CDT101A - KBlesing Ascender Magazine David Carson

na

D SC MASTER

ASCENDER MAGAZINE ISSUE #2 FEB 2017

e

of

DESIGN

david carson

mas

ter

master

of

DESIGN David Carson was born in 1955 in Texas, U.S. David Carson came to discover graphic design only later in life, with it being a second career. He was ranked eighth in the world as a professional surfer and worked as a high-school teacher in California, having a degree in sociology, when he attended a two-week summer workshop in graphic design, at the age of 26. He became hooked on graphic design and enrolled at a commercial art school.

Carson started off working at a small surfer magazine called Self and Musician, as a designer. He then worked for four years at the magazine Transworld Skateboarding where he began to experiment with design, capturing admirers. Carson became an art director at the magazine Beach Culture in 1989 and his work there, however brief, earnt him in excess of 150 design awards.

Because of his work there, he was hired as art director at the magazine Ray Gun in 1992 by publisher, Marvin Scott Jarrett. His work for Ray Gun in the 1990’s brought a fresh new approach to typographical and page design and caused the circulation of this magazine to triple. It also attracted the attention of large corporations such

as Nike and Levi Strauss & Co. who commissioned him to design print ads.

Carson left Ray Gun in 1995 and established his own, self-named studio. This studio was instantly successful and many wellknown and wealthy clients called upon him for designs. He has since published a few books and collections of his work and in 2014, was awarded an AIGA medal.

David Carson refers to his own style as being ‘experimental, intuitive and personal’ (Butler, 2014). He never had any formal training in graphic design so never knew about grids and formulas etc. Carson’s designs therefore originated from simply what made sense to him. According to others, he pushed the boundaries and it was described at one point that what he did was ‘deconstructionism’. His process, especially for editorial designs, is to read the brief or the article and to reinforce visually what the article is trying to say/ convey to the audience. He expresses, ‘I want the work to connect with people on an emotional level, which is where I feel it’s most effective and lasting’ (Butler, 2014). Carson’s work with Ray Gun magazine is where he gained most recognition. A characteristic of his work with Ray Gun was ‘dirty’ type,

which is often illegible and adheres to no typographical rules. Ray Gun had ‘no grid, formula or format’ (Butler, 2014).

In his work with the magazine he had to experiment with columns of type, spacing, and varying fonts for titles and body copy.

A key influence in Carson’s approach to design was his exposure to Swiss designer, Hans Rudolflutz. Other influences are simply his childhood, growing up in the experimental and open minded culture of southern California.

Carson believes nowadays that designers have become lazy ‘letting the computer make so many default decisions for them.’ He stated in an interview with The Australian in 2014, that he thinks “it more important than ever that designers put more of themselves into their work. Make it personal subjective and intuitive…pull from who you are as a person, your whole life experience, and incorporate some of that into your

work. You’re going to be doing your best work and enjoying it more” (Pawle, F 2014).

David Carson is still at large in the design world today and travels around, speaking and teaching and influencing others in the design world. He works predominately through his own self-named design firm.

“He uses type the way a painter uses paint, to create emotion, to express ideas.”

Albert Watson

ASCE NDER

MAG

FORM UL a

NO G R I

format.

i a D

D

,

r C N