Rick Valicenti

Following graduation, Valicenti found the photography scene in Chicago boring, so he worked to create a commercial design portfolio, securing a position at Bruce Beck Design. After Beck retired, he opened his studio, R. Valicenti Design, in 1981. In 1989, looking to change direction of his studio practice, he founded Thirst, a Chicago-based design collaborative devoted to art, function, and authentic human presence.^[1][3][4] The studio is known for taking risks, and doing conventional jobs unconventionally.^[5]

Valicenti is a former president of the Society of Typographic Arts and is a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale since being invited to join in 1996. In 2006, Valicenti won the AIGA Medal for "the passion and intelligence of his influential work, inspiration to his colleagues and mentorship to a generation of students."^[1] In 2011, The White House honored Valicenti with the Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt, National Design Award for Communication Design.^[6]