David Crosby

Bio

David Carson was born in Corpus, Texas in 1957. He moved a lot as a child living in Florida, Ohio, Colorado, Puerto Rico, North Carolina, California and even in the West Indies. Before he became a graphic designer he was a professional surfer. At one point in his surfing career he ranked as high as 8th in the world. After he graduated from San Diago University with a degree in Socialogy became a teacher.

It wasn’t until 1980 when he took a seminar on graphic design at in Switzerland when he was working on his sociology degree that Carson started to explore graphic design as a profession. “In 1983, he attended a three-week graphic design seminar in Rapersvil, Switzerland. From 1983 to 1987 he worked as art director in magazines like Transworld Skateboarding, where he did experimental work.” Around 1989 he started working for Beach Culture magazine. Though he only worked there for three years it was a great fit for him sense he used to be a professional surfer and not only new the culture, but lived it. The magazine only made six issues but Carson’s work became recognized. His biggest success came when he started working for Ray Gun magazine.

The first thirty issues of the magazine were designed by David Carson. His work stood out amongst other magazines because of the vast differences in the way he form his type and photography.

Influences

Many of David Carson's design influences have come from his early childhood while traveling around America, Puerto Rico and the West Indies. Hans-Rudolph Lutz was his first instructor in the graphic design course in Switzerland which introduced Carson to graphic Design.

Philosophy

“Our intuition allows us to immediately comprehend something before we have time to analyze it.” Carson. His focus was on getting rid of the way that text and imagery were two separate entities and should be viewed that way. “He achieved a combination of text and image so that one didn't have to read a dry text, but an image instead.”

By creating type that was upside down, inside or around images, or even different sizes, colors, and shapes he created text that was as captivating as the images it was placed with.

His style stands out among standard layouts because while you might not be able to see or read it clearly by simply glancing at it the style appeals to curiosity and make the viewer