I try to reinforce visually whats written, spoken or sung. that sends me off in a direction design-wise. my starting point was and and is, always to first read the brief, article or whatever it is I’m given. Since I knew nothing about girds, formulas, schools of thought, etc. I think my interest in sociology helped lead me initially to editorial design, because I was working with real stories, about real people and events, sometimes music. I have no formal training, which I’m sure helped a lot as I never learned all the things I’m not supposed to do, I just did what made sense to me. it turned out this cover, with NO cover lines, was our biggest selling issue – funny, we thought keith looked ancient THEN.ĭB: how would you describe your approach to design?ĭC: experimental, intuitive and personal. often a hotly debated topic of editors, many believing a menu of everything in the issue on the cover is best, others have rules about where the cover lines NEED to be. I looked at this portrait and realized you really didn’t need to say anything else, the landscape of his face said it all.

with this cover the editor had given me a few cover lines including one about keith richards coming clean about sex, drugs, rock and roll etc. every page was an entirely new design assignment, making it a lot more work than most magazines, but also a lot more fun, and I believe with more effective results. Ray gun magazine january 1995 – ray gun had no grid, formula or format, letting the music and individual articles dictate the direction of the design and layout. it’s funny to see it reproduced in articles and in stores the wrong side up! – this was my reaction to his comments, to use the publicity photo the record company sent, upside down. Ray gun magazine february 1993 – the interview subject for this cover story, j. mascis of dinosour jr., talked about how much he hated the press, magazines, media, etc. it has the mood of summer’s end, even though it was not commissioned as such. we were running a photo spread of his work, and when I saw the editor neil fineman’s theme for this issue ‘the end of summer’ I thought this image was perfect. I’m a little amazed, that after all these years, the speaking and interview requests, jobs and fan mail, keep coming in from all over the world – it’s very humbling.īeach culture magazine october 1990 – this is some of photographer anton corbin’s first color work. later this fall I’m lecturing in spain, portugal, lithuania, bangkok and australia. The past few years have been some of my most productive yet. they called us ‘pioneers with profound impact’ – I’m really proud of that one. Just this year I’ve received the AIGA ( American Institute of Graphic Arts) gold medal, and was named as one of apple’s 30 most innovative designers in their 30 year history – only 2 graphic designers were chosen, the other being april grieman. I’ve always said I make my living from my hobby. I found something that never felt like work. as a result of this career choice, well passion really, I had no choice once I had discovered it! over twenty five years later I’ve visited and lectured all over the world, had numerous exhibitions, books and received notable awards, and all because I found something I was passionate about, and pursued it, without ever looking back. I feel I’m the most fortunate designer on the planet. a great instructor, and good friend to this day, jackson boelts – helped me take the first steps on this fantastic journey – one I could have never imagined. I hadn’t even known the term graphic design before then. (‘dad’ photograph, above, by luke carson)ĭesignboom (DB): what originally made you want to become an graphic designer?ĭavid carson (DC): I wasn’t really looking to become a graphic designer and in fact I wasn’t – until the ripe old age of 26! graphic design is a second career for me, I have a degree in sociology, and taught that for a few years, then somewhat by chance, I took a two-week summer workshop at the university of arizona – about this thing called ‘graphic design’. designboom spoke to david about his work and influences. he continues to explore the possibilities of graphic design, particularly typography as a form of expression across print and video for both commercial and cultural clients. his work for the magazines beach culture and ray gun in the 1990s brought a new approach to type and page design breaking with traditional layout systems. David carson is a graphic designer, art director and surfer.