It’s that time again—let the games begin!

 

With 2009 in our sights, Cut&Paste is gearing up for a Digital Design Tournament of extreme proportions. Featuring a hat trick of 2D, 3D, and Motion Design competitions in sixteen cities worldwide, the 2009 tour takes us over, across, and around the world in just over a hundred days, then sends us flying back to New York for the grand finale, the debut of an international showdown between champions.

 

You heard—okay, read—right. The first-ever Global Championship will shine one massive spotlight on all sixteen cities’ triple threats of 2D, 3D, and Motion Design competition winners, pitting these forty-eight victors against each other to duke it out for their place at the top of the heap. Think of it as Cut&Paste’s rendition of a pressure-cookin’ battle royale.

 

But wait, we’ve got more new goodies to show off. This year, our Audience Design Contests are going global, selecting one ultimate winner from all entries received throughout the entire tournament. Each of our events will be offering two Audience Design Contests, presented in 2D by 55DSL and in 3D by Autodesk. Because everyone deserves a chance to take on the world.

 

How are we going to cram all this into one night, you ask? Well, we've adjusted the general schedule of this year's events to make it work and make sure you get the full bang for your buck.

• City competitions will start earlier than they have in past years.
• Total running time for the event will be approximately 3.5 hours.
• Preliminary rounds of the 2D and 3D competitions will constitute the first half of the event. Motion Design gets started at noon before doors even open, but the live action continues through this first half of the event.
• Final rounds for the 2D and 3D competitions will take the stage during the late evening, and designs from the Motion competition will be presented and judged between the two finales.
• Audience Design Contest stations will be open during the entire event.

 

Don’t pretend you’re not excited. Keep reading and click around to get into all the details. And then start counting down the days. See you soon!

Standing in a crowd and watching the stage heat up is fun, it’s true. But surrounded by a thousand other people expressing their approval, shock, or dismay as the competitors’ flashes of brilliance and moments of indecision keep the audience in suspense—well, you might wonder just how hard or how thrilling the challenge really is.

 

Curious? Go ahead, give it a shot.

 

Create your own speed design in the Audience Design Contest. Offered in 2D by 55DSL and 3D by Autodesk this year, the contests are now global—you against the world. So whether you put some polish on it or keep it gritty, charm us with a clever concept or serve up the sickest example of pure artistry to be done at light speed, make it look good. Those hyperactive minutes might win you a nice slice of prize.

 

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55 DSL ADC: THE FIFTH DIMENSION

 

CONCEPT

 

Join forces with 55 DSL in the outer reaches of the galaxy and enter the Fifth Dimension—a place where space invader girls twirl their 1000-inch curls, monsters from Mars drink mojitos in bars, surf-cowboy beats make waves on the streets, and psychedelic chimps hang with intergalactic pimps.

 

Your objective: to create an electronically generated T-shirt graphic based on the creative guidelines stated here. Your incentive: a full outfit from the 55 DSL Spring/Summer 2009 collection and a trip to the first-ever Cut&Paste Global Championship, where the global winner of this contest will be announced. All you have to do is come out to your local Cut&Paste competition, enter the 55 DSL area, and sign up to try your own 15-minute design round. When your turn arrives, take a seat in front of the computer, open up Photoshop, grab the mouse, and express your own ingenious view of the 55 DSL Fifth Dimension.

 

GUIDELINES

A blank tee template will be provided as a canvas for your design. The Fifth Dimension is cosmic Wild West—wacky and way out there—so to capture its vibe you’ll want to make good use of your time by filling this blank canvas with all the elements, colors, ideas, and lingo suggested below.

 

• Keywords: soft saturated (faded), surreal, camouflage, tie-dye, asymmetric, organic.

• Moods: Psychedelic! Think acid-rock posters of the ’70s, optical illusions, and hand-drawn art.

• Visuals: Contestants can come prepared by collecting premade elements they wish to use, in vector and pixel format. Possibilities include: alien foliage, candy-colored pills, mystical signs, spinning planets, lunar landscapes, curious eyes, fungal plants.

• 55 DSL creative assets: A number of 55 DSL institutional elements will be pre-installed on every ADC workstation and at your disposal. While it is not required, skillful integration of any of these assets will be favorably considered during the judges’ evaluation. The available elements will include: 55 DSL logotype in institutional colors, 55 DSL logotype in black and white, 55 DSL angel, 55 DSL logotype in eurostyle font case.

• Typographical elements: Contestants may create or bring their own fonts to upload and use in their contest designs. Copy options recommended by 55 DSL are: 55 DSL. The Fifth Dimension. Fifty Fuckin’ Five.

 

JUDGING & PRIZES

All designs submitted for 55 DSL’s Fifth Dimension ADC will be judged on aesthetics, originality, and style as well as for coherence with 55 DSL’s Spring/Summer 2009 collection. One global winner will be selected in early June, after entries from all 16 cities in this year’s Cut&Paste global tour have been reviewed. The winning entry will be announced on 55 DSL.com and specially featured in the ADC online gallery. The global winner will be notified in June and awarded with a complete 55 DSL Spring/Summer 2009 collection outfit. He/she will also receive an expenses-paid trip to Cut&Paste’s first-ever Global Championship, taking place Fall 2009 in New York City, where the winner will be officially announced onstage.

 

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Autodesk ADC: MUDBOX EVOLUTION

 

CONCEPT

 

Join the design community at Cut&Paste Digital Design Tournament 2009 and check out this year’s Audience Design Contest (ADC) in 3D—Mudbox Evolution, presented by Autodesk. Using the Autodesk Mudbox software, express your own creativity and challenge yourself to a rapid design round, just like the competitors onstage.

 

Choose a “starting point” (e.g., shape of a human body, human head, etc.) provided in Mudbox to sculpt, shape, model, and create a new figure that depicts the theme: EVOLUTION.

 

RULES

 

All audience members at the Cut&Paste Digital Design Tournament are welcome to try creating a design at the Autodesk Audience Design Contest workstations. All submissions will be displayed in the ADC online gallery for public viewing and commenting.

 

For prize consideration, contestants must adhere to the following rules.

 

• Time limit: 20 minutes.

• Software: Autodesk Mudbox.

• Final product: 3D model of a figure depicting the contest theme: Evolution.

• No premade creative assets of any kind may be used in designing the model.

• Contestants may experiment with the software before beginning their designs.

• Contestants may submit multiple entries.

• All entries must be created on-site at one of the sixteen Cut&Paste Digital Design Tournament city events.

JUDGING

 

All designs submitted for Autodesk ADC, Mudbox Evolution, will be judged on aesthetics, originality, and style as well as for coherence with the theme evolution. One global winner will be selected in early June, after entries from all sixteen cities on the 2009 Cut&Paste global tour have been reviewed. The winning entry will be announced on Autodesk.com and at the 2009 Global Championship, and will be specially featured in the ADC online gallery.

 

PRIZES

 

The global winner of Mudbox Evolution will be notified in June. He/she will receive an expenses-paid trip to Cut&Paste’s first-ever Global Championship, taking place Fall 2009 in New York City, where the winner will be officially announced onstage.