Details

Yes, since 2022, Rick Valicenti has been living in another country. Yes, while he was practicing design in Chicago for over four decades, he was one of our canon’s most distinguished designers. Yes, he remains a keen observer of the design-driven culture. And yes, Rick does hold some sage-like wisdom that could be of value to some of us in Chicago’s next generation of design. This Thursday will be his first live chat occasion with the Chicago Graphic Design Club.

Broadcasting from his basement studio in Toronto, Rick is open to any topic of conversation and is willing to be prompted by your questions or topics. He promises to share some seminal works from his recent and old archives.

As a self-proclaimed pack-rat, Rick has collected some 20th century design objects, correspondence from colleagues, and things he made and is making. We will receive a virtual tour of his modest (almost) working studio, but most of all we will have time in a dedicated conversation with Rick.

More about Rick

In 2011, The White House honored Rick with the Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt National Design Award for Communication Design.

In 2006, he received the AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) Medal, the highest honor of the graphic design profession, for his sustained contribution to design excellence and the development of the profession.

Well before the Chicago Graphic Design Club came to be, Rick was the President of the STA (Society of Typographic Arts).

He has been a member of the AGI (Alliance Graphique Internationale) since being invited to join in 1996.

Rick was recognized as a Fellow of both the AIGA Chicago and STA.

From 2011 through 2015, Rick served as a board member of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Architecture & Design Society under curator Zoe Ryan.

When Rick was in Chicago, he was the Artist-in-Residence at Loyola University of Chicago in 2017.

Rick loves to share and in and out of the classroom. He has been an adjunct professor at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and for two full years of class, Rick served as a visiting professor in Beijing. Rick has publicly presented his work through lectures, workshops, and critiques to more than 100 professional design and college audiences on five continents,

In 2024, Rick is scheduled to work with university students in NYC, Toronto, Chicago, and at his alma Mater, Bowling Green State University.