David Carson

He was best known for magazine design, especially he was artistic director for 'Ray Gun', he worked on the layout style of 'Ray Gun'. The alternative music magazine was published in 1992. Carson attracted new admirers to his work through working on 'Ray Gun'. he was mentioned in 'The New York Times' in 1994 and 'Newsweek' in 1996. 'Newsweek' said he "changed the public face of graphic design".

 

Ray Gun was first published in Santa, California.  The result from the magazine was a chaotic, abstract style, not always readable, but distinctive in appearance because of how different it is. Even though it didn't sell many copies for example it sold over 70 copies from 1992 to 2000. But people say that “he changed the public face of graphic design” and “the art director of the era”.

In my opinion, David Carson is very creative and abstract through the design of the Ray Gun music magazine. It stands out from the other magazines on display and reflects the music genre in the design. This could influence other magazines to be more artistic.

However, the readers can get confused on what David Carson is trying to portray and can be over the top. In some ways the magazine can be not readable and is hard to find because it never looks the same. Therefore I prefer other magazines to David Carson's magazine because it is easier to read and straight forward.