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What's All This Then?
This is Layer Tennis, a live, weekly series of design competitions, presented by Adobe® Creative Suite® 3. It was created by Coudal Partners. We've made lots of other stuff too.
What's All This Then?
This is Layer Tennis, a live, weekly series of design competitions, presented by Adobe® Creative Suite® 3. It was created by Coudal Partners. We've made lots of other stuff too.
Designers are illiterate herd-following pansies, for the most part. It’s part of the job description to be fashionable and shallow.
They're the artists dictators call first, the ones Mao kept employed as long as the "messaging" was clear. They've spent too much time doing too little to feel very much at all. I say the same for most of the writers I know, too, though minus the fashionable part.
But occasionally you come across brains. Brawn. Bloody cow hearts. May I introduce, in the far corner, the polymath Naz "Spikes" Hamid of Chicago, Illinois, and in the near corner, the giant Chris "Bunyan" Glass, of Oxford, Ohio. I've had deep conversations with both of them, when I was drunk, and I can tell you, these two are the real deal.
To start with Bunyan, I was planning on asking him about his influences and his views on typography, but I couldn't keep my eyes off his beard. It intimidates. It tastes like courage. "Why should I put my money on you to win?" I whimpered. "It is hard to match the power of a beard nuzzle when I hug from behind," he yelled at me. "Not good enough," I said, feeling bolder. "What else?" He thought for a moment. "I pay less rent than Spikes. I've got a receding hairline, a better view at concerts. I have a Nintendo Wii."
Spikes was more mellow when we talked. He comes off as Joe Brainy, all work and no debt, a guy you'd let your sister hire as her accountant, architect, and IT consultant all in one. "What do you do outside of work?" I asked. "I'm a bike fiend," he said. "I race on a team. I read, live, and breathe bikes. I'm almost a bit more obsessed with cycling than design." I nodded, though I had no idea what he was talking about. Then I put it to him straight: "If you win, who will you dedicate the trophy to?" "The good people of Illinois," he said. And as I was born in Chicago, you can imagine how this touched me.
We've got a stupendous match lined up, and it's worth noting that this one may be a little different than what you've seen before: Because both Naz and Chris are accomplished photographers, we've invited them to dip into their personal libraries for ammunition. So prepare for brilliance, truth, and beauty, perhaps all on one layer.
Naz has won the toss. The audience is hungry. Let the savagery begin.
Chris "Bunyan" Glass is a fella from southwestern Ohio who is pleased to have recieved a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Design at The Ohio State University. He juggles designing websites, t-shirts, and other things at Wire & Twine while updating his personal site and attempting to keep track of the time by snapping one photo each day.
Naz "Spikes" Hamid is a designer from Chicago, IL. He's easily irritated by inactivity but is a firm believer in simplicity. He takes a mellow approach to things but thinks a great lot about them. His online endeavors congregate here.
Rosecrans "Liar" Baldwin lives in Paris, France. His stories have appeared in The New York Times, New York Magazine, The Nation, and on NPR's All Things Considered. Last century, he co-founded the online magazine The Morning News with Andrew Womack.
Here's how the game works. Jump into the Layer Tennis Forums, we'll be taking the pulse of the conversations there to declare a winner. You can also subscribe to our Layer Tennis RSS feed and follow along via Twitter.
We are alive. We are coming back. We are scheming. Be patient. ALL WILL BE REVEALED.
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.
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
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Layer Tennis was created by Coudal Partners in Chicago. We also created Jewelboxing for making awesome disc packaging and The Deck, an ad network targeted at creative folks.
