David Carson - Ray Gun

David Carson is famous for being a graphic designer with his best known work being in magazine designs and experimental typography. The most famous magazine that Carson had his art designs used on was "Ray Gun"(a music and lifestyle magazine) which he was hired for by the publisher Marvin Scott and on this he portrayed the typographic style he is known for. 

His designs appeared abnormal to readers as they were different to any other magazine usual house style. The title wasn't always in the same place and on various occasions, images and text have been displayed side ways, diagonal or in more extreme cases, upside down. These designs made him quite famous and he gained a wider audience who were now intrigued by his work and he was even featured in The New York Times at the peak of his fame.

I think that Carson's work is unique and therefore stands out to anyone when displayed on a news stand alongside other magazines that have a typical house style. For instance, this "Ray Gun" magazine front cover has a completely different title so readers would be unaware that this was an issue of "Ray Gun" as it could be mistaken for another magazine. 

Moreover, the image is displaying the bottom half of the model rather than the typical mid-shot or close-up camera view that most magazines tend to use. There are also no straplines or taglines or even any snippets of whats inside on the cover, which usually help to sell the magazine and this makes it unusual as this type of layout doesn't tend to catch an audiences eye, although Carson made it work.