David Carson

What is David best known for?
David carson is a graphic designer best known for his innovative magazine design use of experimental typography.
Some of his high profile clients 
Aca, Armani, bark, Blue magazine, Bose cooperation,  Dali museum, Helvetica film, little white lies, Marshal mcluhan, mercury, Metropolis, monster children, nine inch nails, Obama, Patterns, quicksilver, surf film festival, western union, wolfgang bloch, Yale university.
Education

David has a Bachelor of arts majoring in socialogy, this was completed in San Diego University. As a part of his degree he completed a three week course in graphic design.
Birth date/ place

He was born in September 8, 1954 in Texas.
Exhibited in which countries

His photography has been exibited in San Francisco, London and Europe.
 Software he uses for television commercials (motion graphics)

The software he uses for television commercials is adobe after effects. ('it's the best tool for motion graphics')
Where does he surf every winter?

he surfs in the Caribbean every winter.
What is Ray Gun
Ray Gun is an alternative Rock and Roll magazine of which David Carson is Art director. The magazine explored experimental typographic design. David worked for the magazine for 3 years.
What is 'The End of Print' about?
 End of print is a book written by David Carson, it is about the study of composition and type.
How would you describe David's work for Quicksilver?

David's work for quicksilver ... to me it's very abstract and colorful, it sort of has a grunge type of look, dirty in compostion but not in feel (it has harmonious colors) .
What is David's association with Nine Inch Nails & Trent Reznor?

David designed the cover of Nine Inch Nails Album 'The fragile'

Why would David use Franklin Gothic type on the poster of 'Helvetica' the film?
David used the font Franklin Gothic on the poster of 'Helvatica' film, supposedly as an in joke for desgigners who can recognise the difference between the two.
What do you think about his treatment for the Armani campaign?

In contrast to his Quicksilver work, his work for the Armani campaign was more simplistic and elegant. However this by no means equates it to boring, his usage of different types of font add variety yet doesn't detract from the main look and feel of the piece.
How does David regard his progression in design aesthetics?

David regards his design aethestics always continually evolving. His basic approach to a project is always the same, which is 'intuitive and extremely self-indulgent'
What is TREK?

TREK is his next graphic design book after 'The end of text', it contains a collection of his work and excerpts from some of his more high profiling clients (such as NIN and quicksilver)
What does David think sets him apart from other designers?

David believes what sets him apart from other designers is trust in his own intuition, and pulling ideas from his background. The fact that he never had any formal training in graphic design may have changed his approach to it too.
How does David keep pushing the boundaries of Graphic Design?

I don't think David pushes the boundary of design as a set goal. He simply does what he feels is most intuitive and his works become better because of experience. His goal is to always communicate the message visually depending on the audience and so he tailors his work to that. He has some awareness of other designers but for the most part he is more focused on this own work.
Does Davids background in sociology play a role in his work?

- Because of his sociology background, David is more interested in who the audience is and how to best speak to that group.

Pen tool and live paint excercise

 

The pen tool was used to create a vector of the tasmanian devil. Making sure each shape is closed we go Object = > livepaint => make to group the lines together. Then while having the original drawing as a template the shortcuts i and k were used. These were the dropper and bucket tools, so using the original one can paint the vector exactly in the same colors. Once this was done, select path + expand is done to ungroup the vector lines.

Research

Exercise #1: A client is opening up a new Sudanese Restaurant in Wagga Wagga. You have been tasked with the job of naming the restaurant and designing their logo which will appear on the shopfront. The owner doesn't speak english and is relying on you to come up with an appropriate solution without her input.

 List all of the questions you would like to ask the client on your blog

Create a name for the business

Design a suitable logo

Firstly we must create the design brief by asking various relevant questions. 

We already know that it's a restaurant specializing on sudanese food.

Further questions we could ask include:

-Who are the target customers? (family restaurant? would it be a lounge type restaurant with alchohol? what will be the atmosphere of the restaurant?)

-If possible acquiring some pictures of the restaurants(or potential design of the restaurant) may help the designer create a logo that fits with the overall feel of the restaurant.

-Ask the clients what kind of look they're going for... for example would the name be in sudanese? are the any examples of the type of look they're trying to achieve? 

- Where would the logo used? (shopfront, business card... etc)

-When the deadline of the project is.

-What the budget of the project is.

Business names... perhaps something in sudanese such as 'as-Salam Alaykum' which means 'good day'' 

perhaps a name of a city, for example khartom, kordofan or Blue nile.

For the class excerise, Hot house is chosen and so Hot house will be used for the logo design. 

 

Graphic Design Cert IV

New year new course :)

All post older than this is cert II new media... all posts after are Cert IV graphics Design

Some beginning lesson stuff :

 Illustrator (crappy) house and co-op drawn monster.