judges’ picks >> bart crosby
2 THIRST
If it’s difficult to believe that Wright Auctions was the first in the aesthetically
sensitive auction-house culture to create and distribute beautifully
designed promotional materials, consider the competition: Christie’s
and Sotheby’s had coasted on their cachet as centuries-old institutions
for, well, centuries. But when, in the late 1990s, a series of gorgeous catalogs
helped establish Wright as the preeminent auction house of 20th century
design, even the crustiest competitors launched efforts to catch up.
Glimpsing the opposition in the rearview mirror, Wright tapped Wild-
LuV—a design collaborative comprised of Lorraine Wild, Louise Sandhaus
and Rick Valicenti—to rebrand his house in 2005.
Then 6000 books on modernism arrived. The single-owner
collection was to be sold in a March 2006 auction. “But the whole
idea of doing a book auction seemed kind of frumpy and quaint,”
says Wright, who asked Valicenti’s Thirst to create the book auction’s
catalog, which would be the first product to come from
WildLuv’s rebranding initiative. “And that’s not what our business
is about. I was trying to do Wright’s take on a book auction.”
He also wanted a catalog that communicated the sale’s depth and
breadth, but—because of the (relatively) inexpensive items to be
sold—it needed to do so on a budget.
Enter a technique developed to produce Intelligent Design,
Thirst’s oversized, 16-page experiment that uses computer-aided
design to translate the Book of Genesis into binary code, with
ones and zeros replaced with Pepsi One and Coke Zero cans (see
page 120 for more on this project). For Wright, the automated
process employed—promising reduced billable hours—seemed
well equipped to meet his needs for the book catalog. And its outsized
format—capacious enough for the word of god—could certainly
accommodate a few book titles.
So the computer, commanded by a custom-written script, was
put to work, pulling information from Wright’s database, ragging
and correcting text and generally relieving designers from formatting
scutwork. “The beauty of the process is that it allows us to
focus on design,” says designer John Pobojewski. “Instead of correcting
double spaces, we can write a script for rich and beautiful
typographical styles.” The resulting, 16 x 20-in. catalog replicates
the very experience of the auction, inviting users to investigate
the tiny type of each title and, in turn, to stand back and marvel—
even cower—at its sheer mass.
For judge Bart Crosby, principal of Chicago’s Crosby Associates,
the number of oversized catalogs in this year’s Design 100
reminded him of an old adage: If it’s bad, make it big. If it’s still
bad, make it red. “If you’re going to do something on a really big
piece of paper,” he says, “then you’d better be very sure you have a
great idea to support it.” Far from impressing, most of said entries
merely ignited a sense of déjà vu for Crosby: “I felt like I’d seen
them all before.”
Not so with the Wright catalog, which stood out for its refinement
and sense of scale, as well as for the many levels on which it
operates. “Graphic design is a commercial medium,” Crosby says.
“We’re not doing this for ourselves. We can create design that
other designers are attracted to, but we also have a responsibility
to the audience—in this case, the people buying these books. The
beauty of this piece is that it works as an informational document,
as a statement piece for Richard Wright … and it also works as a
piece of art.”by Tiffany Meyers
THIRST
ART DIRECTOR: Rick Valicenti
CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Rick Valicenti
DESIGNER: John Pobojewski
PROGRAMMER: Robb Irrgang
PHOTOGRAPHERS: Brian Franczyk, Thea Dickman
COPYWRITERS: Peter Jefferson, Lyz Negan
CLIENT: Wright Auctions
CONTACT: www.3st.com
WEB-EXCLUSIVE CONTENT!
