Designer Rick Valicenti gives presentation at Dordt College

SIOUX CENTER, IA – Design legend Rick Valicenti will share his optimistic perspective on communication design at Dordt College on Wednesday, October 9, at 7 p.m. Valicenti will present “Time Well Spent II” in the Ribbens Academic Complex classroom CL1444/1148. Event parking is located in the parking lot west of the Ribbens Academic Complex.

Valicenti is the founder and design director of Thirst, a Chicago-based communication design practice devoted to art, function, play, and real human presence. He has been influencing the design discourse internationally since 1988 and is a leading presence in design as a practitioner, educator, and mentor.

The White House honored Valicenti in 2011 with the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award for Communication Design. In 2006, he received the AIGA Medal, considered the highest honor of the graphic design profession. In 2004, he was recognized as a Fellow of AIGA Chicago. He is a former president of the Society of Typographic Arts and is a member of Alliance Graphique Internationale.

Several works of Valicenti are in permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, Cooper-Hewitt National Design, and the Columbia University Rare Books Collection.

Valicenti’s presentation is sponsored by the Dordt College Department of Art and Design, AIGA Student Group, and the Co-curricular Committee.

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Chad Kouri: perceptual distortions

Chad Kouri
Xerograph Monotype Exercises
8 x 10—2013
© Chad Kouri

This is one of the pieces by Chad Kouri, which was on display at the 2013 Pop-up Exhibition: “Re/View, Work at Play” that ran during June in Block Thirty Seven at the Chicago Design Museum. The exhibition ran concurrently with Chicago Design Week. photo by versluis

The following information is taken for the exhibition label:

This series of ongoing experiments utilizes imagery from Jean Larcher's Geometrical Designs and Optical Art, which were created by dragging the book over the Xerox glass while a copy was in process. By using a machine whose sole purpose is to make multiples in order to create unique prints, the illusion not only lies in the work's aesthetic value, but also in concept—touching on contemporary themes in art and design including image usage and copyright, appropriation, authorship and originality.

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Pentagram’s Eddie Opara: “Stealth”

Stealth
Eddie Opara
174 x 80 — 2008
© Eddie Opara

This piece was featured in the 2013 Pop-up Exhibition: “Re/View, Work at Play” which ran during June in Block Thirty Seven at the Chicago Design Museum. The exhibition ran concurrently with Chicago Design Week. photo by versluis

The exhibition label for this piece states:

Stealth is a marriage of two parallel themes on the visibility of identity. The dynamic form and function of the stealth fighter provides the dimensional impetus, whilst the text is homage to Ralph Ellison’s invisible man “I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.” — an indication of how black people have been treated in society.

Pictured below is a lower left close-up of Stealth.

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“Anamorphose”: an anamorphic / metamorphosis, metaphoric typeface by Simon Renaud

X, Y, Z
A is a name (Simon Renaud), Photographer: Véronique Pêcheux
15¾ x 23⅜ — 2013

This piece was featured in the 2013 Pop-up Exhibition: Re/View, Work at Play which ran during June in Block Thirty Seven at the Chicago Design Museum. The exhibition ran concurrently with Chicago Design Week. photo by versluis

The exhibition label for this piece states:

Anamorphose is a contemporary typeface drawn in a three dimensional grid that, while rethought to exist in a physical space, retains elements of Textura (used in the Gutenberg Bible). Anamorphose is anchored in the geometry of historic Blackletter typefaces and is created by hand. The forms are then photographed to visually echo digitally rendered imagery.

A is name is a Parisian studio founded by Simon Renaud and Jérémie Nuel in 2006. Their work centers on the design process in order to discover the artistry found in typographic forms and systems. As graphic designers, Renaud and Nuel utilize a systematic approach and methodology by researching the history of writing, science, and technology in order to develop an uniquely personal visual language.

Reference:
Leeman, Frederick, Joost Elffers, and Mike Schuyt. “Anamorphosen.” Trans. Ellyn Childs Allison and Margaret L. Kaplan. Hidden Images: Games of Perception, Anamorphic Art, Illusion. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1976. Print.

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