David Carson @ FIT
Out of context: Reply #4
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I went. The last time I saw DC talk was at a conference in 2001, so I thought it might be cool for nostalgia's sake to see what he has to say 10 years later. Guess what... it was the exact same thing, only the work is 10yrs older and painfully looks the part. I won't even get into the embarrassing A/V debacle in the beginning, where FIT couldn't figure out how to get audio out of the laptop to the main speakers, and David couldn't figure out how to launch his own presentation for 10min. I'm pretty sure that if this wasn't the first time his kids were watching him give a talk, that there would have been a little shit-fit that went down. Having been part of organizing lectures and talks for the past couple years, this was was basic stuff to deal with and be prepared for. Anyways, after an hour and a half of watching 300+ slides of past work and photos of distressed type off the back of a truck or a sign in mexico, I had to take off, so I missed the Q&A, where I don't doubt he may have actually said something inspiring to the auditorium of mostly students. There's no doubt that the guy has a great eye and took some encouraging design risks in his work, which is pretty admirable even if a lot of it isn't standing the test of time. Somewhere in there, I'm quite sure he's got an interesting story to tell, but Thursday really felt like David Carson 101 all over again. Usually when you see these big name designers speak, Sagmeister, Saville, Glaser, Kidd, Chermayeff, Vignelli, Bierut, etc... they can spew hours of interesting bits and stories without ever showing one image. Carson felt like a deer in headlights when that was happening. I think the talk should've probably just been a moderated discussion and there would been more to learn.
Can you share some enlightening bits that you took home from Thursday? The best thing I heard him say was that "it's important to find what makes you who you are and include that in your work." I really would've liked to stay till the end, and was hoping the slideshow would be a fraction of the length, but I had a something else I had to get to.
- I was sad when I saw him speak. It didn't seem like he was doing so great.Melanie