David Carson

David Carson (born September 8, 1954) is an American graphic designer, art director and surfer. He is best known for his innovative magazine design, and use of experimental typography. He was the art director for the magazine Ray Gun, in which he employed much of the typographic and layout style for which he is known. Carson was perhaps the most influential graphic designer of the 1990s. In particular, his widely imitated aesthetic defined the so-called "grunge typography" era.

My first impression when looking at this image was that the he has positioned the words and the effects within them all create an interesting illusion. He has conveyed a message within this design and the imagery makes us focus on each word individually and try to put it all together to form the big picture behind it. My first thoughts about this image were that words "what the heck are you doing? you're going to be dead a really long time" plus the kind of explosions and fire looking colours within the text made me think that it was a kind of warning poser. It could be trying to tell us to look at what we are doing with our lives and make a change before our lives end up a dark and bad way like an explosion. i especially admire the way he has put the words WHAT and DEAD in huge capital letters so that it draws the most attention, the reason being is that these two words are the most powerful and will have the bigger effect on the audience. 

I think the technique used is very effective and the textured font and colours play a huge roll, if the font was black or a normal block colour it wouldn't have the same effect when you read it and you wouldn't be able to look deeper into it. The bold block capitals make it look serious and assertive so it feels like it is demanding you rather than asking you. The colours used are dull but bright like a fire with the smoke covering it, i especially like the texture used which makes it look like an explosion is going on within the lettering.

This image has given me a lot of inspiration and the use of technique using the clipping mask is a technique i like a lot and will be using it within my own work. I admire using typography to put a message across in an interesting way and to connect with the audience making them think deeper rather then having an image that is straight forward.