THE END OF PRINT: THE GRAPHIC DESIGN OF DAVID CARSON
By Lewis Blackwell & David Carson
David Carson’s jarring and visually chaotic magazine spreads, posters and print ads have consistently challenged the boundaries of legibility and typography. His modest San Diego, California, studio has become the epicenter of a new graphic anti-aesthetic that has stirred ongoing debate among fellow designers such as Neville Brody, who observed that his work prophesies “the end of print.” This comment inspired the title of Carson’s new book, the first comprehensive collection of his decade-long output of graphic imagery.

In past lives, Carson was a top-ranked competitive surfer and a high school sociology teacher. However, during a two-week workshop on graphic arts he discovered his calling. He landed his first major design assignment as art director of Transworld Skateboarding in 1983, and he later moved on to Surf magazine. In 1990, Carson headed the short-lived, but much-praised Beach Culture, where his irreverent but often ingenious layouts consistently pitted editorial substance against graphic style. Carson’s creative vision came out on top—in its six-issue stint, Beach Culture won over 150 design awards. As the art director of Ray Gun, his unconventional look has been shamelessly emulated by a slew of similar start-up magazines.

Recently, Carson has shifted from spokesman for Left-Coast subculture to the corporate arena, taking on larger projects that include print ads for Nike and a television commercial for Citibank, as well as collaborations with musician David Byrne and photographer Albert Watson.

The End of Print was designed by Carson, and ironically, this proves to be the most disappointing aspect of the book. For those designers and readers who want to learn more about Carson's graphic work and philosophy must do so on his terms. The text of the book is presented in the confusing and often incoherent typography typical of a Ray Gun layout. Those not willing to read the garbled introduction and inarticulate essays may surrender in frustration. However the book manages to stand on its own as a purely visual document, a fascinating chronicle of David Carson’s creative mind.

Like the collage artist Kurt Schwitters, who collected his materials from curbside rubbish, Carson finds much of his inspiration in the visual garbage of modern-day living. Handlettered signs, torn and layered poster kiosks and the eroded storefronts encountered in city streets serve as backdrops which Carson equates into the digital realm. Many of these found objects and photographs are reproduced in the book and they offer insight into Carson’s design approach. One page reproduces a Carson ad selling a Beach Culture T-shirt sight unseen, with the premise that “if you like the look of the magazine, you probably would like the shirt.” Likewise, if you like the design of David Carson, you probably will like this book.

—Philip Krayna

Cover, The End Of Print © 1995 Chronicle Books
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This review originally appeared in Communication Arts Magazine, January/February 1996, © 1998 Coyne & Blanchard, Inc.
 
Related Publications:
David Carson: 2nd Sight: Grafik Design After the End of Print by Lewis Blackwell & David Carson.
 
Philip Krayna is the head of Philip Krayna Design in San Francisco and publisher of Type-High.

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End of Print, The: The Graphic Design Of David Carson
Authors: Lewis Blackwell & David Carson
Publisher: Chronicle Books [1995]
ISBN: 0-8118-1199-9
Binding: Paperback, 160 pp.

 
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