The whole thing started in the back cubicles of Vertek when they were on Tigan Street in Winooski. I was the "design guy" back then and as such, I was tasked with dressing up our otherwise dreary office space with some artwork. We had a big client visit on the horizon and it was time to show the place off to those that didn't work there on a day to day basis.



My office counterpart, Andrew Lewis, knew I was a big Carson fan. This was back in 1997/98 when The End of Print was in its XXth edition and everyone in the design world was inspired by David Carson. Andrew suggested I reach out to David and ask him for some posters to help ease the eye strain caused by the stereotypical beige corporate walls we were used to staring at. "No way David Carson is going to do that for us", I said. "No reason not to try" was his response.

I sent an email to David after discovering his earthlink address and no sooner than two weeks later, a giant poster tube arrived at the office. No way. I poured the contents onto a nearby table and couldn't believe what I saw. Beautiful large format posters promoting his design talks from around the world. Wow, who would have known that someone this famous could respond so quickly to a request for free artwork to a small office he'd never heard of. I was blown away.

Almost a decade had past and now it was 2009 - the year of The Spot. Roxanne and I purchased the old Phillips 66 gas station and retrofitted the interior to become the well known surfy place it is today. I would periodically send bulk emails to our subscriber list notifying everyone of events, menu specials, and once in a while, an alert of an upcoming swell. It was on one of these swell events that I got a very interesting reply from an unlikely source. In building my subscriber list, I had added David's address knowing I'd had success in emailing him in the past. He was fair game. I had honestly forgotten he was even on this list when his reply reached me. "Holy crap! Did Carson really just reply to my swell forecast??".

"So where is this swell and how big is it going to be?"

At this point, I was no longer sitting down. Instead, I was standing over my desk just staring at my screen trying to understand how this had happened. I was floating. Once I hit the ground, it was time to formulate a response. Not an easy task. Be brief, confirm its him, and go from there. We launched into a small email dialog about New England point breaks, the longevity and size of the upcoming swell, then finally into a much bigger idea.

Like a lot of Carson fans, I had seen his Ted Talks on graphic design. He has a great stage presence and a hilarious dry sense of humor that makes his presentations as equally entertaining as they are inspiring. He's also a surfer. And not just the kind that gets out a few times over the summer months when his vacation plans land him on a nice sunny beach. He grew up in Cocoa Beach, home of Kelly Slater. David surfed professionally for many years before pro surfing was even a thing. Surfing runs through him. His passion for surfing fueled his motivation to start Beach Culture, to art direct for Transworld, and later art direct for Surfer Magazine. He follows his work most of the year placing himself wherever his client needs him. Except in the winter months when he's at his place in Tortola looking over the right-hand point break at Cane Garden Bay.

"You should come up to Burlington and do a talk on design and surfing!". "Yeah, lets do that." he replied. Holy crap, he likes the idea. "When can you come?" "Maybe in the fall". "Ok, lets touch base again as the date gets closer". "Ok".

He and I must have had that dialog four or five times over the next six years. I followed up with him every time to nail down a date, but slowly learned how difficult it can be to pin down a celebrity for a first time event in a town he'd never visited. No matter how many times we had that conversation, I was always SO stoked and truly believed it would eventually happen. I just needed to be persistent and patient.

I was sitting in the Aguadilla airport waiting to fly back to Burlington when my phone buzzed and I had a LinkedIn invitation from David. Holy crap, here we go again. I was sprinting through the waiting area looking for Roxanne to share the news. "Guess who just sent me a linkedin invite??". She didn't share the same excitement I had, but was nonetheless happy for me. He was back on the line, and I really wanted to reel him in this time.

The dialog that continued seemed to have stronger legs than the ones prior. I got a strong sense it was finally going to happen. Our emails went back and forth in the same manner they had in the past, but with faster response times. This was a good sign. He was committed to the idea of coming to Burlington and we were actually honing in on a specific month and weekend. As excited as I was I also knew that at any point he could go dark. I needed to get him on the phone to gain any kind of confidence that this was actually going to happen. "Lets jump on the phone this week to discuss the details!". "This week isn't good, maybe next week". Uh oh, I'm losing him. "Sure, just let me know when you have time to talk". "Early next week would be best". "Ok, I'll try you then".

I set a reminder in my phone and followed up late the following week via a Facebook message. "Got time to talk today?". "Sure". "Great! What's your number?". His number came through and I instantly started dialing. "Hello?". "David?". "Yes, this is David". "Holy crap, I can't believe we finally connected!". We talked at length on that first call. Mostly about surfing and finally about his visit. I could tell from his voice that he was genuinely excited about visiting Burlington as he was always curious to check it out. We nailed down the date and made arrangements for his flight and hotel.

He arrived on the evening of the registration party for Stand up for the Lake. I left the boat house early to head to the airport. My friend Jeff (a very talented designer as well) had designed the poster to promote Carson's talk. I brought one to the airport to hold up in baggage claim just like one of those limo drivers looking for their clients.

I spotted David from across the room with his wife and new born. He could see my eyes locked on him and started drifting toward me. Once he was close enough to see what I was holding, he grabbed it from my hands and started studying. It was clear that he really liked the poster. Jeff would be psyched!

His talk was held the following evening in front of a healthy crowd of designers and other fans. David's slides, wit, humor, and timing were perfect. A huge home run. We spent the rest of the week touring the town and meeting with various design agencies and former clients including Burton Snowboards who he had art directed for in the late 1980's. It was my time to spend with David and his family now that the pressures and planning of the talk were behind us. Those were some of the best days of his visit. Hitting The Spot for breakfast and lunch, buying paints for a mural that his wife Ola would paint, grabbing dinner and beers in town while discussing the state of the WSL (having just rebranded from the ASP). We even got to pop into the shaping room of the state's only surf board shaper to talk blanks, shapes, foam and trends.

There were plenty of moments when I reflected back on the days at Vertek and my good friend Andrew Lewis who convinced me to reach out to David. You never know until you try. The guy that has been herald as "the most famous graphic designer in the world" was my guest for the week. But David is a real down-to-earth person who made me feel like I was just spending time with any close friend. No egos, no discontent, no remorse. He was taking in every day and really engaged in everything we were doing together. I knew this wouldn't be his last visit to Burlington, and was happy to know there was a good chance we'd be doing this again and again and again. Who knows, we might even share some waves this winter in Tortola. Its a quick flight from Puerto Rico!

Mahalo for reading.

Russ

davidcarsondesign.com