David Carson

David Carson is an American graphic designer, art director and surfer. He is best known for his innovative magazine design, and use of experimental typography. David Carson was born on September 8th in 1954 in Texas. He graduated from San Diego State University with a Bachelor of Arts in sociology. David Carson's first contact with graphic design was in 1980, and in 1983 David Carson started to experiment with graphic design and found himself immersed in the artistic and bohemian culture of Southern California. That year, he went to Switzerland to attend a three-week workshop in graphic design as part of his degree. The teacher of the workshop, Hans-Rudolf Lutz, became his first great influence. 


David Carson was hired by publisher Marvin Scott Jarrett to design Ray Gun, an alternative music and lifestyle magazine that debuted in 1992. Ray Gun made David Carson well known and attracted new admirers to his work. In this period, he was featured in publications such as The New York Times (May 1994) and Newsweek (1996).

Ray Gun was an American alternative rock and roll magazine. What David carson did in Ray Gun magazine was to experiment different typographic designs in the magazine. the result was usually a chaotic, abstract style and not always very legible style, but it was definitely distinctive in appearance, which is vey important for a magazine. Ray Gun produced over 70 issues from 1992 to 2000. The content of the Ray Gun magazine was also innovative. The subject matter in Ray Gun was cutting-edge advertising, musical artists and pop culture icons. Ray Gun was in front of it's competitors by putting artists like Radiohead, Eminem, Bjork on it's front cover. Even though since 2000 we can't see the magazine on the shelves, David Carson's influential graphic design work and so called "grunge typography" are widely-imitated aesthetics today.