Layer Tennis How It All Went DownCommentator Matthew Baldwin referred to Armin Vit as a "grizzled veteran" before his season kickoff match against newcomer Matt Stevens. He's as close to a grizzled vet as Layer Tennis has, having played a match in each season so far, but there's nary a line on his remarkably serene countenance even after another 10 grueling volleys. I sat down with Vit postgame to talk about how it went the third time around.
LYT: So, now that you've had some time to recover, how do you feel it went?
AV: I feel much better than the last two times I went it. The first I knew I got my ass whooped by Marian Bantjes, the second one I thought I had Sam Potts pinned, but I lost both. This time I just went out more loose and it felt good, I think I have a good chance this time. I better, or my self esteem will be lowered.
LYT: Let's talk about Layer 2. Matt seemed to give you a nice, easy lob to swat at, didn't he? Or did he give you *too* much leeway?
AV: It was perfect. Just enough of a direction to go somewhere, but not enough where he limited what I could do. I've never used sprinkles in a logo, so I was excited about that.
LYT: It must have been odd designing not just one logo but two.
AV: I knew how to make both convey a certain era, so it was odd but also fun to poke at our industry. I did the "new" one in 8 minutes (organizing sprinkles is not easy!) and the "old" one in 4 minutes (scaling Times New Roman is easy).
LYT: Your "before" logo was a fine pastiche of 1980s corporate logo design. Did you have particular logos in mind as inspiration?
Nothing in particular, just a blend of all their bad traits: The ubiquitous color blue, the abstract icon, the square, the bad ITC typography.
LYT: What tools did you use?
AV: Most of my layers were done in Illustrator. For my 8th and 10th layers I went to Photoshop -- especially that 10th layer, that was all Photoshop magic with some kick-ass masking.
LYT: As you worked, did you think about where Matt might take what you produced? Did that factor into your design?
AV: Yes, I think you are always trying to do something that will make the other person react, but the beauty of Layer Tennis is that you never know what the other person is going to do, so no matter what you think the next layer might look like it will always be different. I never expected a cardboard cell phone, for example.
LYT: You seem to have the modern donut shop aesthetic down pretty well -- clearly you've done your homework. Do you have a favorite venue for "research" down in Austin?
AV: I'm going to be a health nerd and say no. I don't eat donuts. But if someone out there is looking for a local recommendation, the guy from the Travel Channel's Man vs. Food once visited Round Rock Donuts, and they looked absolutely delicious.
LYT: This was your third trip to Layer Tennis Stadium. Was it easier this time around? Any difference in your approach? (And have they gotten the locker room showers fixed yet?)
AV: The first two times I was so nervous in the days leading up to it. I stressed about what I would do or how to do it. I prepared "assets" beforehand to use if needed, and that's a terrible idea, because then I felt forced to use them, and most of the time they made no sense. This time around I prepared nothing and I didn't stress. Knowing that Matt won the coin toss meant I had to stress even less, so even as things were starting to get hot behind the scenes, with initial files being uploaded and instructions given, I was having a calm lunch. My approach was much more zen this time, but even with that, those five 15-minute sprints of doing a layer are intense. I found that the best approach is to take 2 or 3 minutes to think about what you are going to do and then take the rest of the time to execute. I also had an instance where 6 or 7 minutes into it I realized my idea was terrible and decided to do something else; which is dangerous because you have no time, but it's better to follow your gut and avoid putting something lame out there. There is still no hot water in the showers.
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The voting is closed and the results are in from Friday. In Match 1 Armin Vit defeated Matt Stevens and in Match 2 Nick Campbell defeated Aaron Scamihorn.
"So, tell me what I need to know" I said.
"It's awful...the most stressful thing ever" was the reply.
"And this is your third time?"
"Yes."
A few post-match thoughts from competitor Matt Stevens.
Reminder. The Season Ticket Holders Mash-up Contest deadline is Wednesday the 25th.
Hello, friends, please note we've compiled the 2010 preseason into one easy-to-watch video along the lines of our Season Two video.
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