David Carson (graphic designer)
David Carson is an American graphic designer and design director.
Early life and career
Carson was born on September 8, 1955, in Corpus Christi, Texas. Graduating from Rolling Hills High School, he continued his education and graduated from San Diego State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology. Carson attending the Oregon College of Commercial Art studying graphic design and went to Switzerland for a workshop as a part of his degree.Carson actually surfed professionally before finding employment with magazine Self and Musician. He then moved on to work at Transworld Skateboarding for four years. During those four years, he became the art director of the magazine and edited their magazine layouts. His 'dirty' photographic techniques emerged during his time there. Carson was then hired as an art director at Beach Culture in 1989. Though the magazine ended after six issues, he still established a reputation for himself. Three years later Carson was hired by Ray Gun, where he stayed for three years. Carson's style was chaotic and collage like, throughout his pieces there were layering of photos and messy typography. Most of his work was shown in his covers; they were eye-catching with the purpose to visually communicate to everyone, especially to young readers and big corporations. He later created his own design firm. While working in his own design firm, he signed contracts with Nike, Pepsi Cola, Ray Bans, Levi Strauss, and MTC Global. He published a collection of his own graphic works in his books: The End of Print: The Graphic Design of David Carson, 2nd Sight, Trek and Fotografiks.
In 1999, he helped create the cover art and graphics for Nine Inch Nails’ The Fragile album.