Thursday, November 10, 2011

Artist: David Carson


David Carson was born on September 8th, 1954 in Corpus Christi, Texas. Since then, he has lived in many places throughout the US and Europe. Carsons first exposure to graphic design came in 1980 in a two-week graphics course at the University of Arizona. He gained an interest in art, and later attended San Diego State University and also Oregon College of Commercial Art. As part of his Bachelor of Arts in Sociology degree, Carson was teaching a high school sociology class in Del Mar, California. He then went to Switzerland for a three-week graphics course, taught by Hans-Rudolf Lutz. Lutz was Carsons first major influence in the world of graphic design. 

In the late 1990's, David Carson started to get some major recognition for his inventive graphics. Through out the 80's and 90's Carson worked as art director for various music, skateboarding, and surfing magazines. These included twSkateboarding, twSnowboarding, Surfer, Beach Culture, and Ray Gun. It wasn't until his work in Ray Gun (1992-95) that he gained worldwide recognition. 

His work was full of distorted, mixed typefaces and fractured imagery, to the point that they were essentially illegible. In the later 90's he added corporate clients to his list: Microsoft, Armani, Nike, Levis, British Airways, Quicksilver, Sony, Pepsi, Citibank, Yale University, Toyota, and many others. David Carson was named one of the 5 most influential designers of all time by Graphic Design USA Magazine, putting him on the same level as Milton Glaser, Paul Rand, Saul Bass, and Massimo Vignelli. 


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