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