david carson

david carson

my link from sagmeister to david carson is not via their similarities but by their contrasting approaches to type. as previously discussed, sagmeister and non format and M&M all use images to create letterforms in one way or another however in contrast david carson primarily uses type and letterforms to create images.

carson's very distinctive approach to typography is easily recognizable, perhaps because he is seen to be doing things “ the wrong way round. i have chosen to Link David carson into my journey as a contrast in approach to the other designers i've compared. So we had M&M and Nonformat using images to create letterforms. Sagmeister creating imagery out of real life typography instilations, and now david carson, who in contrast uses primarily typography to create his images, the opposite way round the the previous designers.

"Since the early nineties, the best-known practitioner of innovative visual and graphic design-- whose work is often described as the new typography, deconstructive typography, or digital typography -- has been David Carson"

He gave us 'dirty' graphics, and was dubbed the 'godfather of grunge'. Carson questioned the aesthetics and purpose of typography and not only broke the rules He abandoned the usual conventions of the grid system and ignored the acceptable usage of columns, headlines and even page numbers. This resulted in a style which was chaotic and abstract in the extreme, often unreadable, but always visually exciting.

examples (above) of Carson's experimental typography , creating interesting imagery using the word 'yes'

these abstract pieces blend type into

image in a way that although breaking the 'normal' rules of typography appearing to have no real structure to them, will have their own grid system that allows

for this image based spontaneous layout while still following layout guidelines of design.

Below are some other examples of Carson's work, showing how he has, in contrast to the other designers so far, used type to create an image.