David Carson (graphic designer)

David Carson was born in Texas in the United States before his family moved to New York City four years later. Since then he has travelled all around the world, but has maintained New York as his base of operations. David Carson—or DCD (the way that his work is signed)—now owns two studios; one in New York and another in Charleston, South Carolina. He is also the creative director and a designer at R/GA (Robert Grennberg and Associates). On his way to achieving this level of recognition and becoming known as ?The Best Graphic Designer? or the ?Art Director of the Era,? Carson has passed through different stages in his career that one after the other made him what he is today.

Related Topics:
Texas - United States - New York City - Charleston, South Carolina

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Because of his father, Carson traveled all over America, Puerto Rico, and the West Indies. These journeys touched him and the first signs of his talent were shown at a very young age, but his first actual contact with graphic design was made in Switzerland. David Carson was working towards a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology when he attended a three weeks workshop in graphic design as part of his degree. The first great influence he had was the teacher of this course, whose name was Hans-Rudolph Lutz.

Related Topics:
Puerto Rico - West Indies

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

During the period of 1982?1987 Carson worked as a teacher in a high school near San Diego. In 1984, Carson started to experiment with graphic design and found himself immersed in artistic and bohemian culture. In the summer of 1988, Carson's life changed. A violent exchange with mythic designer Lefty Lexington in a bar in Encinitas, California, left Carson with impaired vision. Carson's handicap created a unique perspective on design, and helped establish his signature style of "dirty" type and non-mainstream photography. He would later be dubbed the "father of grunge."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Carson went on to become the art director of Transworld Skateboarding magazine. Among other things, David Carson was also a professional surfer, and in 1989 Carson was qualified as the fourth best surfer in the world. His career as a surfer helped him to launch his own magazine, called Beach Culture. This magazine lasted for three years, but through the pages of Beach Culture, Carson made his first impact on the world of graphic design and typography with ideas that were called innovative even by those that were not fond of his work. From 1991-1992, Carson worked for Surfer magazine. How magazine followed, and soon Carson launched Ray Gun, a magazine of international standards which had music and lifestyle as its subject. It soon made Carson very well-known and attracted new admirers to his work. In this period, journals such as the New York Times (May 1994) and Newsweek (1996) featured Carson, and increased his publicity greatly. In 1995, Carson founded David Carson Design New York City, his own Graphic Design agency and started to attract major clients from all over the United States. During the next three years (1995-1998), Carson was doing work for Pepsi Cola, Ray Ban (orbs project), Nike, Microsoft, Budweiser, Giorgio Armani, NBC, American Airlines and Levi Strauss Jeans.

Related Topics:
New York Times - Newsweek - Pepsi Cola - Ray Ban - Nike - Microsoft - Budweiser - Giorgio Armani - NBC - American Airlines - Levi Strauss

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

From 1998 on, DCD started an international career and worked for a variety of new clients, including AT&T, British Airways, Kodak, Lycra, Packard Bell, Sony, Suzuki, Toyota, Warner Bros, CNN, Cuervo Gold, Johnson AIDS Foundation, MTV Global, Princo, Lotus Software, Fox TV, Nissan, quicksilver, Intel, Mercedes Benz, MGM Studios and Nine Inch Nails.

Related Topics:
AT&T - British Airways - Kodak - Lycra - Packard Bell - Sony - Suzuki - Toyota - Warner Bros - CNN - Johnson AIDS Foundation - MTV - Princo - Lotus Software - Fox TV - Nissan - Quicksilver - Intel - Mercedes Benz - MGM Studios - Nine Inch Nails

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 2000, Carson became a member of the R/GA (Robert Grennberg and Associates) and also opened a new personal studio Charleston, South Carolina. During this period, Carson became a father, a fact that affected his design and work. In 2004, Carson became the Creative Director of Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston and designed the special ?Exploration? edition of Surfing Magazine and directed a television commercial for UMPQUA Bank in Seattle, Washington.

Related Topics:
Gibbes Museum - UMPQUA Bank

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

David Carson inspired many designers and created a new school of typography and photography based graphic design. His work does not follow the traditional graphic design standards. Carson has a part of himself in every piece, and he is emotionally attached to his creations. David Carson's work is an exploration in thoughts and ideas that are lost in his and his target audience's subconscious. Every piece is so full of information that could easily be considered too heavy for the eye to interpret, but he still manages to communicate both the idea and the feeling behind his design. His extensive use of combinations of typographic elements and photography led many designers to completely change their work methods, and graphic designers from all around the world base their whole style on the new ?standards? that have distinguished David Carson's work. Carson is most famous for his ability to create spreads that even with little content seem to be rich, vivacious and meaty.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

One possible critiscism is that, when aproaching one of his works for the first time, the audience will have the impression that what they see is full of meaning and content. Upon closer inspection, it might become clear that they have been "fooled," as there is great disparity between what is promised and what is actually delivered. Also, in this process, the message can become unclear to those not initiated in his particular visual syntax.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~