David Carson Quotations

If I'm doing a logo, I'll do it in black and white. Once the form is feeling right, only then do I start exploring the color palettes. A good example was the process of rebranding the Salvador Dali Museum. I did at least 100 versions in black and white.

I'm a big believer in the emotion of design, and the message that's sent before somebody begins to read, before they get the rest of the information; what is the emotional response they get to the product, to the story, to the painting - whatever it is.

For some reason I have a visual intuition that allows me to design things in an interesting way, and I don't know where that came from. Because I don't have this formal training, I seem to drift in a different direction.

Good things are associated with blue, like clear days, more than singing the blues. Just the word 'blue' in the singular is full of optimism and positive connotation to most people.

My background is sociology. Combined with my graphic approach, if I could do some film projects, I think I'd be very good at making documentaries eventually, but people don't think of me for that, of course. But dialogue is something I know I can be good at.

Some people hate lime-green; red has all this emotional baggage. Blue seems to be overall one of the more positive colors, and a little more serious than yellow.

As we get more technically driven, the importance of people becomes more than it's ever been before. You have to utilize who you are in your work. Nobody else can do that: nobody else can pull from your background, from your parents, your upbringing, your whole life experience.

Just because something's legible doesn't means it communicates. More importantly, it doesn't mean it communicates the right thing. So, what is the message sent before somebody actually gets into the material? And I think that's sometimes an overlooked area.

The dreaded phrase in design circles is 'show and tell.'

My site is a little unorthodox without being totally inaccessible.

Having done a lot of magazines, I'm very curious how big magazines handle big stories, and I was very curious to see how 'Time' and 'Newsweek' would handle 9/11. And I was basically pretty disappointed to see that they had chosen to show the photo we'd already seen a million times, which was basically the moment of impact.

I'm experimenting in public. At the design grad schools, these are people sitting around in groups, putting their work on a wall, analyzing it and putting it back in a drawer. I think there's little risk in that.

I did an early version of my site where it was virtually impossible to get through it, just as a statement about the web. But after a few laughs and some angry e-mails, I realized it wasn't doing me much good. I think the web has become more about the final product, not what it takes to get to it.

I think we've seen a lot of examples of giving a name its own definition in the dot-com world. Amazon, Google, Yahoo - these are names we never would have dreamed major corporations would choose.

Must See TV' is a snore. 'Must Stream TV' is where the action is—where Adult Swim meets the X Box. Nowhere but Heavy.com will you find a full new season of fall original programming—humorous, outrageous programming that TV can't do. Broadband is poised to overtake cable audiences and America is ready for breakthrough shows like Dr. Philpra, Colossus Whisperer.

He was sort of an inventor of a tough-guy look, whether he knew it or not.

Never mistake legibility for communication.

You'll see everything from gold teeth to hood ornaments. It's almost like Halloween during August.

The station was tight, aggressive ... the deejays at times sounding as if they were broadcasting at gunpoint.

Just because something is legible doesn’t mean it communicates.

Don't confuse legibility with communication.

If you have no intuitive sense of design, then call yourself an "information architect" and only use Helvetica.

It's not about knowing all the gimmicks and photo tricks. If you haven't got the eye, no program will give it to you.

Graphic design will save the world right after rock and roll does.

You have to utilize who you are in your work. Nobody else can do that: nobody else can pull from your background, from your parents, your upbringing, your whole life experience.

Invite the reader to participate by deciphering. Chaos can attract and engage.

Dont confuse legibility with communication. Just because something is legible doesnt mean it communicates and, more importantly, doesnt mean it communicates the right thing.

There's no other time in the year where commercials can take center stage. Commercials are always the things that are playing when you're going to the bathroom or grabbing a soda from the fridge.

The school system cannot single-handedly rid Roanoke city of poverty or the effects of poverty.

A lot of commercials that have been rejected are really entertaining.

Heavy has always been about our point of view. That's why we have attracted an audience.

All of a sudden, you had a culture, ... It was THE lifestyle. Kids believed, 'We might not have had all the amenities of other cities, but man, we have the best music.'