This piece by David Carson in collaboration with Beach Culture magazine in 1990. This certain piece is significant to Carson’s career for multiple reasons. During his time working for Beach Culture, Carson began to gain more attention from the public. Even though Beach Culture only stayed around long enough to publish six issues, this is still one of Carson’s most recognized pieces of work. During his time working for Beach Culture, Carson earned around 150 awards for his work, such as this one. Carson claims that this photograph was some of the photographer Anton Corbin’s first colorwork. Carson found the image while searching for the perfect cover photo to express the theme of the issue, “The End of Summer”. Carson felt as though the photograph perfectly encapsulated the emotions behind the nearing end of summer. 

Beach Culture magazine celebrated surfing, music, the arts, and culture, all of which were important aspects of Carson’s life. This magazine cover gives a glimpse of Carson’s unique typography and design approaches. This image shows how Carson’s work was seemingly so simplistic, yet evoked such strong emotions. His choice to use a small font to summarize what was inside this issue of Beach Culture is very eye-catching. Along with this, Carson chose to use yet another striking font for the name of the magazine in a unique placement. This certain copy of Beach Culture is now considered a collector’s item, which just goes to show how cutting-edge David Carson’s typography designs were at the time. 

Sources:

“Interview with Graphic Designer David Carson.” Designboom, 24 Sept. 2014, www.designboom.com/design/interview-with-graphic-designer-david-carson-09-22-2013/.