David Carson

David Carson is an American graphic designer and art director, who is best known for his innovation and experimental use of typography. He's famous for his approach to type and layout specifically for magazines such as Ray Gun and Beach Culture (see figures 1 and 2) in which he infamously broke the use of traditional grid systems creating a new approach to design. Carson has a liberal and open minded approach to design as influenced by his lack of formal teaching which allows him to create interesting and innovative work as he is not confined by a set of rules he's been taught. Personally I find Carson's approach to design interesting and insightful due to his ability to effectively break the traditional rules within graphic design whilst still making effective and visually effective work. In addition the sophisticated use of typography interrupting images as seen below creates an interesting cover due to the 'mis-placement' of different price of information such as the price or the grouping of information that apposes the stereotypical magazine cover layout. I plan to experiment with different ways to break traditional grid formats within my own work as inspire by Carson as I usually tend to stick to traditional formats within my work due to their simplicity and structured nature.

Figure 1

Figure 2