Hiddenyou’s Blog

So on March 21st I attended the Cut and Paste event in New York.

It was an easy to find location with nearby parking.

The people who ran the event were very friendly.

After getting your ticket you are directed to the upstairs portion of the building. When you enter the room the first thing you see are the five big  flat screens floating above the contestants on stage.

There are four designers on the stage at a time, each designer get his own screen for people to look at their work-in-progress. On the fifth screen each of the designer get a little solo air time  on the main screen.

There are three categories that compete.

• 2D
• 3D
• Motion Graphics

Each of the categories are given an alloted time of 15-20 minutes to complete a certain theme. They are not allowed to have anything pre-made to bring into the competition, everything must be created there. The cool thing about it is that they can use anything in the building to create their piece. So, if they want to take a photo of the audience or scan a flyer they are allowed to do it. As long as it is during competing time and objects in the room.

They have judges walking around looking at their work talking amongst themselves. The judges work in the creative world and critic them on their creative ways to execute the idea that was given to them to accomplish in 15 minutes. 

The crowd cheers the designers on when they are getting closer to the finish line. At first when they begin the crowd is almost silent looking in amazement on how they execute their craft.

Its standing room only with a bar to buy something to drink. There are booth all around to find out information about certain products or to even purchase them.

There is a 4th competition called Audience Design Contest. In this one there are computers set up and people can come up and create something and submit it to hopefully win a nice prize.

The event lasted from 7:30-10:30. 

You must be 21 to attend. 

I truly recommend people going to one. They are held all over: New York, Toronto, Chicago,  and overseas. The tickets are cheap and you are surrounded by like minded people, so this is another opportunity to network.

Cut & Paste is a social arena for the discovery, advocacy, and elevation of design.

I have a little video I will post up soon from it!

All the best, 

Latia