As in, Layer Tennis™® …. and here’s the concept: two designers go head-to-head in a competition to see who can be the most creative, including but not limited to, wit, humor, smackdown, slap around, etc, using each other’s material.
Just as in tennis, the analog game played on a horizontal court, someone gets the first “serve”, which is basically a layered piece. The opponent then takes their turn to volley back, changing the layers as they see fit, and trying to stay within (or not) palette choices, font type decisions, styling and whatnot, tries to throw off the other guy. It can get pretty funny, personal, and downright hilarious. Some design knowledge helps, but isn’t necessary to see the puns being played out in the volleys.
Official Rules:
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.
A new thing introduced this year was to add motion, in the form of Flash, to the volleys. And therein lies a new addiction of mine.
Go here to see what I mean – basically just click the numbers below the main graphic to see the volleys. Commentary is on each page by the, you guessed it! Commentator. Wow.
Archived links are on the main page – there’s regular layer and flash layer tennis. Check it out to see a peek into the minds of some creatives, and maybe become inspired yourself.
IF YOU’RE IN CHICAGO AND YOU DIDN’T PACK YOUR PARKA THIS MORNING, HA HA AHA HA HA HAHAHA HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAAAAA!!
did you forget what city you live in?
If you don’t live in Chicago, nor the midwest, we’re basically doing a 40 degree drop today, and that’s not counting the wind chill. Probably a total of a 50-55 degree drop. Awesome.
