David Carson

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                 David Carson
Carson graduated with “honors and distinction” from San Diego state university, where he received a BFA degree in sociology. A former professional surfer, he was ranked #9 in the world during his college days. Numerous groups including the New York Type Directors Club, American Center for Design and I.D. magazine have recognised his studio’s work with a wide range of clients in both the business and arts worlds. Carson and his work have been featured in over 180 magazine and newspaper articles around the world, including a feature in Newsweek magazine, and a front page article in the new york times . London-based Creative Review magazine dubbed Carson “Art Director of the Era.” The American Center for Design (Chicago) called his work on Ray Gun magazine “the most important work coming out of America.” His work on Beach Culture magazine won “Best Overall Design” and “Cover of the Year” from the Society of Publication Designers in New York.
David Carson is a magazine designer. His work is deliberately trying to be unconventional when he designs the magazines.
In my opinion some of his work is very unique and would appeal to the target audience, however, I do not think that some people understood his work. Here are some examples...
        


Carson forged graphic design into a cultural force and a medium with its own shape and direction.
                                                                                          
Here is one of Carson's cover designs. You can tell that it is unconventional as you haven't seen many covers like this before. The font is completely different and it is meant to look messy. In a conventional magazine cover the font would be neat and very bold.
The picture of the two people are on the sides of the magazine, this is strange as the picture is usually in the middle to catch the peoples eye.
The cover line is in the middle of the page where a picture of a person would be. The cover lines are usually on the side, it is as if Carson's had done this on purpose to turn the page inside out and to simply to swap the things on the cover around.
The bottom of the picture is a white block, this is strange on a magazine as it would be covering some of the picture because it is usually in the middle. The bar code is placed on it. 
Overall this magazine has been swapped around, this is why it is unconventional.

 Here is an example of a conventional magazine cover by RollingStones the music magazine. Covers like this are quite common as it has the features that any other cover would have.
This cover has two people in it like the Raygun one above. However, this one is very clear to see who the people are as they are the main focus because they are in the centre. The Raygun cover is completely different as it isn't clear to see who the people are.
In the Rollingstones magazine cover, the cover lines are around the two people, this is how all conventional magazines are displayed. In the Raygun magazine cover above, the cover lines are in the middle and do not describe much about what is in the magazine, whereas the RollingStones cover does.
The bar code is mostly always hidden in the corner as it doesn't have use to the page, the Raygun cover above makes the bar code very visible because of the white block along the bottom.
As you can see in the Raygun cover, they do not have any expression, this can confuse viewers as you can usually tell whether it will be a positive or negative main story. If people were to look at the Rollingstones cover they'd know it would be positive story because they are both smiling.


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