David Carson (born September 8, 1955)[1] is an American graphic designer and design director.
Early life and career
Carson was born on September 8, 1955, in Corpus Christi, Texas.[1] Graduating from Rolling Hills High School,[2] he continued his education and graduated from San Diego State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology.[2] Carson attending the Oregon College of Commercial Art studying graphic design and went to Switzerland for a workshop as a part of his degree.[3]
Carson surfed professionally before finding employment with magazine Self and Musician.[1] He then moved on to work at Transworld Skateboarding for four years. During those four years, he became the art director of the magazine and edited their magazine layouts. He 'dirty' photographic techniques emerged during his time there. [3] Carson was then hired as an art director at Beach Culture in 1989.[1] Though the magazine ended after six issues, he still established a reputation for himself.[3] Three years later Carson was hired by Ray Gun, where he stayed for three years. Carson's work was chaotic and collage like. Throughout his pieces there were layering of photos and messy typography. Most of his work was shown in his covers; they were eye-catching with the purpose to visually communicate to everyone, especially to young readers and big corporations.[3] He later created his own design firm (David Carson Design).[1] While working in his own design firm, he signed contracts with Nike, Pepsi Cola, Ray Bans, Levi Strauss, and MTC Global. He published a collection of his own graphic works in his books: The End of Print: The Graphic Design of David Carson, 2nd Sight, Trek and Fotografiks.[3]
Notable awards
Carson received the AIGA medal in 2014:[4] During the early 1990s,the digital world started to get impacted with Modernism. Carson took advantage of this and stated, "It’s the basic decisions—images, cropping and appropriate font and design choices—that make design work, not having the ability to overlap or play with opacity." Ray Gun was the platform that Carson's visual concepts became more famous. Looking back into that time Carson explains, "Graphic design seems a bit stagnant now, and a lot of people and ideas have gone to other areas of expression." Carson received this award for forging graphic design into a cultural form with his own shape and direction.[5]
Carson, David (1997). David Carson: 2nd Sight: Grafik Design After the End of Print. Universe Publishing. ISBN0-7893-0128-8.
Meggs, Phillip B.; David Carson (1999). Fotografiks: An Equilibrium Between Photography and Design Through Graphic Expression That Evolves from Content. Laurence King. ISBN1-85669-171-3.
Carson, David (2003). Trek: David Carson, Recent Werk. Gingko Press. ISBN1-58423-046-0.
Further reading
Stecyk, Craig; David Carson (2002). Surf Culture: The Art History of Surfing. Laguna Art Museum in association with Gingko Press. ISBN1-58423-113-0.
McLuhan, Marshall; David Carson; Eric McLuhan; Terrance Gordon (2003). The Book of Probes. Gingko Press. ISBN1-58423-056-8.
Carson, David (2003). Trek: David Carson, Recent Werk. Gingko Press. ISBN1-58423-046-0.
