Arts & Entertainment, Design & Style

Put Yourself Into Your Work: Assignment 1

Lesson time 15:34 min

In the first of three sessions he holds with a small group of designers, David reviews work from the first assignment: using only the letters of your first name and black and white to communicate your personality.

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Topics include: Put Yourself Into Your Work: Assignment 1

David Carson

Teaches Graphic Design

Pioneering graphic designer David Carson teaches you his intuitive approach to creating work that breaks rules and makes an impact.

Preview

[MUSIC PLAYING] INSTRUCTOR: This is a workshop I've given all over the world to show that design can communicate before somebody starts reading. I've gotten together a small group of international students. I hope you'll try these at home as well. So for the first assignment I have asked the students to-- only using the letters of your first name, and only black and white-- arrange them in such a way that we get a pretty good sense of who you are. [MUSIC PLAYING] - Well, welcome. Now all of these are going to be sending messages. What we want to look at, is it the right message? And if it's not, that's fine. We're going to show that it's impossible to not communicate. And even the ones that may not be right are still communicating. And that's what we want to look at today. And then their next assignment will grow on this one. They'll be given a different assignment, and a little more freedom in a sense. And then the third one will wrap them all together. INSTRUCTOR: For this part of the assignment the students did not see what each other we're working on. So I think that brings a kind of a freshness to it. - Let's go here, for no particular reason. What kind of person is this? MAGGA: Experimental maybe? - Experimental person. HÓFÍ: I would say a dreamy person. - Dreamy. Open. Experimental, dreamy, open. - But then there's like a big dark area. So there's some darkness in there, as well. - Some darkness in their life. Okay, look at that already. Just in 30 seconds we've got, oh, they're experimental. Oh, there's some darkness in their life. Oh, they're open. So right away we're making these decisions, and this is black ink on paper. And so that's really interesting. What else? What hit you? SIGTYR: I can say about it, someone who's trying to make connections, for sure. - Somebody who is trying to make connections. Okay. And I think what we want to do-- and we want to do in the artwork, as well-- is try not to get too literal. And I want to feel that as much as we see it. If that's what they're trying to say there's probably a way to do that that's maybe not quite so literal. So something to keep in mind as we go forward. What else? Is this a shy person? - Yeah. - Mysterious person. - Mysterious? - Over thinker, maybe. - Over thinker. - Yeah. There's a lot going on. - So if you were doing a poster and it turns out that these are right we don't want to say, an over thinker, who's mysterious, and-- No. We want to feel that. And then you can work those words in. But we want it to be reinforced with what they're feeling when they first see it. All right. Well, let's find out, whose is this? - Okay. How were those comments? - Pretty good. Yeah. I was surprised about the darkness thing. Because I think that the element in front it's less noticeable to me, maybe, because I've spent more time looking at it. But I ...

About the Instructor

From Ray Gun and Transworld Skateboarding magazines to surfboards and potato chip bags, David Carson changed the trajectory of graphic design by never following the rules or sticking to the grid. Now the pioneering designer is sharing his intuitive approach so you can send a message with boundary-breaking work. Explore typography, photography, logo design, and more as you learn how to make an impact and trust your gut.

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David Carson

Pioneering graphic designer David Carson teaches you his intuitive approach to creating work that breaks rules and makes an impact.

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