According to Heller, today’s underground works are the mainstream works of tomorrow. Sub-cultures are inevitably reduced to a few defining characteristics, and those characteristics are then appropriated by large corporations in order to market and sell goods back to members of the aforementioned sub-cultures. 

One of the greatest examples of this is in the work of Graphic Designer David Carson. Carson, made his career ebbing and flowing back between these two worlds. His design work on Transworld Skateboarding, Beach Culture and Ray Gun garnered him attention from major brands such as Nike, and Pepsi. 

Unlike other designers, Carson, is not the descendant of any particular design philosophy. “Carson, a 40-year-old former professional surfer, stumbled into graphic design when he was 24 and teaching high school on the West Coast. He came across an advertisement for a two-week design course for high-school seniors and decided to catch that wave.” Carson, embodies the spirit of the sub-cultures he is working with at a given moment. The unique set of circumstances for which a designer such as Carson springs from enables him to be the perfect person to synthesize the core values and spirit of Surfing, Skateboarding, and alternative Rock music.“Transworld Skateboarding wasn’t the most mainstream publication, and neither were the two magazines Carson completely designed himself –Beach Culture and Ray Gun. But they appeared when such companies as Nike and Levi Strauss were looking for ways to make their ads appeal to the generation who squirrel into 7-Elevens on skateboards and say, ‘Make that two Big Gulps, dude.’”The erratic, in your face style of Carson’s design is what made him highly sought after by brands which sought to market to Gen X in the 1990s. 

One of the weirdest things about this class is seeing how things that spoke to you in your youth were eventually commodified and sold back to you. Or even better yet, the perception of being in on the ground floor of a sub-culture only to find out that you were actually a part of its commodified phase is super weird. 

Citations

Plagens, Peter, and Ray Sawhill. “The Font of Youth.” Newsweek, vol. 127, no. 9, Feb. 1996, p. 64. EBSCOhost, citytech.ezproxy.cuny.edu:2048/login?url=https://https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mth&AN=9602207799&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

Plagens, Peter, and Ray Sawhill. “The Font of Youth.” Newsweek, vol. 127, no. 9, Feb. 1996, p. 64. EBSCOhost, citytech.ezproxy.cuny.edu:2048/login?url=https://https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mth&AN=9602207799&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

“Typeout!: They may love him or hate him but graphic designers are rarely indifferent on the subject of David Carson. A former surfer and sociology teacher, Carson is best known for his work on the American music magazine Ray Gun, where he tore up the rulebook, followed his instincts and kicked design into the future.” Observer [London, England] 12 Nov. 1995: 46. Business Insights: Global. Web. 23 Apr. 2022.

URL

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