David Carson: Most Influential Graphic Designer of the Era

David Carson

We mentioned David Carson during a discussion on the evolution of magazines and type, as well as the imagery in them. David Carson was known for his successful meshing of both of these elements. David was listed as one of the top 5 most influential designers, along with Milton Glaser, Paul Rand, Saul Bass and Massimo Vignelli. Numerous groups including the New York Type Directors Club, American Center for Design and I.D. magazine have recognized his studio's work with a wide range of clients in both the business and arts worlds.

Carson began his life as a designer thanks to all the traveling he did. He has been to Puerto Rico, West Indies, did a two week graphic course at the University of Arizona in 1980, from there he went to the University of San Diego to earn his BFA in Sociology in 1983, which then later brought him to Switzerland meeting his biggest influence Rudolph Lutz.

In the late 1970’s, Carson became a professional surfer and in 1989 he was qualified as the 9^th best surfer in the world. By having this hobby as a surfer, he based this sport as the influences and main subjects of his designs. He began designing surfing magazine layouts, brochures, books, equipment design, and the latest was his own luggage design. Carson is principal and chief designer of David Carson Design, Inc. with offices in Del Mar,California and Zurich, Switzerland.

By the late 80’s after having taught in California, he began to immerse himself in the world of design and became interested in the artistic and bohemian culture of California. He began using “dirty type” and non-mainstream photographic techniques. His style was not seen anywhere before and he soon became the “Father of Grunge”. His layouts are composed of distortions of “vernacular typography” and fractured imagery, rendering them as almost illegible. Carson’s whole body of work is subjective and largely driven by intuition, with an emphasis on reading material before designing it, and experimenting with ways to communicate in a variety of mediums Carson broke all the rules Typography was putting out there, he did things no one else did. A lot of his work is consisted of distorted designs as well as some of the headlines, focusing a great clarity on the body text. For example a great deal of his designs were for surfing magazines, or brochures and the photographs were of great quality, some were blurred or made with some photographic filter but the rest of the design was surrounded by well organized body of text, and distorted designs that added just a  bit of contrast to the layout. The International Center for Photography (NY) singled out Carson as the "Designer of the Year" for his use of photography and design. Print Magazine proclaimed his work "Brilliant," while USA Today described it as "visually stunning," adding that his design of Ray Gun Magazine "may actually get young people reading again."Some of his clients include Giorgio Armani, Samnsung, Microsoft, Ray Gun magazines, twSnowboarding, twSkateboarding, Toyota etc.