he's an innovator typographer and designer!
the art director for Ray Gun, carson was perhaps the most influential graphic designer of the nineties. in particular, his widely-imitated aesthetic defined the so-called "grunge" era. carson became interested in a new school of typography and photography-based graphic design and is largely responsible for popularizing the style; he inspired many young designers of the 1990's.
what do we see?
1- saturation,
2- extensive use of combinations of typographic elements and photography,
3- compelling visuals,
4- deconstruction of old grid, headlines, etc, (by old, meaning 1960's-1980's conventions),
5- ripping, shredding, remaking,
Carson has been one of the greatest influences on modern graphic design in the last twenty five years.
Recent Carson's designs:
2009,
or,
2010,
Carson's tools?
QuarkXPress and PageMaker, which compelled him to work faster and to try more things in a shorter time. The new tools enabled the iterations and accidents that became crucial to his experimental work.