Design Legends #1 - David Carson and Book GiveawayListThumbs
Design Legends #1 - David Carson and Book Giveaway
We love featuring great designers and digital artists here on Abduzeedo. It's really good to see the creations of young and talented people from all over the world. However, we realized that we needed to take some time to post about the legends. There is no question, we've all had some inspiration from the masters of photography and Photoshop. This post is about one such legend, at least for me. His name is David Carson.
Everyone has probably heard of or read about David. If not, please do so right now because Carson has been one of the greatest influences on modern graphic design in the last 25 years. His inventive, and sometimes crazy methods of distorting and playing with typography have really influenced a lot of designers. Also, he came under a lot of criticism because of his experimentation.
David Carson became renowned for his inventive graphics in the 1990s. Having worked as a sociology teacher and professional surfer in the late 1970s, he art directed various music, skateboarding and surfing magazines through the 1980s. As art director of surfing and style magazine Ray Gun (1992-5), Carson came to worldwide attention. His layouts featured distortions or mixes of 'vernacular' typefaces and fractured imagery, rendering them almost illegible. Indeed, his maxim of the 'end of print' questioned the role of type in the emergent age of digital design, following on from California New Wave and coinciding with experiments at the Cranbrook Academy of Art. In the later 1990s he shifted from 'surf subculture' to corporate work for Nike, Levis, and Citibank.
Carson's work is familiar among the generation that grew up with Raygun Magazine and its progeny such as huH and xceler8, and in general, the visually savvy MTV generation, but his work still receives criticism from a generation that refuses to engage with his connotative excesses. Carson has been one of the greatest influences on modern graphic design in the last twenty five years. He took photography and type and manipulated and twisted them together and on some level confusing the message but in reality he was drawing the eyes of the viewer deeper within the composition.
We highly recommend that you visit his website or simply Google his name. You will be amazed. Also, his book "The End of Print", is a must have for your design library. For more information visit the links below:
- http://www.layersmagazine.com/an-interview-with-david-carson.html
- http://www.davidcarsondesign.com/
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Carson_(graphic_designer)
UPDATE: We will give away one copy of The end of print book. Just leave a comment and we will announce the winner next week. Remember, you will have to be an Abduzeedo member to participate.
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About the author
My name is Fabio Sasso, I'm a graphic/web designer from Porto Alegre, Brazil and I'm the founder of Abduzeedo. I hope we can share lots of information, tips, and ideas through Abduzeedo. Also you can follow me on Twitter or my personal site at http://fabiosasso.com.
54 Comments
Really impressive, I cant believe it took me so long to join this site.
Nice new series.
Count on me for that one! *_*
Truly one of the greats. He's not everyone's cup of tea but he was a massive inspiration to me when i was at Uni.
Excellent article. I love David's work.
never heard of him, but hey i'd like to read his book!
Flickr Photostream
i gotta start looking into books more often then i do, i have to go to the art centers library for that ands its quite of the way, but i m going to try to head there in 2 weeks time and to check out some book they have! Maybe they have this one. Masters are really the "trend setters" if you ask me, they often are the ones where art get divided up into diff categories.
Value Fabio
http://flickr.com/photos/alexanderblacker/
It reminds me when I was a student, Carson was THE legend.
In my opinion he's the (a) godfather of modern graphic design.
Carson is a legend.
Nice font useage!
The Book really sounds intresting aswell :)
running for book :)
Throw my hat in for the free book, sounds like a good read. :)
Was first attracted to design after seeing some of David Carson's work...
So count me in too!
Amazing stuff. If I don't win the book I will look at it at BN.
this book is a must ... if you don´t win, just buy it ...
I'm amazed he did all of his work with just one single application.
"Good designs comes from the most basic decisions."
i wants it!
Would sure like to read that book!
Always been a fan of nice solid beautiful typography, but equally a fan of experimental type, of which Carson is a master. He has some very interesting things to say in his interview from the Helvetica movie. If none of you have watched it, I recommend you do
Me! Me! Pick me!
Free book? I'm in!
I love Carson's style. The stuff he was doing with Ray Gun at the time was way ahead of the times.
I really love his work, he is a huge inspiration to me. My parents are both artists and also fans of his. I was actually named carson because of him. :-)
my lecturer showed his master pieces during class last time
great stuff :]
Awesome work.
I've always been a fan of David's work. He makes it look so easy, and it's always inspiring. Thanks for such a great giveaway!
Great experimental type designer and has a great interview segment on the helvetica movie
P.S Sorry if I posted twice. Posted from Google Chrome first and did not see the post in the article. Please disregard if the other one posted
Thanks
True Hero!
Devlin Donnelly
www.devlindonnelly.com
I'd love to read about the end of print. I didn't realized it had happened.
David carson is to Graphic Design, as Paul Newman was to movies. He's the reason I got into Graphic Design.
WOW I WANT THAT BOOK!:D
Pretty cool stuff =D
Great article. Awesome start for a legend interview section.
Good Stuff... id love to take a peek at the book
www.behance.net/angrysteel
www.15minsfame.com
Funny how there are all of sudden a bunch of new members :) "free stuff is always apreciated" :D
Stick around fellas, this site is kick ass, and it has a kick ass crew behind it!
http://flickr.com/photos/alexanderblacker/
incredible artist!. very interesting book...
when i saw him in the movie Helvetica i was quite amazed by his work and his thought about how things should be designed. great film that should be watched.
http://pilotz3ro.deviantart.com/
it would be great if i could take a peek on that book! :D
salute to the design gods!
Fantastic.
Fabulous artist
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Tune your Flash
www.flashtuning.net
just awesome!
... hope not too late...
http://zooley.extra.hu
I'm in! I hope?
Nice. I want to be like him.
Pick me..... Pick me ....
:D
really a gr8 artist.... love his work
I always loved David Carsons style. A friend of mine owns "The End of Print" and it is quite inspirational. He really does break typographic rules but does it so well.
Great post
Carson is a legend - I love how he did everything anti - in the surfer mags - Awesome stuff
I love David Carson, and I love free books. great post!
Wow! The end of print! :-)
Nice one. I want it. :)
Your blog is one of my everyday readings. Good job.
AWESOME WORK...I LOVE THIS SITE
Ish
Ishdezigns.com
I need this book o_o
David Carson is an amazing designer. I've done a few research papers on him and a few projects that were inspired by his work and style.
Good stuff.
Really amazing stuff... a true inspiration indeed!!
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