Essay

David Carson was born September 8th, 1955 in Texas. In Carson’s early adult life he was a professional surfer ranking #9 in the World Surfing Champions when he was in college. Carson graduated with “honors and distinction” from the San Diego State University. Here he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in sociology. After college he worked as a high school teacher in California. In Carson’s early adult life he did very little with design until he enrolled in a short commercial design class. There, a Swiss designer named Hans-Rudolph Lutz instructed him. Afterward, Carson fell in love with design and the arts so he decided to enroll full time in design school. Shortly after he got his first design job as a designer for a small magazine called “Self and Musician.”

Carson was able to grow as an artist, through his work with “Self and Musician” and another small magazine called “Transworld Skateboarding.” With these two magazine companies he was able to work and experiment with different design style and ultimately helped him grow as a designer. During his early career in design he designed pages that overlapped photos and used a variety of different typefaces.

In 1989, Carson became the art director for “Beach Culture,” which is a surfing magazine. “Beach Culture” didn’t last very long, only producing six issues before it’s end. However, with Carson’s work with the magazine he earned over 100 design awards. He won “Best Overall Design” and “Cover of the Year” from the Society of Publication Designers in New York. His collection of work with this magazine is seen by some his greatest work. His incredible accomplishments put him in the design spotlight and were noticed by other designers and publishers such as Marvin Jarrett, the publisher of “Ray Gun.” “Ray Gun” is an American alternative music publication. In 1992, Caron was hired as the Art Director for this company. Carson’s work at “Ray Gun” made this company very successful. The success came from Carson’s incredible design strategy, which was fascinating to the youth demographic. This successful strategy tripled “Ray Gun’s” subscriptions in the years between 1992 and 1995. Carson’s new design approach to target the youth put him in the limelight of corporate America. Large companies, such as Nike and Levi’s saw his ability to used design to target the youth. They commissioned him to design print ads and to direct television commercials in hopes to increase youth sales. The American Center for Design, based in Chicago, called his work on Ray Gun magazine "the most important work coming out of America."

Several different groups have recognized Carson’s studio work with a wide range of clients in both the business and art world. These groups include, The New York Type Director’s Club, American Center for Design, and I.D. magazine. Over 180 magazine and newspaper articles around the world have featured Carson and his work; including a feature in Newsweek magazine, and a front page article in the New York Times. Carson’s work has made him very famous and successful.

In 1995, Carson left “Ray Gun” to pursue his own company, called David Carson Design. His company became instantly successful and attracted a diverse group of corporate clients. Some included, Microsoft, Toyota, and Giorgio Armani. Carson also released his first book with Lewis Blackwell in 1995, entitled The End of Print: The Graphic Design of David Carson. It has been on the best selling graphic design book list of all time. Selling over 200,000 copies in six different languages. The book was reprinted in 2000 now entitled, The End of Print: The Grafik Design of David Carson. The works featured this book are various one-man exhibitions in Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Australia. He has recently release two other books called Trek and The Book of Probes with Marshall McLuhan. Carson is also the Art Director for the McLuhan estate.

Carson lectures generally throughout the world as well as at colleges around the United States; including Cranbrook, ARTcenter, Note Dame, RISE and Cal Arts. He has spoken at over 100 professional events, including “Designer As Editor,” and has had various one-man exhibitions worldwide. Throughout the week he teaches a workshop at the School of Visual Arts in New York City each summer.

Carson uses type as an expression to communicate a certain feeling or message to the viewer. Although some of his work is illegible, the message he sent trough his work and his risk for experimentation won him over 170 awards. He is considered the “grandmaster” of experimental typography. The International Center for Photography based in New York, awarded him “Designer of the Year” for his use of design and photography. Print magazine announced his work, “Brilliant”, while USA Today described his work as “visually stunning,” adding that his design in “Ray Gun” magazine “may actually get young people reading again.” In April 2004, London based creative review magazine calls Carson, “the most famous graphic designer on the planet.” At the Charleston ADDY awards he won four gold awards and a “special judges award” for “professionalism.”

Carson has expanded his talent to film and television and directed commercials and videos. He worked for companies such as, Lucent Technologies, and William Burroughs. He also collaborated with John Kao, a Harvard Business School professor, on a documentary entitled “The Art and Discipline of Creativity.” His extensive list of international clients range from Nine Inch Nails, Toyota, Mercedes Benz, Bank of Montreal, Quicksilver, Meg Ryan, David Byrne, Bush, Pepsi, and Xerox.

Currently Carson works for the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston as an Art Director. In 2004 he designed a special issue of Surfing Magazine, entitles “Explorations.” Carson continues to be driven on pure intuition and experiments different ways of communicating with various mediums.

Young, Stephan. “David Carson.” Quazen. Quazen, 2 April 2008. Web. 29 March 2010.

“Bio: David Carson.” David Carson Design. David Carson Design. Web. 29 March 2010.