Brand Acumen

The art director of the era

In this section, we wanted to shed more light on our unique logo and the previous version of the Brand Acumen Studios website. These pieces of web art are very important to us, not only beacuse they reflects our creative character , but also because they were created in the late 90s by David Carson – one of the most influential graphic designers in the world. Carson’s works do not only communicate through the coherent cooperation of colors, pictures, and symbols. The main center of his art is an experimental use of typography. He employs it as an independent source of content. He somehow made the design of symbols to speak for itself.

The understanding of written words in Carson’s works is of dual nature: semantic (symbol as an abstract) and emotional (its graphic representation). So, in fact, his artwork speaks to us even before we start reading – just like the names that we create at the Brand Acumen Studios. His betrayal of all the strict ‘rules’ of graphic design required a lot of risks, but he comes out with success. All those features of Carson’s significant and brilliant style vocalize in all of our logotypes.

Innovator, pioneer, groundbreaker, gamechanger

Carson was born in 1955 in Texas.  In his early adulthood, he was quite a competitive surfer and a high school teacher in California. By the age of 26, he discovered a new vocation and enrolled himself in a two-week communication design class at the Commercial Art School. His first job as a designer was at an unknown surfer magazine, “Self and Musician.” He earned his first extensive success as a director of the “Beach Culture” magazine in 1989. Although he produced only six issues, it gave him over 150 design awards. In 1992 Carson was hired to design Ray Gun, an alternative music and lifestyle magazine. He was an art director there for more than 3 years. His works for Ray Gun began his fame.

The next step in his career was his own studio, David Carson Design, in New York City. He attracted the most influential brands from all over the United States – e. g. Nike, Microsoft, Sony. On a cover story in 2014, the international design magazine CASA named him “The Most Famous Graphic Designer in the World”. Till today he continues to lecture worldwide on creativity and design.