Graphic-iti

In the year 1956, David Carson was born. Until the age of 27, he had never known the graphic design profession existed. Prior to his venture in the design field, he was a sociology professor. Carson was(is) also a surfer which let him express things directly to the sub-cultures that made up his early audience.

His unique style has been called illegible. Rules of design are constantly and consistantly broken in Carson’s work. He would let typed lines run into each other, cross gutters, or be upside-down. He would layer type and image until neither was distinguishable on the page and even continued an article on the front cover of a magazine. Carson has never believed that one must first know the rules in order to break them.

With only a single class as training, he became art director for Transworld Skateboarding. He immediately found praise and a sort of cult following; however, some advertisers were not willing to support his radical approach. Beach Culture was under the direction of Carson for three years until it ceased publication due to a lack of advertising. Under his direction, Beach Culture won over 150 awards, including “Best Overall Design”. Carson is most well known for his work art directing the magazine Ray Gun. His design ideas were incorporated completely with the magazine. The publication had no consistant typefaces or layouts; even the masthead was recreated for each issue. The result was a magazine that was strikingly fresh looking with every issue.

This movie was found at http://www.hillmancurtis.com

Written by: Juan Rivera