David Carson

1. What it is — cover of the third of six issues; photograph by Geof Kern (submitted for the interior, „the surprise quality and compositional strength made it the cover“ — Birch); format 10 × 12 in (per no. 5); editor Feineman, AD Carson. The same Kern photograph appears the same year on the cover of the Japanese Picabia.
2. Composition — black-and-white photograph filling the whole format: a figure in a rubber swim cap, the face replaced by a smooth oval plate (x 40–75%, y 25–55%). Masthead BEACH / CULT / URE in three lines top left (x 15–45%, y 12–35%), entering the photograph and partly covered by the cap — the type is PLACED ON THE TONAL MASS (dark cap behind light letters), not in a free corner. Eye path: plate with the word Water → masthead → small headlines at left (y 50–65%) → red „s u m m e r“ at bottom (y 80%).
3. Colour — a monochrome silver-grey photograph + black letters + one red line. Colour is reserved for the quietest element (letter-spaced summer), not for the headline — boja-kao-hijerarhija-ne-ukras reversed: colour marks the season, not rank.
4. Typography — masthead in a narrow black grotesque, capitals, letters broken into three lines (CULT / URE) with the year 19/90 set into a field; „Water“ in a serif face with letter-spacing on the face-plate — the only word that stands still, like an engraving on an object. Cover lines in two-three cuts of the same family, aligned in small rags. Typeface not confirmed.
5. Message — from five metres: a faceless face and one word; from half a metre: headlines (David Lynch, Sinéad O'Connor, Manson and a Beach Boy). Two audiences — Owen: for readers „impenetrability … a source of satisfaction“, keeping outsiders out. Passes the three-second test because the image is one.
6. Why exactly this way — Kern's photograph already had an empty oval where the face should be; Carson didn't add an image but a word ON the image, and placed the masthead where the cap could eat it. Constraint: the 1990 surf-magazine newsstand — this has to be different from every Surfer next to it.
7. What would kill it — pulling the masthead out of the photograph into a clean white band at the top: it becomes an ordinary cover with a good picture. Or: Water in the same grotesque as the masthead — the object/headline distinction disappears.

Principles: fotografija-je-layout tip-na-tonskoj-masi-ne-na-formatu dva-rastojanja-citanja citljivost-na-granici (masthead covered, still legible) To verify against the image: the exact cut of the masthead; whether „Water“ is in the photograph or added.

1. What it is — premiere issue, November 1992, Santa Monica; 10 × 12 in, 100 pp.; publisher and editor Jarrett, Carson credited as design consultant; in this issue Rollins, Sonic Youth (Spike Jonze), Lemonheads, Prodigy, Luna. Editorial: „a magazine conceived in white heat. Raw by choice.“
2. Composition — ochre-yellow and dirty-white painterly ground with scratches; Rollins's face (high contrast, scratched) bottom right (x 55–95 %, y 45–85 %), eyes at y ≈ 55 %; masthead rAY / GUn red in two lines top right (x 60–92 %, y 20–40 %) — sits on the lightest field; list of names left (x 15–45 %, y 22–60 %) in a rag that follows the edge of the yellow patch; a black scribbled bundle over the lower part of the face (y ≈ 70 %). Eye path: red masthead → face → list.
3. Colour — three: ochre, black, red; white is the paper. Red only on the masthead — the only saturated colour carries the name, everything else is dirty.
4. Typography — masthead in a mixed capitals/lowercase setting of a single grotesque (sans serif) (r-A-Y / G-U-n): the same word, three different „registers“ of letters — the first sign that the masthead will be a variable, not a constant. „music+style / the bible of“ in a condensed black grotesque (sans serif); PREMIERE ISSUE by hand; list in a typewriter face (class). Four kinds of lettering on one cover, none subordinate to another.
5. Message — from five metres: a red name and one face; from half a metre: who's inside. Everything is „raw by choice“ — the scratch, the stain, the scribble are the message, not a mistake.
6. Why exactly this way — Beach Culture folded after six issues; Ray Gun must immediately look like something that cannot be mistaken for Rolling Stone. Photo software (PGDA) makes it possible to do the scratch and stain on screen, not on the negative.
7. What would kill it — a clean portrait without scratches or scribbling: still a good Rollins photo, but Ray Gun disappears. Or a masthead in a single typeface/cut — the announcement that the name will change disappears.

Principles: zrno-i-zamucenje-kao-oblik tip-na-tonskoj-masi-ne-na-formatu masthead-mijenja-pismo-svaki-broj citljivost-na-granici To verify against the image: whether the list is really typewriter or a mono-grotesque (sans serif); the portrait photographer.

1. What it is — issue 27 of Emigre, 1993, 40 pp., 11.25 × 16.75 in, 6,500 copies, printed by Cal Central, Sacramento; MoMA 205.2006.27, „lithograph“, 16 3/4 × 11 1/4 in. VanderLans edits and designs the issue, Carson designs the front and inside front cover; contents — a phone conversation between VanderLans/Carson, an interview with Honey Barbara.
2. Composition — cream paper; one enormous black mass, soft, grainy edges (like a photocopy of a shadow or a wave), occupying x 10–95 %, y 15–95 % with a diagonal „exit“ top right; „+ David Carson“ tiny on the right edge of the mass (y ≈ 32 %); a yellow-green oval Emigre logo left (x ≈ 25 %, y ≈ 38 %) like a sticker; „$7.95 issue # 27“ tiny top right. Eye path: mass → oval → name. No title.
3. Colour — two: photocopy black on cream, plus one oval accent. All tonal variation comes from grain density, not from grey ink.
4. Typography — one line of small grotesque (sans serif); the cover of an issue about a typographer has no typography. That's the stance: the name is a footnote next to a stain.
5. Message — a design magazine represents the designer with one unfinished shadow; from five metres it's an abstract image, from half a metre a sticker and a name. Three-second test: ONE shape is visible — it passes.
6. Why exactly this way — VanderLans's format (tall, newsprint-like) and Emigre's self-confidence allow a cover without a sale pitch; Carson, as a guest, shows what Ray Gun's newsstand doesn't allow — pure subtraction.
7. What would kill it — any title over the mass. Or a sharp edge instead of a grainy one — it becomes geometry, the copy machine disappears.

Principles: zrno-i-zamucenje-kao-oblik oduzimanje-kao-autorstvo bijeli-prostor-kao-oblik nedovrsenost-kao-poziv To verify against the image: what the mass actually is (wave? shadow? toner stain?) — Emigre doesn't say; not visible in the reviewed 456 px image.

1. What it is — issue 10, October 1993, 257 × 305 mm; „1 anniversary issue“; Teenage Fanclub on the cover; in this issue New York Dolls, Afghan Whigs, Robyn Hitchcock, Gallon Drunk, Buffalo Tom, Front 242.
2. Composition — white ground; masthead „ray gun“ black across the top fifth (y 12–22 %), the number 10 in a circle standing in for the word space; below it a collage (x 20–85 %, y 22–72 %): blue circular traffic signs with arrows (down-left, up-right), a star badge „anniversary 1“, torn coloured planes, a blue heart; a photograph of the band (three figures in the frame, the middle one arms spread) in a white frame, slightly tilted, x 28–78 %, y 38–60 % — lying OVER the collage like a postcard; the band's name small black below (y ≈ 66 %); the contents spine vertical along the left edge (x ≈ 8 %, y 25–85 %). Eye path: masthead → arrows → photograph → name → spine.
3. Colour — white carries everything; blue (signs, heart) is the only repeated colour and ties the top and bottom together; red, yellow, green in the collage as leftovers; the photograph is in colour, but faded. Black only in the lettering.
4. Typography — masthead in a heavy lowercase with letterspacing, wide, low — a COMPLETELY different typeface than in No. 1 (red mixed capitals/lowercase) and No. 24 (condensed grotesque): the masthead is a variable per issue. Contents spine in a bold grotesque, lowercase, one size, names joined without rank. Specific typeface not confirmed.
5. Message — an anniversary as traffic confusion: arrows in two directions, a badge, a heart, a band postcard. From five metres: black name + blue circles; from half a metre: names on the spine. The white ground makes the collage look festive rather than dirty.
6. Why exactly this way — the tenth issue calls for an „event“ without a star's face; Carson uses found signs (like Jamie Reid, without mockery) and a framed photograph — the only time in the series where the image does NOT run across the whole format.
7. What would kill it — the photograph without a frame, running across the whole format: the collage becomes noise on the image. Or the masthead in a standard cut: the confirmation that every issue is renamed anew disappears.

Principles: istorijski-citat-kao-gradivni-materijal (signs, badge) masthead-mijenja-pismo-svaki-broj tip-na-tonskoj-masi-ne-na-formatu (masthead on white, spine on white — the text is NOT on the collage) ista-vrsta-slova-dvije-velicine To verify against the image: the photographer; whether the collage is physical (torn paper) or digital.

1. What it is — issue 24, March 1995, 255 × 310 mm; „the mudhoney interview by eddie vedder“; Throwing Muses, Roky Erickson, Bettie Serveert, The The + Foetus; COMAG sticker £2.50 (British distribution).
2. Composition — a photograph of four men in a forest, dark green-black duotone across the whole format; faces at y 30–45 %; masthead „raygun“ black, condensed, lowercase, across the top fifth (y 12–24 %) with a green rectangle behind the upper half of the letters — the letters are HALF on green, HALF on the photograph; „24“ white within the lettering; a small line above in white; four titles by hand, white marker, across the lower half (y 55–85 %), over faces, bodies, trees, one line = one name. Eye path: white handwriting → faces → masthead.
3. Colour — green-black duotone + white + one green plane. White is the handwriting; black is the masthead: darker colour for the name, lighter for the content — the reverse of habit.
4. Typography — masthead a condensed bold grotesque (a different typeface from No. 10); the titles are NOT typography but a hand gesture — fast, uneven, letters of varying height, „the the+foetus“ with a plus like in No. 1. The marker over the photograph works like graffiti on a band poster.
5. Message — from five metres: four faces in the dark and white graffiti; from half a metre the names and „by eddie vedder“ can be read. The three-second test passes because the handwriting is light on dark.
6. Why exactly this way — when the photograph is dark and has no free field, the titles cannot be SET without looking like a sticker; the handwriting crosses everything and doesn't need a field. Constraint makes the solution.
7. What would kill it — titles in grotesque in a white band at the bottom. Or handwriting in black — it disappears.

Principles: tip-na-tonskoj-masi-ne-na-formatu gest-rukom-nasuprot-rezu (masthead cut / titles hand — the same split as Hofmann) hijerarhija-po-dubini (masthead IN FRONT of the green plane, handwriting IN FRONT of the photograph — three layers) citljivost-na-granici (handwriting over faces, still legible) To verify against the image: the photographer; whether the green plane is printed or part of the duotone.

1. What it is — issue 26, May 1995, 257 × 305 mm; Beastie Boys, Luscious Jackson, Henry Rollins, Isaac Hayes, Moby, Orb; COMAG £2.50. Among Carson's last issues.
2. Composition — top third (y 0–33 %): sepia photograph of a crowd of faces looking up, masthead „Raygun“ over it (y 12–30 %, x 20–85 %), small headlines above; bottom two-thirds (y 33–100 %): EMPTY cream paper — just a barcode bottom left and one pencil-drawn scribble bottom right (x ≈ 80 %, y ≈ 82 %). Eye path: masthead → faces → emptiness → scribble.
3. Colour — sepia + cream + black type. The emptiness isn't white but cream, like uncoated paper: it reads as "unfinished", not "clean".
4. Typography — masthead in a wide bold italic (third typeface across three reviewed issues); cover-lines in two colours (blue/black) small at the top, joined by plus signs. Nothing in two-thirds of the format.
5. Message — on a newsstand in 1995, next to covers full of faces: two-thirds of nothing. The crowd looks up — into the masthead — and the reader looks into emptiness. From five metres it's the loudest cover in the row because it's the only one keeping quiet.
6. Why exactly this way — after 25 issues of maximum density, the only thing left that can still surprise is subtraction. Same move as Peter Saville (a sleeve without the band's name), but Saville subtracts the NAME, Carson subtracts the IMAGE and leaves the name.
7. What would kill it — any headline in the emptiness. Even one band's name.

Principles: bijeli-prostor-kao-oblik oduzimanje-kao-autorstvo (third author after Muji/Ikko Tanaka (田中一光) and Peter Saville — see _PRINCIPI) praznina-kao-provokacija-kioska masthead-mijenja-pismo-svaki-broj To verify against the image: whether the scribble is printed or a mark on the copy; the photographer.

1. What it is — monograph, Laurence King 1995, text by Lewis Blackwell, foreword by David Byrne, design by Carson; 245 × 285 mm, 156 pp.; 35,000 copies of the first edition (Design Open Data); revised edition 2000. PGDA: "messy, overlapping text with different fonts and sizes".
2. Composition — the format split vertically: left ochre-yellow field (x 0–55 %) with a pale technical drawing and stripes, right dark blue photographic texture of a machine (x 55–100 %); title THE / END OF / PRINT: in three short lines top left (x 25–55 %, y 18–35 %) — small, degraded; "THE GRAPHIC DESIGN / OF DAVID" in the middle (y 50–60 %), CARSON large in a blue band across the full width (y 60–70 %); author and foreword small white at the bottom; "DATUM" vertical along the seam; a piece of map (Mercury) on the right. Eye path: CARSON → ochre/blue seam → title (last!).
3. Colour — two large fields, complementary (ochre / ultramarine), + black type + small white. The book's title has no colour of its own; the author's name has a band.
4. Typography — title in hybrid, damaged glyphs (letters from several typefaces, parts missing — "end of print" literally in the letters); CARSON in a transitional serif, capitals, light on blue; BLACKWELL/BYRNE in a narrow sans capitals. Three registers, three ranks: title smallest.
5. Message — a book about the end of print looks like an old printed thing falling apart: map, technical drawing, machine. From five metres: CARSON and two colours; from half a metre only THE END OF PRINT. The title is a reward for proximity.
6. Why exactly this way — a monograph sells on the name, not the title; Carson knows this and gives the name a band, and the title a ruin. Ochre/blue is one of the oldest complementary splits (Matter, Beall) — a quote without quotation marks.
7. What would kill it — the title large and legible at the top. Or one field instead of two — the seam the letters cross over disappears.

Principles: providni-sloj-kao-dubina (drawing beneath the fields, text above — three depths) hijerarhija-po-dubini (the title is "far" — blurred, small; the name "near") citljivost-na-granici (the title's glyphs) istorijski-citat-kao-gradivni-materijal To verify against the image: the origin of the photographic texture; whether "DATUM" is a found letterform.

1. What it is — screenprint on paper, 88 × 62 cm; one of five authors invited for the National Theatre's fiftieth anniversary (2013); V&A: "multicoloured shapes which form the letters of the word 'National'" with "silhouetted figures in the background"; a gift from the National Theatre. Same client and same year as Paula Scher (National Theatre 2013, V&A S.622-2016) — a direct pair.
2. Composition — vertical format, ground split vertically into light grey (left) and mid-grey (right) halves; three black silhouettes of men in suits, faceless, in the top fifth (y 5–20 %), spread across the width; below them a dense collage of coloured shapes (y 22–75 %) — an orange barrel, yellow stripes, cyan and magenta lines, black fragments — which, per V&A, spell out the word NATIONAL letter by letter; "the national theatre" scrawled white on the left (y ≈ 50 %); a row of small marks at the bottom (y ≈ 82 %). Eye path: silhouettes → orange mass → only then an attempt to read.
3. Colour — two grey fields + black + four saturated ones (orange, yellow, cyan, magenta) only in the letter-shapes. Colour = word; grey = stage.
4. Typography — no typeface: the letters are coloured shapes (V&A). In a 1000 px image the word NATIONAL does NOT assemble without a key — the key is the work's title. Unlike Paula Scher (same word, 3 × 5 grid, letters stretched to the breaking point but legible), Carson pushes past the boundary.
5. Message — theatre: three figures on stage above, below a colourful jumble that is actually the house's name. From five metres: three black silhouettes; from half a metre: collage. The word doesn't read at either distance — and that's a decision, not an error (V&A: "fused together in a chaotic form").
6. Why exactly this way — the client has a name everyone knows; five authors, each different. Carson doesn't need to say NATIONAL — he needs to say CARSON. Screenprint carries flat fields and overlaps, not photography — so here there is NO photograph, for the first time in eight works.
7. What would kill it — a legible NATIONAL. Or faceless silhouettes with faces — the stage disappears.

Principles: citljivost-na-granici (past the boundary — tenth author, the only one who crosses the boundary on purpose) sifra-umjesto-teksta (second author after Peter Saville — the word exists, the key is the catalogue title) sudar-registara-bez-hijerarhije (silhouette / field / scribble / map at the same rank — second author after Tadanori Yokoo) fragment-umjesto-lica (faceless silhouettes — second author after Paula Scher) To verify against the image: the number of colours in the screenprint; whether the grey seam is two colours or paper + one.