Carson Legend or Bullshit?
Out of context: Reply #13
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- Bluejam0
It's difficult to assess the impact/influence of a designer without looking at what was going on in the rest of the design world...ie was Carson's work a reaction to the popular design practices and/or theory at the time? or was it a natural progression of what was done before? If it was a break from 'tradition' then as a designer, Carson probably did some good.
The fact that every college designer (including me) at the time was trying to emulate his work probably indicates that he does deserve a place in design history, irrespective of whether you like him or not.What's important to know is that it's very limiting to try a pin a design 'style' on one solitary designer/design group. It's a big world out there, and more often than not it's been done before.
In the case of Carson, Herbert Spencer was, in the 1950's, through his own publication 'Typographica' doing what Carson was doing in the 90's...yet not many seem to see the resemblance or name check Spencer as pushing the boundries of typography.
I found out thanks to Rick Poyner and Steve Heller...two names worth checking out, they write some very good design related material.