Kadet Rick Valicenti Response

“it’s fine to hold on, but it’s more fun to let go.”

-Rick Valicenti

            I went to see Rick Valicenti at the SAIC Columbus Auditorium on Thursday, September 13^th after class. Although going to one of these presentations is mandatory, I enjoyed it much more than I expected. Overall, Rick is a very creative, intelligent, and even funny guy. Rick Valicenti takes design to a whole new level.
            He opened with a picture he took on his phone of a Microsoft billboard. Although it was just clouds, he gave us a different perspective on it. He said “Microsoft got hip”. He seemed like an interesting person. He said he got the name of his studio 3st (thirst) actually because of a typo; instead of writing 3rd, he wrote 3st instead. He claimed that he thought he was a bad corporate designer, but suggested to everyone to “accept and trust your sensibilities.” He proceeded to say “it’s fine to hold on, but it’s more fun to let go.” I love that quote because it really hit the nail on the head for me. I feel like most people have a problem letting go. I also feel like the best work happens when you get carried away in what you are doing. He also suspected that young designers wilt under day-to-day pressures, but have to compromise and adjust in order to continue.
            We even got to see inside of his design studio. He showed us all of the different sections and even included images of people working. His studio includes a café, led lights to light the art boards, and even print based rooms. One of my favorite pieces shown said “remember you are dust and dust you shall return.” I couldn’t find it online, but it really resonated with me because I believe that people are capable of change, but you cannot change the way you really are. I didn’t realize it was a quote in the Bible.
            He talked about a few of the projects he worked on. A few that resonated with me was the Culture Coast Jazz Festival. What he did was distort a circle in a 3D way based on people saying “Culture Coast.” The circle would look completely different based on tone and volume. The color would also be determined based on those factors. He even talked about a website he was going to create for them as well. Below is an example of what the exploded 3D designs looked like.

A video can be seen here:
http://www.3st.com/#/clients/cultural_leaders/culture_coast.

            A second project he talked about was very memorable. Gordon Gill requested a new, unique design for his kitchen.  Rick did not want to do a standard route of design. He hooked Gordon’s daughter up with sense detectors to study her motions as she jumped on a trampoline. He then used freeze frame software to capture a design he liked. The end result looked like fireworks, but had so much more meaning behind it. I’ve never seen anything like that before.

Thirdly he talked about a project he did for Columbia University downtown. He made aluminum letters hanging on cleats. He also used colored glass behind them. See video here: http://vimeo.com/19398314. That was the actual video he showed us. Below is an example of what the hanging letters looked like:

I really enjoyed the presentation. Rick Valicenti opened my eyes to a whole new world of design.