Listen to David Carson’s TED Talk on Design + Discovery
Newsweek magazine said David Carson “changed the public face of graphic design.” Known for his innovative, ground-breaking and often controversial approach to typography, sometimes called “grunge typography,” Carson states, “Don’t mistake legibility for communication.”
David Carson
Sociologist and surfer-turned-designer, David Carson walks through a gorgeous (and often quite funny) slide deck of his work and found images in this TED talk. Listen Here: TED talk on Design and Discovery.
David Carson’s typography rose to prominence in the 1990s, in Ray Gun magazine and other pop-cult books, and ushered in a new vision of type and page design – breaking the traditional mold of type on a page.
Squishing, smashing, slanting and enchanting the words on a layout, Carson made the point, over and over, that letters on a page are art. You can see the repercussions of his work to this day, on a million Flash intro pages (and probably as many skateboards and T-shirts).
The End of Print is the book that provides the definitive statement of Caron’s work. This classic book by Lewis Blackwell has itself become part of the history of graphic design. It features work from the magazines where Carson first made his mark including Transworld Skateboarding, Surfer, Beach Culture and Ray Gun – as well as his instantly recognizable advertisements for clients such as Nike, Pepsi, MTV and Sony. Lewis Blackwell’s text includes an interview in which Carson examines the origins of his approach and discusses the extreme reactions to his work.
Let us know what you think of Carson’s work? Does it still stand up today? What has been his influence?
February 6th, 2013 at 7:08 pm
Lewis Blackwell’s text includes an interview in which Carson examines the origins of his approach and discusses the extreme reactions to his work.