Ray Gun(Magazine)

The alternative rock and roll magazine, led by David Carson was first published in 1992.

‘Ray Gun’ always had its finger on the musical pulse reviewing some of the best rising artists way before fellow magazines, featuring such artists as Radiohead, PJ Harvey and Eminem. Not only were the articles cutting edge, ‘Ray gun’ was a platform experimental typographical design.

At times the designs were abstract to say the least and not always even legible, such as Carson’s revamp of a Brian Ferry article. After reading over it himself, he thought it was so dull that he took the entire article and translated it into the Zapf Dingbats font. As abstract this was, the article was a defining moment for the magazine.

Carsons Style angered more traditional typographers, deeming his work as thoughtless, messy and structureless, I even read in one typography book calling him Satan of the typography world.

As For myself, I find his work so exciting and never grow tired of seeing his style of typeography. At first it may look sporatic, but the more I look, I begin see there is thought and structure to his work, and is an inspiration for me