In 1980 Carson had his first exposure to graphic design through a summer school. His most significant exposure to a graphic
design education came as part of a three week workshop in Rapperswil, Switzerland, where he was influenced by the ideas of the Swiss graphic designer Hans-Rudolf Lutz. Seven years later, he began to work as a high school teacher. Carson conducts many workshops around the world, that feeds into his thinking perhaps as much as his ideas influence those who attend. He stresses that his approach is concerned with the personal expression in a communication, and is not a system that can be taught, but a complex exploration of the individuals reaction to given problem or task. He encourages those participants to look within and through finding out about themselves -understand more about what is being said by both the deliberate and the unplanned elements in a "designed" item. His idea of the event is not to mimic the work of the instructor, but to encourage students to hear and/or discover their own voice and style.
From 1989 to 1991 David Carson developed an approach to graphic design thnt signature. Techniques of David Carson dominate advertising, design, the web, and even motion pictures. However, Carson's style is widely imitated, but he will always be the calm laid-back surfer who made the design world squint, turn the page sideways, hold the page back some, then put his work down and just accept.