Today we’d like to introduce you to Rick Valicenti.
Rick, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I am a graphic designer. My training, however, is in photography which explains why my work is so obviously imaged based. Even my typography challenges the limits of legibility as it demands recognition in its place.
My early years were mentored by one of the students in the first classes of the New Bauhaus in Chicago. His name was Bruce Beck. I opened the doors of my own studio on April fools Day 1981 under my own name. In 1988, while working on a project with Phillipe Starck, a typographic error led to the current studio name — Thirst.
Today there are 11 of us in the studio and we are dedicated to meticulously crafted and exuberantly conceived design for high profile clients in architecture, design, and culture.
Has it been a smooth road?
The path over the past 37 years has been incredibly smooth. The most difficult part, if there ever was one, was nurturing a vibrant, respectful, collaborative clientele.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Thirst story. Tell us more about the business.
Thirst is perhaps known for its image-based branding work. I can point to the Custom logotype for the Wright auction, or our image direction over many decades for Holly Hunt, or the recent Exhibit Columbus work celebrating the long legacy of modern design in Columbus Indiana. But most of all Thirst is recognized for its self-initiated cultural commentary. Three of our many self-initiated works are currently on display in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Where do you see your industry going over the next 5-10 years? Any big shifts, changes, trends, etc?
We see design everywhere. The presence of the designer is in everything! And the impact of the graphic designer cannot be ignored for it is evidenced in every keystroke and swipe our fingers make and every pixel our eyes absorb.
In the next five or ten years, graphic designers will need to navigate the new technologies and leverage the new engineering around sound activated interfaces, autonomous transit, and machine intelligence. Form is not dead. In fact, it will need to blossom bigger and even more responsibly in the next renaissance.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.3st.com
- Email: info@3st.com
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