portrays the personality of famous graphic designer David Carson. Though his work is not of a traditional graphic design artist, his legacy and fame continues to grow through the generations. As a child he traveled all over the world with his family, but kept his base home in New York. Upon reaching adulthood he decided to pursue a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, where he was required to attend a course in graphic design. The professor of this course was Hans-Rudolf Lutz who was his first main influence. This course jump started his passion for graphic design and he would continue to become one of America’s most famous graphic designers.

Although he started out as a teacher, the late 1800s sparked his graphic design career. He developed his style which grew to be known as “grunge” and was unique among the rest. He fell in love with graphic design and continued to become the art director of Transworld Skateboarding magazine. This magazine didn’t publish many editions but it was his first impact on the world of graphic design. Critics called his work “innovative” but some did not enjoy his work because of the non-convention style he used. His different style got the attention of publisher Marvin Scott Jarrett who hired him to design “Ray Gun,” a rock and roll themed magazine. Carson was more than enthused and utilized the magazine to break convention and pursue his passion. He loved rock and roll and utilized it’s power over music fans to showcase his work. The image shows his creativity with letters and typography surrounding the musician. As shown below, his layouts featured distortions or mixes of letters that was used for a sense of “feeling” in the design. Carson is definitely not afraid of the media because his designs would show any emotion he felt about the individual featured on the cover, whether good or bad. "He changed the public face of graphic design" (Newsweek).

In 1995 he started his own business studio in New York City. Although he enjoyed working for Ray Gun, he wanted to expand his publicity to major clients such as Pepsi Cola, Nike, Fox TV, and much more. This Pepsi bottle is just one of the designs that he created for the Pepsi Cola company. He grew to be very well known and wanted by all companies because of his talent and different type of graphic design.

Carson published his first book The End of Print in 1995, and because of his popularity it sold over 200,000 copies all over the world. This book explained his creativity and was said that he designed “tortured” typography. This book shows his career starting with surfing to his magazine designing to ground breaking major company designs. He shows in this book that his work is non-traditional. He saw that people were interested in his works so two years later he published his second book 2^nd Sight. This book focused more on his style of graphic design and his creative perspective. It doesn’t just show his different ideas but talks about why he does things the way he does. This changed the public face of graphic design. His book brought out his reasoning for his work and shows his true personality. These books made more people admire his work. Other works by David Carson were his third and fourth books: Fotografiks in 1999 and Trek in 2000. He joined forces with a professor at Harvard to create a documentary called “The Art of Discipline of Creativity” and helping in the development of History of Graphic Design and The Encyclopedia of Surfing.

Recently in 2004, he became the Creative Director of Gibbs Museum of Art in Charleston, South Carolina. He has since continued to work for major corporations and has even directed television commercials. In an interview with Layers Magazine Carson says,

“Do what you love, trust your gut, your instincts, and intuition. And remember the definition of a good job: If you could afford to, if money wasn’t an issue, would you do the same work? If you would, you’ve got a great job! If you wouldn’t, what’s the point? You’re going to be dead a long time. So find that thing, whatever it is, that you love doing, and enjoy going to work for, and not watch the clock or wait for weekends and holidays.”

(Carson, http://layersmagazine.com/an-interview-with-david-carson.html).

It is said that Carson is emotionally attached to his designs. He loves his work and treats each one according to his emotion and views. From his quote one can definitely see that he is happy and loves his profession. His creative perspective comes from his heart and therefore he treats his work very kindly. His work below displays the words, “it’s your world!” He fully believes that anyone has the ability to follow their dreams and enjoy what they do. David Carson will be known forever as the man who brought a new perspective to graphic design and typography.