Local designer/street artist/activist, Nick Adam has permanently installed his painted alphabet Rare Form first shown in the Typeforce show inside the Thirst studios. You are invited and encouraged to stop by and see Nick’s work up close as it is a rare and intelligent typographic gem. Drop us and email or call first to let us know you are coming by in the months approaching the mid-term elections.

Here’s  a sample from Nick’s description of Rare Form

… Rare Form’s objective was to offer moments of visual silence while celebrating the power and the beauty of typography. In an act of info-reduction, signage from Illinois’s 2010 primaries was removed from public spaces to be repurposed as canvases. Violating the one-color graphics with hand lettered type substituted the multiple messages once held by the sign for a much simpler one. The slab-serif letters are a custom alphabet created for this project. Each was freestyled following the hand techniques of traditional sign-painters as well in their medium of brush and 1-shot enamel.

Displayed individually as well in groupings, we are privy to observe each character outside of its common codependent context of conveying a message. Sans-statement, these letters will not judge your lifestyle, ask you for help, nor will they tell you where to be. Simply these symbols exemplify the power and capabilities of our human kind.

Also on display inside Thirst are rare and unique work by Ed Fella, Paul Rand, Paul Sahre, Frank Gerhy, April Greiman, Mike Perry, Dennis Ichiyama, Jason Pickleman, Marian Bantjes, Sonnenzimer, to name but a few.

Please let us know when you are in the area, we would like to share the collection.

Rare Form
Hand-Lettering in 1-Shot Enamel on Removed Corrugated-Plastic Signs. 26 individual 18″ X 24″

IIT Spring 2010 Lecture Series

IIT Fall 2008 Lecture Series

Curiosities: Rick Valicenti + the 21st Century Thirst

Moving Design’s Call to Action: A Design Intervention on Water is now underway! Participants were welcomed with a Chicago must “see and do” – a cruise of the Chicago River and Lake Michigan. Martin Felsen, Director of Archeworks was onboard to share facts and figures about the city’s water system and its (ab)use of Lake Michigan. On June 3, participants attended the Infrastructures for Change Conference which focused on the design and planning of the next 100 years of Chicago, Lake Michigan, and the built urban environment within the Great Lakes Basin.

Tuesday, June 15th the Call to Action Speaker Series begins. Four guest speakers will share their experiences. The evening with be filled with information and inspiration as we experience the beginnings of our collective energy.

June 15, 2010 Guest Speakers:
Martin Felsen / Director Archeworks
Phil Enquist / Head of Urban Planning, SOM
Sarah Herda / Director Graham Foundation
John Bielenberg / Founder, Project M (virtual)

We will broadcast the Call to Action Speaker Series live online.
To watch visit the event on Vokle at 6:10 pm (CST) tomorrow evening!

Mark you calendars for Moving Design’s Call to Action Speaker Series
Monday, July 5
Monday, July 12
Monday, July 19
Monday, July 26
Monday, Aug 2

2,000,000,000 gallons of fresh water go down the river every day.

Participants capturing the sights.

Call to Action

Rick Valicenti, of Moving Design invites passionate, fearless, and brilliant designers to join forces inside the Archeworks Studio. Come together to advance powerful ideas in response to the glocal issues underscored in Archeworks’ Infrastructures for Change Conference. During 11 summer-evening sessions over 6 weeks you will convert design into a tangible and real social currency.

Visit calltoaction.movingdesign.com to sign up for more information as it is available.
Details and application form to follow.

Print has invited 12 leading visual artists including Rick Valicenti to choose a cause they would like to support and create a design for tote bags that will be sold on MyDesignShop.com. One hundred percent of the profits from these bags will go to the causes chosen by the artists.

The artists included in this project are:
Atélier Telescopique: Fondation de France
büro destruct
Christoph Niemann: Doctors Without Borders
Deanne Cheuk: Smile Train
Ed Fella: KPFK Radio
Geoff McFetridge
HORT: Amnesty International
James Joyce: Save the Children UK
Laurent Fetis: World Wildlife Fund
Rick Valicenti / Thirst: CASA of Cook County
Si Scott: World Wildlife Fund
Spin: Bone Cancer Research UK

Attention all student design groups, we have set aside an entire Saturday at the Thirst office for you. We will host 4 student groups on Sat, September 25th. To reserve a spot email info@3st.com.

group 1 / 9:00 – 10:00
group 2 / 11:00 – 12:00
group 3 / 2:00 – 3:00
group 4 / 4:00 – 5:00

First come first serve. Don’t worry if all the slots fill up, we’ll be have another tour day in the spring 2011. Please try and limit your group to 20 if possible.

Our previously announced exhibition, Curiosities, is coming together nicely. Above are some images of our over the top installation. We are thankful to all the design students of Florida Atlantic University for bringing our work to life.

The exhibition opens with a lecture by Rick Valicenti on Friday February 12th.

For more detailed information about Curiosities see the press release below.

Boca Raton Graphic Design Exhibition Features Rick Valicenti and Thirst

CHICAGO (February 12, 2010) –A retrospective exhibition of work from graphic design studio Thirst opens Saturday, February 13 at the Schmidt Center Gallery on Florida Atlantic University’s Boca Raton campus. Thirst is a graphic design firm based in Chicago that was founded in 1988 by internationally known designer/artist Rick Valicenti.

This marks the first national retrospective exhibition of Thirst’s work. The opening reception for the exhibition will be Friday, February 12 from 7 to 9 pm, beginning with a free public lecture by Valicenti.

The exhibition runs through April 3 and is open Tuesday–Friday 1:00–4:00 pm, Saturday 1:00–5:00 pm and is at the Schmidt Center Gallery & Ritter Art Gallery at Florida Atlantic University: 777 Glades Road Boca Raton, Florida 33431. The exhibition is free and open to the public.

The show, entitled Curiosities: Rick Valicenti + the 21st Century Thirst displays both commercial designs created for clients and personal art from the past decade. Over 150 pieces cover the gallery walls and display tables to showcase the energy and connection to human emotion inherent in Thirst’s designs.

Some of the work shown includes designs with designers Adrian Smith, Jeanne Gang, Arik Levy, Martin Felsen, and for clients like Richard Wright, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Herman Miller, and more.

Thirst is a studio devoted to “art with function” and serves a collection of clients from the worlds of design + culture: architects, industrial designers, furniture designers, engineers, and artists. Thirst’s work continues to lead the industry and express intelligence, high fashion, and a connection to the human spirit within today’s world of communication.

Thirst is opening a 21st century retrospective exhibition in Boca Raton at Florida Atlantic University’s Schmidt Center Gallery. The show opens on February 13th and will run until April 3rd, and ultimately migrate to NYC and then to one other national university setting.

Curiosities, Rick Valicenti + the 21st Century Thirst is work from the past decade curated to underscore the collaborative balance and value between the professional commission and the personal research.

An opening reception for the exhibition, beginning with a lecture by Valicenti, will be presented on Friday, February 12 from 7 to 9 pm. In association with our exhibition, the department of theatre and dance’s FAU Dance Ensemble will premiere a work on February 5–7 that Rick Valicenti is collaborating on with graduate students in dance and visual arts.

We’ll be posting more detail and images very soon!

Floor-plan of the Thirst show.

As you enter the show you’re greeted with a collective gasp.

DMK Burger bar was recently reviewed in Time Out ChicagoTime Out Chicago — go check it out. While you’re waiting for your burger you can take a moment to watch clouds of typography explode over a normalized sunset. View this project on our site.

3st.com has a new feature which gives YOU the power to share our images!

Just rollover the image to share it on your blog / email / instant message / bookmark / facebook / twitter / digg / stumpleupon / delicious / trust / ♥ it / or even drop and ffffound it!

If you love our work share it with the rest of the world! 3st.com

The Thirst office will be featured in the forthcoming book Studio Culture: The Secret Life of the Graphic Design Studio from Unit Editions. It shows off images of Thirst office space, a sampling of our work, and an interview with Rick Valicenti. Below is a sample of the interview.

At what stage in your career did the urge to have a studio hit you? Was it there from the start?

Twenty years ago Thirst was founded on the desire to pursue ‘art with function’. When I went on my own in 1981, I was a relatively fresh designer, president of the STA (Society of Typographic Arts) and a new father with a desire to be certain that a paycheck was regular. It took roughly six years for me to discover and come to understand that there is a thin line and a big difference between being a designer who is a preferred vendor and a designer who has a consultant’s seat at the table. In 1988 I no longer wanted to be the preferred vendor. It was this motivation and clear image of the creative life I wanted to design that Thirst came to be.

Pre-order Studio Culture for more insights into the world of Thirst and other fantastic design firms.

Unit Editions is the new publishing company formed by Tony Brook and Adrian Shaughnessy, dedicated to producing high quality books on design and visual culture.

Studio Culture is the first book to be published by the new company. It lays bare the inner workings of 28 studios from around the works, plus contains essays, rare photographs and commentaries.

Guitar and DJ Heroes you can’t see anywhere but here! If Thirst’s Rick Valicenti were to make the final selection on behalf of our friends at Pentagram, these are his selections:

btw
Rick’s long-time collaborators, Bill Cornman at Real Eyes and Thirst’s John Pobojewski and Bud Rodecker, were all instrumental in turning up the volume on these variations.

Read the about the rest of the project on Pentagram’s site.

It has come to our Attention that Thirst has been selected for the 2009 Best of Barrington Award in the Graphic Arts category. Below is the official press release, and above is our virtual trophy.
*Note, we haven’t been in Barrington since 2007*

Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Thirst Receives 2009 Best of Barrington Award

U.S. Commerce Association’s Award Plaque Honors the Achievement

WASHINGTON D.C., June 8, 2009 — Thirst has been selected for the 2009 Best of Barrington Award in the Graphic Arts category by the U.S. Commerce Association (USCA).

The USCA “Best of Local Business” Award Program recognizes outstanding local businesses throughout the country. Each year, the USCA identifies companies that they believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community.

Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2009 USCA Award Program focused on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the USCA and data provided by third parties.

About U.S. Commerce Association (USCA)

U.S. Commerce Association (USCA) is a Washington D.C. based organization funded by local businesses operating in towns, large and small, across America. The purpose of USCA is to promote local business through public relations, marketing and advertising.

The USCA was established to recognize the best of local businesses in their community. Our organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations, chambers of commerce and other business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is to be an advocate for small and medium size businesses and business entrepreneurs across America.

SOURCE: U.S. Commerce Association

CONTACT:
U.S. Commerce Association
Email: PublicRelations@us-ca.org
URL: http://www.us-ca.org

###

We at Thirst want to give Rick Bayless a shout out and a big congratulations for winning the title of Top Chef Master! We always knew our hometown hero had the chops to bring that prize money back to Chicago’s farmers.

The picture above is at The Green City Market Chef BBQ where Rick V received from Rick B a delicious Taco.  In return RV zapped his new best friend with Thirst’s palm-sized iPhone Tazer App™.

While making the rounds to all the booths we met this lovely lady who informed us that our tote bag design was successful beyond all estimates.

Cheers to you Ricky B!

One Drop is a simple learning initiative for use within Chicago Public Schools created by Moving Design in collaboration with Archeworks, a not for profit educational and research institution in Chicago dedicated to designing 21st century urban infrastructure.

One Drop is a three-week, after school curriculum designed to engage this next generation in basic water issues and inspire them to make a difference.

Learn more here.

Week One will focus on the students tracking their water usage via an interactive website.

Week Two will feature daily 15-minute classroom lessons and group activities to explore how water is important to all and how our actions affect the Lake Michigan watershed. A 32-page workbook outlines the activities for both teachers and students.

In Week Three, students then track their water use again online, using what they’ve learned to reduce their usage and then reveal the difference that they made.

Together with experts at Archeworks, Chicago Public Schools, Friends of the Chicago River, and the State of Illinois, Moving Design hopes to develop this program into a scalable curriculum for elementary students.

In order to fund the pilot program, Moving Design has applied for the Sappi Ideas that Matter Grant and looks forward to bringing this idea into life.

Moving Design encourages innovation through creative research, done in collaboration with students from different disciplines and forward-thinking organizations. All research programs encourage creative experimentation, keen observation, and intense curiosity, and present relevant new ideas that shape the public’s point of view.

Rick Valicenti & John Pobojewski Founders, Ideation, and Art Direction
Melanie Gibb & Bud Rodecker Design and Content Development
Barb Valicenti Project Management

We are located in Richard Wright’s auction house and it is here that we delight in being surrounded by the best of 20th and 21st design furniture and objects. Recently Richard delivered a very transparent interview on Design Glut where he discusses the history of Wright’s catalogs.

For the layout of the catalog, we did so many firsts – big, bold graphics on the cover, pictures crossing over two pages, supergraphics, and more of an open grid system…

To catch the wave from Richard’s interview we’d like to remind you that Thirst was responsible for the design and implementation of the Wright Identity Program, and that thousands of catalog and web pages are designed every year at Wright by only one designer and one programmer thanks to Thirst’s automated workflow and grid system.

We are proud to announce Moving Design, a social enterprise dedicated to expanding the culture of design, founded by Rick Valicenti and John Pobojewski.

Moving Design is a new model of passionate pedagogy residing at the intersection of experimentation, experience, and education. In the spirit of fusing design research and art‚ we create initiatives that bring together organizations, professionals, and students from different disciplines to present relevant new ideas that shape the public’s point of view.

Much is on the horizon — please stay tuned.

Mel’s powers of observation are as sharp as ever on her last day of work. “Frankie, is that you!?”

BTW, if you’d like to get a better view of the MJ/FF mashups check out our Flickr.
Read the original Respecfully post.

In 1993 Thirst designed an invitation for the J. T. Graziano Fund / SOFA (Sculpture, Objects and Functional Art) Event. The event’s charitable contributions benefited pediatric AIDS at Chicago’s Children’s Memorial Hospital. The young adults pictured here graduated from high school this year. It’s amazing how Cory and Delaney were able to grow into those eyes! Congratulations Cory and Delaney from all of us at Thirst.

Rick brought his new 10 month old rescue dog, Roo (As in Kanga), into the office for the day. After saying hi to everyone and sniffing out the whole space, she found her spot and passed out for most of the day.

Grab the corner to flip the pages.

Rick Valicenti has returned to the United States with a refreshed perspective. He spent the 35 days in Italy creating new personal work and exploring his curiosities. Read more after the jump.

On May 25, 2009, at 11:30 PM, Stefan Sagmeister wrote

I am putting a talk together for TED on sabbaticals.

Besides talking about my own experience, I’m giving examples of people who
have done successful sabbaticals in the past. I have heard, but don’t know
if its true, that you did a mini-experimental time every day.
The timing that I’ve heard is that you do client work until 3:00pm and then
do your own experimental work after this.

Could you tell me about it? Yes?

Stefan

Your note comes on my first day returning to the domestic studio and as you can imagine, I am pinching myself to see if indeed I really was away.

I return to this reality with is not so much a body of work, but a renewed sense of being centered in who and what I am. it did not take long to re-learn that I am prolific, curious, and incredibly talented once fully immersed. this in and of itself was a very healthy reminder for this soul that is often misplaced during the day to day of this (sur)real world.

In the mornings I would begin the day with a drop of black sumi ink on a 9 x 12″ piece of Yupo (plastic) paper. I would then relax, take a breath, and hold the sheet in front to of me allowing this drop, located at twelve o’clock, to move and draw a complete circle. I have never really created an exercise for myself that would force me to be so in the moment, and save for an EKG exam, this two minute drawing records every seismic pulse—each exhale, twitch and pause my body experienced while turning the smooth paper yielded a indelible bend in the line.

Like a tarot card reading, these circle glyphs provided me with a visual glimpse into my relationship with the day.

—-

Only on a few days I did work the ’second shift’ with a virtual double dutch in the chicago time zone which was after drinks, dinner and socializing, but for the most part, I held my time for myself. now that I am on the cusp of re-entry, I know I will do it again next year and the maybe year after… for knowing so beats wishing (it could happen).

take care and thank you for the continued inspiration.

Rick

The AIGA design archives documents selections from AIGA’s annual design competitions. These archives provide broad accessibility to an extensive collection of contemporary design for research and reference. This definitive resource on design will continue to expand with each year’s selections and the addition of special collections.

Personal Views is a unique series of conferences that brings together an unparalleled group of designers, writers and educators from the world of graphic design. Coordinated by Andrew Howard, and taking place at the Escola Superior de Artes e Design in Matosinhos, Portugal, the series aims to examine contemporary definitions of graphic design by asking these professionals to talk about the values and objectives that have value for them. It is an attempt to explore where the boundaries of contemporary practice lie, to discuss what we might expect of ourselves, and to examine what social and cultural objectives we seek to fulfill.