David Carson (graphic designer)

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Carson at TYPO Berlin 2014

David Carson (born September 8, 1956 in Corpus Christi , Texas ) is an American typographer , graphic artist , designer , teacher and surfer . He is the founder of David Carson Design Inc. , which has been based in Zurich since June 2007 .

Life

As a professional surfer, he was ranked 9th in the world during his college days. After graduating from San Diego State University in 1977 in sociology with honors and with distinction and the Oregon College of Commercial Art, David Carson first became a teacher at the Real Life Private School Grants Passport in Oregon .

In 1980 he began studying graphics at San Diego State University , moving to the Oregon College of Commercial Art. During this time, he also did an internship at Surfer Publications in Danan Point, California. Carson then taught sociology, psychology, economics and history at Torrey Pines High School in Del Mar from 1982 to 1987 . During this time there was also a three-week graphics course in Rapperswil in Switzerland with Hans-Rudolf Lutz and the design of the magazine “Transworld Skateboarding”.

In the following years, David Carson also designed the magazine "Musician" (1988) and the magazine "Beach Culture" (1989–1991) as a layouter, of which only six issues appeared, but which won over a hundred design awards. Using the computer for layout work, from 1991 to 1992 he was responsible for the redesign of the magazine “Surfer”, which has been published for over 30 years, and from 1992 to 1995 for the design of the magazine “Ray Gun”.

In 1992 Carson joined the music magazine Ray Gun as a graphic designer. His concept: The music magazine should not only be unpredictable, it should also not be able to be copied. This principle of giving each issue a completely new, unpredictable design made Ray Gun an eye-catcher and made it a certain fame.

After a “period of fame”, however, a certain predictability of the “unpredictable” design occurred: many magazines and other products have now copied this concept of permanent change. David Carson then wanted to go in the "reduced concept" direction and change the format of Ray Gun , but had doubts that such a change in the magazine would be too counterproductive. This was followed by the consideration and finally also the realization of emphasizing colors, shapes and textures differently and thereby pushing back the previous primary role of typography. The typography, which had been of central importance until then, was overshadowed by the peculiar selection of photos, the charisma and effect of works of art, the tension from contrasting juxtapositions, and individually designed headings and subheadings.

David Carson has worked as a graphic designer and consultant for companies such as Burton Snowboards , Gannet Outdoor , Gotcha Clothing, Hallmark Cards Corporation, Levi Strauss & Co. , Nike and Pepsi . Musicians like David Byrne and Prince also made use of his services. In 1994/95 he worked on the realization of commercials for clients such as American Express , Citibank , Coca-Cola , Hardee’s , MCI, Nations Bank, Ryder Trucks, Sega , TV Guide and Vans .

In 1995 his work was exhibited in the “ Neue Sammlung ” in Munich and his book “The End of Print” was published . The focus of the book is on the Carson magazine design by Beach Culture and Ray Gun . "The End of Print" is considered by its proponents as a trend-setting manifesto of a subjectivist graphic conception and as a contemporary document. The opponents of this position note that the alleged end of printing culture was announced in a printing unit.

Further design work and specialist books followed. In 1997, he did design work for U2's MTV Zoo TV Tour and, based on his first publication, published the book 2nd Sight: Graphic Design After the End of Print .

He also published the books Fotografiks (1999, with Philip Meggs), Trek (2003) and The Book of Probes (2004, with Marshall McLuhan and Eric McLuhan ).

reception

David Carson's work polarized the critics, who found his layouts either innovative and aesthetically pleasing or counterproductive, naive and misguided.

Carson, who never completed a conventional graphic design course, by no means goes to his designs without typographical and design rules, but disregards the applicable conventions in a significantly recognizable way. He proclaimed that it was time to break the ancient rules of design. Classic criteria such as legibility take a back seat at Carson in favor of the overall artistic composition of typography and images.

Through these innovations, Carson found recognition from a young audience and rejection from die-hard graphic designers. He therefore tried to give each campaign its individual "I" by never repeating one of his designs. Despite this permanent change, Carson's critics still try to see a consistent pattern in his work. They believe that there is a certain predictability of the unpredictable.

Proponents, however, argue that Carson's work developed its own language on a level beyond the word; on a level that bypassed the logical and intellectual zones of the brain and turned to intuition. His language works in a similar way to music; it sneaks in before someone “can stop at the borders and ask for identification papers” (quote: David Byrne ).

literature

  • Pina Lewandowsky: Crash course graphic design . DuMont Literature and Art Publishing, Cologne 2006, ISBN 3-8321-7624-1 .
  • Bernd Polster, Tim Elsner: Design Lexicon USA . DuMont Literature and Art Publishing, Cologne 2002, ISBN 3-8321-5622-4 .
  • Catherine McDermott: Design AZ: Design Museum London . Ars Edition, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-7607-1778-0 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Biography on the official website of the artist's design office
  2. ↑ https://www.zeit.de/1996/23/carson.19960531.xml
  3. ↑ Bernd Polster, Tim Elsner: Design Lexicon USA . DuMont Literature and Art Publishing, Cologne 2002, ISBN 3-8321-5622-4 .
  4. ^ Pina Lewandowsky: Crash Course Graphic Design . DuMont Literature and Art Publishing, Cologne 2006, ISBN 3-8321-7624-1 .
personal data
SURNAME Carson, David
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American typographer, graphic artist, designer, teacher, and surfer
DATE OF BIRTH September 8, 1956
PLACE OF BIRTH Corpus Christi , Texas