David Carson @ FIT
- Started
- Last post
- 13 Responses
- spookykat
Anyone catch this show on thurs? Hes a pretty cool guy who sees design in such a unconventional way. I got him to sign my Starbucks reciept =)
- akrokdesign0
spooky.
- jetSkii0
dang,would have loved to seen that.
- WeLoveNoise0
hes on my facebook
was well chuffed when he added - hes spends way too much time on there though
- Douglas0
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
- PonyBoy0
|\|0t a ╒▲∩
- < WTF?utopian
- not a fan. (in carsonesque type treatment)guiseppe327
- I just bought it on fonts.com thanksutopian
- hahahmikotondria3
- utopian0
didn't he retire to surfing?
- marychain0
wasn't impressed. Guy never evolved. just got bitter. When I saw him speak he was embarrasingly drunk and hitting on really young girls.
It was pretty pathetic.- hahaernexbcn
- hahaakrokdesign
- dude! Was that in Vancouver? He's was exactly like that when I saw him too!Melanie
- he was like that when i saw him in 2001 as well in SF.Douglas
- randommail0
David Carson is the Jackson Pollack of graphic design.
- Polla ck, hahahahahahMiesfan
- Who are you calling a Polack?jasonistaken
- hahaakrokdesign
- spookykat0
In response to Douglas, I agree on the lack of good preparation from FIT beforehand. And Carson had said he lost his laptop in a taxi but it took a long time until someone had helped him. The program coordinator (Rocco) just sat there staring at him while he should've been the first one to run upstage. Its just sad and pathetic that no one helped him. I also found it funny Carson can do work with that kind of desktop and his lack of knowledge on shortcuts. I think he works on PC.
This was the first time I had heard him speak. I thought he was more interesting than Sagmiester which I'd seen in May. There was more humor and honest advice in my opinion about design. Sagmiester (which I had admired for a long time) seemed happier telling jokes and looking cool than talking about design.
You did not miss much during the Q&A part, a lot of students there asked him stupid questions like "whats his favorite place" and "if hes hiring an intern". I guess the same type of stupid kids I saw when I went to that school still exists.
- NONEIS0
The av debacle is par for the course - seen it happen twice and heard it's happened more...
- ftravieso0
Wow, he showed up to a congress and spoke? That's news!
- guiseppe3270
12 years ago he gave a class at SVA (design school in NYC). You had to submit your portfolio just to be considered.
He showed up to 3 out of 16 classes.
Douche.
- m3kail0
Hey guys!
Caught on to the convo and it's funny because I have been emailing Mr.Carson and he has agreed and finished an Interview with myself. It's up on www.visualkontakt.com under our interviews page please check it out there are some really great responses. Very Inspiring! All the best.
Michael Schepis
- irrelevantutopian
- I dont see how it is irrelevant seeing as this convo is about DC interview at FIT. I thought maybe you would be interested in another interview?
http://www.visualkon…m3kail