Grunge: David Carson, Blog 15

Grunge: David Carson

Grunge is a particular Art movement that emerged in the 80’s and become more popular during the 1900s. It was a movement that spread from music to fashion and also to Graphic Design. Grunge was inspired by previous style like Punk, heavy metal and also Indie rock. Some characteristics of this movement are messy and chaotic design and also scratchy typefaces. The typographic style used to create adverts, posters and other designs was very different. It specialised in imperfection and it also become the most widespread and universal movement in recent history of Graphic Design.

David Carson is the perfect example that represents the Grunge movement. Carson developed his own unique style through experimentation. This took quite some years, but now everyone can tell a Carson design at a first glance. David Carson is known to be the most popular designer of his time, and obviously this made him a role model for other designers. He was imitated by many around the world, and his style defined the Grunge style perfectly.

Carson’s style explored the ‘rule-breaking’ ideas of the Punk and deconstructive design. Legible typography was not important; he challenged the traditional design of the years before him. He did not follow any rules because he believed in expressive design. His approach was spontaneous and non-formal to the point that sometimes experiments become some of his most popular works.

David Carson’s original career was not Graphic design, but he graduated with a degree in Sociology. He started teaching Sociology while training to be a surfer. His career made him realise how important is design and therefore he started experimenting in the early 1980’s. Surfing served as a great role in his career as it inspired him to design and work for surfer magazine and other sports related magazines. Besides all the magazines, Carson continued with his experimentation and deconstructive typography. He also becomes an art director of Ray Gun magazine. Ray Gun magazine was about music, pop culture, advertising, lifestyle, celebrities and so on. Carson succeeded in designing this magazine for several years and become best known for his designs used for Ray Gun. This was the peak of his graphic design career where he left huge impact on the young generation of designers.

Moreover, later, he experimented with image and text by blurring and manipulating the image or text in order to intensify the content and its meaning. Some characteristics that describe his work are; asymmetrical layouts, densely layered images and fragmented typefaces. He also looks at photography as one of his techniques used in his designs. The contrast he creates, in the weights, sizes and forms are the main method of his experiments and designs. When Carson left Ray Gun he established David Carson Design in New York and was commissioned by several companies such as Nike, Microsoft and Armani. He also produced two books in  late 1990’s.

In my opinion Carson has been a great designer because he was not afraid to take risks. From his experiments, there were mistakes that become unique designs. By breaking the rules, he become an influential designer and also someone so successful that is admired and followed by many.

           

Bibliography

Lupton, E., 2014. Aiga. [Online]
Available at: http://www.aiga.org/medalist-david-carson/
[Accessed 08 01 2015].

Tododrova, N., 2013. Neli todorova. [Online]
Available at: http://nvtodorova.wordpress.com/2013/10/16/david-carson-the-father-of-grunge/
[Accessed 08 01 2015].