Graphic design was something you were either passionate about or not. And if not, all of it was completely invisible to you unless it was memorably bad. Not so for Carson Talley. His big break into that world had been redesigning his high school’s letterhead as an art project. Within a year, he’d redone the school paper masthead, the school cafeteria menus, even the one-sheets for the battle of the crappy bands.

But all throughout school and college, even as he excelled, Carson was racked with self-doubt and worry. He was a polyglot, a generalist, who loved all graphic design everywhere. From a box top to a pop can to a cigarette butt, all of it was, in Carson’s mind, exciting and equal. The idea of having to give up the possibility of designing anything, to specialize, was anathema.

Luckily, he was able to land what was essentially a dream job, a designer for the major prophouse Studio Properties LLC. Every production from theater to Hollywood needed realistic-looking graphic designs (without having to pay a major corporation); Carson and his team provided them. In fact, he was able to revise and tinker with existing designs in such a way that it would have a copyright violation in any other field. Some of his favorites included:

amazing.com – For productions that needed boxes from a certain online retailer. Carson deftly revised the famous “smile-arrow” logo into a lightning bolt.

Gurkha-Cola – A soft-drink in an off-red can and cursive font that looked similar enough to a sugar-water-selling behemoth (especially in cursive) to pass muster. Carson designed everything from cans to bottles to full-size ads featuring penguins. He also designed a fierce competitor, Parsi Cola.

O’Douls – A franchisee for fine fatty foods, from signage to discarded wrappers. The O and D were designed in such a way to suggest a certain set of golden-fried arches.

Talley’s – Perhaps Carson’s most sentimental creation, a faux liquor company. Responsible or everything from Talley’s Premium Dark Lager to Talley-Hauser Golden Ale to Col. Talley’s Private Reserve Brand Old No. 9 Tennessee Sour Mash Whisky.

Inspired by this very real business.

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