David Carson and his magazine conventions - Ray Gun

In lesson our teacher showed us a magazine. He told us to write down what we thought of it. At first I thought 'wow this is strange?' I wouldn't of  even thought it was a magazine.

David Carson did NOT stick to standard conventions of his magazine 'Ray Gun'. If you look to the right you can see his magazine 'Ray Gun'. Now you cannot identify a house style because the conventions change each time! He went against the ideas of magazine design for example the image on the far end is upside down with the price bigger than normal.
Ray gun was an American alternative rock and roll magazine. It was first published in 1992 in Santa Monica, California. Ray gun explored magazine design making it extremely quirky however did it confuse its audience? The designs were chaotic and abstract. David carson left the magazine after three years, however the magazine still went on with the designs still individual and unique. Ray gun was the first magazine to use such a wide range of artists on the cover. These included Radio head, Flaming lips, Bjork, Eminem etc.
Ray gun did go out of business. It is a shame because I think the creativity and drive to be different was very refreshing. I think the confusion and inconsistency of the magazine led to it dying out. On one of his covers he had a random tomato on the cover of the magazine which just led the audience to think 'What is actually in the content of this magazine?'
I do like and admire carsons work. Obviously he strived to be individual and it worked in some cases. I don't think I would particularly do this in my own magazine because I wouldn't be confident enough and as it went out of business it made me look away from producing an unconventional magazine. I want to know my audience feel confident buying the magazine.

Here is a link of David Carson talking about Ray Gun