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What's All This Then?
This site is edited by Coudal Partners, a design, advertising and interactive studio in Chicago, as an ongoing experiment in web publishing, design and commerce.
What's All This Then?
This site is edited by Coudal Partners, a design, advertising and interactive studio in Chicago, as an ongoing experiment in web publishing, design and commerce.
If you are going to be screwing around on Friday afternoons this Fall (and who isn’t?) make sure you’re screwing around somewhere with high-speed web access.
We're hosting a series of live design events on Friday afternoons called Layer Tennis. We originally called the game "Photoshop Tennis" but these days there are a ton more tools that can be used alone and in combination to create things and we wanted to open these games up to millions of new possibilities. The season wouldn't have happened without the support of Adobe® Creative Suite® 3, the weapon of choice for creatives everywhere and Layer Tennis players alike.
We'll be playing matches using lots of different applications, from Adobe® Photoshop® to Adobe® Flash®, but the basic idea is the same no matter what tools are in use. Two artists (or two small teams of artists) will swap a file back and forth in real-time, adding to and embellishing the work. Each artist gets fifteen minutes to complete a "volley" and then we post that to the site. A third participant, a writer, provides play-by-play commentary on the action, as it happens. The matches last for ten volleys and when it's complete, everyone with an opinion sounds off in the Forums and we declare a winner.
We've got lots of new wrinkles in place and a host of amazing artists and writers on tap for the season. We've announced the first three matches and will be revealing the rest of the schedule in the weeks to come. Check the information under "Get Involved" to see how you can participate. As with everything else we do at Coudal, thanks a million for paying attention. Meanwhile, hike up your tube socks, subscribe to the RSS feed and join the newsletter list. There is a river of daily updates coming from the Layer Tennis crew.
Congrats to totopromo, the in-forum contest winner, and Operator, the remix winner. We have some Jewelboxing and Swap Meat items to send out to you. We're also sending packs of Field Notes to reo5th, BMB and naamyo. Email your shipping info to dawson at coudal.com.
Today is your last chance to sound off about who won Friday's Layer Tennis Matches and to post your remix/contest entries too.
On the last Friday of the season we played two matches at the same time, Koxvold vs Hutchinson and Glass vs Inman. There was a lot of action on the court and a lot in the forums too.
First off, subscribe to our Layer Tennis only RSS feed here for a quick ping when
matches are announced, match previews are posted and volleys go live. SMS updates and quick blips of news are handled through our Twitter account.
The Layer Tennis Forums are open so that you can discuss and/or argue about the matches as they occur. Plus, you'll be able to download the raw elements from every match to remix or remash any way you like and then post a link back to your creation. We'll be periodically highlighting especially inventive work and sending out prize packages to accompany your new found fame. Who knows? We might even schedule a match or two featuring particularly adept remixers.
It's not just what the artists and designers do with the matches but what we all do with Layer Tennis together.
We're putting just enough structure in place to make sure these matches work as interesting and entertaining live events, but beyond that we're wide-open to possibilities and new ideas.
Together, we're going to make it all up as we go along. Because that's how the really interesting stuff happens.
Our Infrequent Mailings will be published a bit more frequently during the season. In each one you'll find a synopsis of Layer Tennis news and also subscriber-only contests, giveaways and various other bits and pieces. Just enter your email address here. We'll never abuse the privilege and you can quit with a click anytime you like. We're really very good about that.
All matches took place on Fridays, live at 2pm Chicago time or GMT-6.
January 25 - Match 1 | View Match
Chris Glass vs Shaun Inman*
Commentary by John Gruber | Forum
January 25 - Match 2 | View Match
Jason Koxvold* vs James Hutchinson
Commentary by Rosecrans Baldwin | Forum
January 11th | View the Match
Veerle Pieters* vs Cindy Li
Commentary by Kevin Guilfoile | Match Forum
December 14th | View the Match
Matt Owens vs Jason Gnewikow*
Commentary by Joshua Allen | Match Forum
December 7th | View the Match
Jason Koxvold* vs Bran Dougherty-Johnson
Commentary by Matt Haughey | Match Forum
Match was played using Adobe® After Effects®
November 30th | View the Match
Trevor Van Meter* vs James Hutchinson
Commentary by Bryan Bedell | Match Forum
This match was played using Adobe® Flash®.
November 16th | View the Match
Aaron Draplin* vs David Nakamoto
Commentary by Steven Heller | Match Forum
November 9th | View the Match
Scott Hansen* vs Rob Cordiner
Commentary by Alissa Walker | Match Forum
November 2nd | View the Match
Marian Bantjes* vs Armin Vit
Commentary by Heather Armstrong | Match Forum
Match was played using Adobe® After Illustrator®
October 26th | View the Match
Brian Taylor vs Jason Santa Maria*
Commentary by Matthew Baldwin | Match Forum
October 19th | View the Match
Naz Hamid vs Chris Glass*
Commentary by Rosecrans Baldwin | Match Forum
October 12th | View the Match
Steven Harrington* vs Chuck Anderson
Commentary by Jason Kottke | Match Forum
October 5th | View the Match
Neil Duerden vs Mathew Star Thomas*
Commentary by Debbie Millman | Match Forum
September 28th | View the Match
Kevin Cornell* vs Shaun Inman
Commentary by John Gruber | Match Forum
* =winner
Layer Tennis is a production of Coudal Partners in Chicago and is
presented by Adobe Creative Suite 3. Creative license, take as much as you want.
Hosting and technical advice by the nation's most
gracious hosting company, Tilted.
