There’s a perfect point break in my front yard. As Marshall McLuhan said, if you’re totally involved in something, it is no longer work, it’s “play or leisure.” Layers: As one of the most well-known and influential graphic designers in the world, how do you balance work and play? Do you still get to surf often?Ĭarson: I’ve always felt I make my living from my hobby, so I’m lucky in that respect. I started it in the states and it will be finished there. My first workshop I ever attended on graphic design was in Switzerland, so the book will no doubt be affected by my being here. It will show a lot of the new work I’ve done over the past few years, and will, as the title suggests, finally get the official “rules” out on graphic design. I’m working on it now in Zurich, Switzerland, where I have a small studio, besides my one in the states. Layers: David, could you tell us a little about your new book?Ĭarson: It’s called The Rules of Graphic Design. He also enjoys surfing and at one time was a professional surfer. His long list of clients includes American Express, AT&T, Atlantic Records, Budweiser, CNN, Levi’s, MTV, Sony, Toyota, Warner Bros., and Xerox, to name just a few.Ĭarson travels throughout the United States and the world, speaking at seminars and conferences on topics of graphic design and typography. magazine included Carson in their list of “America’s most innovative designers.” In Newsweek magazine, a feature article said of Carson: “…he changed the public face of graphic design.” Emigre, a graphic design journal that ran for 21 years up until 2005, devoted an entire issue to Carson. Graphis magazine referred to Carson as a “Master of Typography.” I.D. In addition to various awards and achievements for his graphic design and typography work, Carson has also written books on design, including The End of Print (with Lewis Blackwell), Trek: David Carson, Recent Werk, and the soon-to-be-released The Rules of Graphic Design.

He describes himself as a “hands-on” designer and has a unique, intuition-driven way of creating everything from magazines to TV commercials. His current project DESERTsnowball is funded by a DCA Development Grant.Ĭarson is the Secretary of the Management Committee of ART ON THE MOVE and a founder member of DESERTsnowball Media.David Carson is considered by many to be one of the world’s most influential graphic designers. In 2012 he was awarded a Creative Development Fellowship at the West Australian Department of Culture and the Arts and a Connections Residency Grant from The Australia Council in 2010 to develop Auspex Australis. He has collaborated with many art and industry organisations such as Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines, Royal Perth Hospital, Landcare Vision Inc., Red-Ochre Productions UK, Scitech and the Sodankyå Geophysical Solar Observatory in Lapland (undertaking the world’s first moving image capture of the Aurora Borealis in 3D with UK videographer Brian McClave). His work is characterized by focusing on and exploring natural phenomena or events and producing work for installations using new and emerging digital media, such as immersive dome projection and 3D stereoscopic imaging.Ĭarson has toured exhibitions extensively in Australia and overseas. He came to Australia from the UK in 1995 teaching fine art in various art schools before becoming a full time artist concentrating on new imaging technologies. Watch a video timeline of the project’s evolution so far HEREĭavid Carson is a new media artist based in Fremantle. Digitised stories and artefacts will be complemented by additional research identifying emergent threads and micro-stories enriching the exhibition theme, experience and content. This will involve all ages, presenting different takes on the event. The artists will be doing a callout for contributors to the project, crowd-sourcing memorabilia and memories from 1964. This is an event that still resonates today and had as much impact in the 1960’s as the America’s Cup did in the 1980’s. An amazing 60,000 people lined the Swan River in Perth to see Campbell’s victory run. In 1964 Donald Campbell became the fastest man on land and water, gaining the double world record on Lake Dumbleyung in Western Australia, ‘flying on the water’ in the Bluebird K7 hydroplane at 444.71 km/h. The artists are using the residency to explore this event through the development of a digital storytelling project. DESERTsnowball is a project that focuses on the 50th Anniversary of the Bluebird K7 Hydroplane world water speed record set in the Wheatbelt town of Dumbleyung, WA. David Carson & Paul Houghton are artists based in WA working with new and emerging digital media.

David carson