An Impression of David Carson

An Impression of David Carson

Poster advertising a guest presentation at Andrews University in 2006

A discarded “scrap� of paper from Hatch Show Print in Nashville, Tennessee. Carson has this piece hung up in his studio due to the forms created in the fragment.

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“If I’m doing a logo, I’ll do it in black and white.

Once the form is feeling right, only then do I start exploring the color palettes. A good example was the process of rebranding the Salvador Dali Museum. I did at least 100 versions in black and white.”

-David Carson

A Subway poster announcing Gannett outdoor’s new subway advertising, 1995.

One of Carson’s designs for the rebranding of the Salvador Dali Museum in 2011

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hen beginning his designs, Carson creates multiple copies of his current work. These initial versions are typically designed as negatives, primarily composed of black and white. Composing the work this way allows Carson to focus on the forms that the type and illustrations create. After, Carson will review these designs and pick ones to futher refine towards a final product.

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1997 snowboard brochure for XNIX

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“Just because something’s legible doesn’t means it communicates. More importantly, it doesn’t mean it communicates the right thing. So, what is the message sent before somebody actually gets into the material? And I think that’s sometimes an overlooked area.”

-David Carson

Aspen Hollywood poster.

Detailed from a larger photo by Wayne Gallipoli but designed by Carson

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avid Car son focused heavily on the for ms created within his designs. Car son’s approach to the shapes he uses are focused heavily on the subject matter that he was addressing. To do this, Car son blended shapes, text and color together to capture the essence of the wor k in for m. By doing this, Car son could transfor m the composition to communicate just as much infor mation as the text would.

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“As we get more technically driven, the importance of people becomes more than it’s ever been before.

You have to utilize who you are in your work. Nobody else can do that: nobody else can pull from your background, from your parents, your upbringing, your whole life experience.”

-David Carson

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uring Car son’s transition from teaching to becoming a Graphic Designer, he lear ned newer for ms of media. Now having digital means to produce wor k, Car son could freely transfor m text and shapes. With this new ability, Car son could fur ther push his designs, adding and controting new typefaces to create shapes from the text.

While Car son would heavily use digital means to creating new and interesting compositions, he still believed that a humans creativity still played a impor tant roll in the design of his compositions.

Untitled design by David Carson about Beach Culture

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Content page design in 1987 by Carson

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“Good things are associated with blue, like clear days, more than singing the blues. Just the word ‘blue’ in the singular is full of optimism and positive connotation to most people.”

-David Carson

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fter fur ther r efining the negatives, Car son would push his designs by adding color to the composition. When considering color within the design, the subject matter would still be the main focus for Car son. With this, Car son would continue to cr eate visual inter est by using contr ast and v arious color s sc heme with the intent of communicating the subject matter of the wor k.

Cover for émigré magazine, 1993

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Design by David Carson for RayBan sunglasses launch in Australia

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“I’m a big believer in the emotion of design, and the message that’s sent before somebody begins to read, before they get the rest of the information; what is the emotional response they get to the product, to the story, to the painting - whatever it is.”

-David Carson

David Carson Design’s San Diego office relocated to the Virgin Islands in 1997.

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ar son thought heavily on how the viewer would inter pr et his wor ks. Focusing heavily with for m, Car son would tr ansfor m a magazine page or cover into a composition that r elayed the subject matter itself. Car son pushed this idea fur ther by not only tr ansfor ming the composition, but also contor ting the text into v arious for ms to the point of losing the legibility of the type itself.

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“David Carson Design.” David Carson Design. Accessed March 30, 2015. http://www.davidcarsondesign.com/.

“David Carson.” AIGA. Accessed March 30, 2015. http://www. aiga.org/medalist-david-carson/.

“Work.” David Carson Design. Accessed March 30, 2015. http:// www.davidcarsondesign.com/work/.

“David Carson Quotes.” BrainyQuote. Accessed March 30, 2015. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/david_carson. html.

Blackwell, Lewis, and David Carson. The End of Print: The Grafik Design of David Carson. Rev. ed. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2000.

Carson, David, and Lewis Blackwell. David Carson: 2ndsight : Grafik Design after the End of Print. New York, NY: Universe Pub.1997.

Designed and written by William Bastardi Composed in helvetica, helvetica bold, and helvetica neue Thin Italic, typefaces designed Printed from a Maine College of Art Room 289 Copyright © 2015 William Bastardi, Portland, Maine, Maine College of Art

David Carson Report Cover from 2006 (Pages 2, 6, 10)

A Design by Carson forThe Magazine Factory in London 2003 (Pages 4, 8)

Spread Design for Ray Gun Magazine by David Carson (Pages 3, 7, 11)

A poster design for an A.I.G.A. lecture in austin.

Created in 2014 by Carson (Pages 5, 9)

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