All entries from December 2007

I had the good fortune of playing Layer Tennis a few days ago courtesy of Coudal Partners. The basics of the game: two designers spar back and forth over 15 minute intervals, adding to or modifying a graphic composition of their choosing. With each “volley”, files are passed back and forth and a commentator (Joshua Allen) writes about each post. Throughout the match viewers can vote on their favorite and give their opinion of the work.

My partner was Jason Gnewikow, a colleague in the studio and long time friend. Jason had just returned from tour with his band House & Parish. The Layer Tennis invitation came to us a bit last minute, with the match taking place the day after Jason’s return to New York. We didn’t have much time to plan, but we were eager to come up with an idea that we thought would be fun to do.

Looking through the previous matches Jason and I noticed that the majority of the work consisted of layered Photoshop files that were assembled using pre-existing assets. Jason and I chatted at length about an unconventional approach that would be more “graphic” as opposed to assembling “graphics.” We felt that this approach might not gain the approval of all of the viewers, but by embracing the idea of a graphic feel as opposed to the standard photo-montage approach, we could come up with a match that was entertaining for us and also a departure from previous matches.

We all know Layer Tennis is sponsored by Abode, and as a participant, we relinquish our rights to the work created and Adobe can utilize it in whatever manner they desire. As a committed user of Adobe products, it was my desire to utilize their products in an unconventional manner and to do something using functionality that designers may not use on a day to day basis.

When I considered the term “Layer Tennis” the first thing that came to mind was the old school video game Pong. Indeed Pong is the first tennis of the digital era. What better way to make a nod to Pong as well as the “vintage” internet than to make all of our pieces animated gifs. ImageReady rules! Jason and I suspected that the tennis = pong = old school = animate gif logic would be lost on the majority of kids that wanted us to create “sick visuals” based on our already existing tool kit of graphics, illustrations and client work we have developed over the years. This was an exercise to be executed in 15 minute intervals. It was not a client project, nor has there ever been a client project that followed such a process. Layer tennis is supposed to be fun for the people doing the work and in the end it should reflect our perspective.

The question I asked myself the moment I heard of Layer Tennis was if I thought that it was my role to show the world that one can create a sophisticated design composition in 15 minutes. I determined that that was not something I thought wise to communicate. Secondly, my impulse was to ask, what does this say about our discipline? our profession? What does a potential client assume if they see great design composed in minutes for an undisclosed sum? I determined that given the quick and dirty nature of Layer Tennis, the pieces should not be about creating perfect things at the drop of a hat (lord knows it takes me forever to come up with something cool) but to come up with a process that talked about the tools we use everyday, and at the same time have fun with them in a manner that client work rarely allows. In the end Jason and I thought that Layer Tennis was an opportunity to lighten up, try not to sweat the small stuff, have fun and maybe just maybe make people think. A few minutes before we started, a cold chill came over me and I asked myself – “Would Herb Lubalin be comfortable with the idea of Layer Tennis? Paul Rand? Neville Brody even.” In the end, I threw care to the wind and let the pixels fly.

After the match was completed I felt both elated and a little uneasy. Would we be confronted with a deluge of haters? Would folks get the joke? I spoke to a few friends and colleagues. Those that know Jason and I and are familiar with our work gave us a pat on the back and a little chuckle. It was not so much a “job well done” moment as much as it was a “good luck explaining this one” kind of comforting. I think we were both prepared for the aftermath and were prepared to have some explaining to do. For me, I took the high road. I love making things. I love the opportunity to explore and share visual ideas. If through a strange stroke of events I find myself convincing one of my studio mates to stand perfectly still and slowly apply a pair of 80’s sunglasses while I photograph each step, all so that I might compose an animated GIF, isn’t that more fun that just moving around something you already made in Photoshop, or giving away something you know everyone already wants?

Don’t get me wrong, if someone were to give me a decent amount of money, a coherent brief and a clear articulation of the needs of a project, you can be sure I would unleash my personal arsenal of visual, motion and interactive skills to develop the best idea possible. This is what is done for client projects and is something I enjoy. On the other hand, the challenge of making multiple large scale animated gifs is not something that is terribly easy or fun to do on a daily basis…unless you have a Layer Tennis game to bust out! In the end, if Adobe starts a “Project Runway” style contest called “Designer Warfare” and gives us the budget and time to pitch killer ideas to be judged by our peers, you can rest assured I would be on board and would come out with guns blazing.

I would like to give shouts out to Steven Harrington, Chuck Anderson, Aaron Draplin, Jason Koxvold, James Hutchinson and everyone else that kicked out the jams on Layer Tennis. I totally appreciate the work and their approach to the project. Thanks again to Coudal and Adobe for giving us the opportunity.

Athletics’ Jason Gnewikow and Matt Owens to compete in tomorrow’s Layer Tennis challenge. Commentary will be provided by Joshua Allen.

For those unfamiliar, Layer Tennis is a series of live design events held on Friday afternoons. Two designers face-off, swapping a file back and forth, riffing off one another, sorta like dueling solos at a Guitar Center drum clinic, except on the internet. A new “volley” is posted every 15 minutes.

The folks at Coudal are behind it all.

Frustrated by a lack of vector illustrations of current political figures, and inspired by campaign fever, Matt whipped up ten speed-illo vector-heads.

Matt is offering this vector set, dubbed “Politics As Usual 08”, to the world free-of-charge.

Download ZIP

Depending on the reference, Matt Owens can render a vector illustration of any head in under 5 minutes. Want a vector rendering of your family/dog/child? He’s your man.

We’re big fans of Faul’s work.

After Paul’s death in 1966, Faul (aka Geoffrey “Billy” Shepherd, aka Neil Aspinall) really stepped into the character and helped produce what many consider to be the group’s finest work (Sgt. Pepper’s, Magical Mystery Tour, The White Album, Abbey Road).

Faul also went on to enjoy a very successful solo career. From AllMusic:

Out of all the former Beatles, Paul McCartney by far had the most successful solo career, maintaining a constant presence in the British and American charts during the ’70s and ’80s. In America alone, he had nine number one singles and seven number one albums during the first 12 years of his solo career.

It’s surprising that someone as talented as Paul McCartney could be replaced with another equally talented individual with strikingly similar features.

While Paul deserves a lot of credit for his ’63-66 years, there’s really no contest: Faul is the real talent. His sweeping body of work over the past forty years firmly establishes Faul as one of the great career musicians.