Welcome to today’s Layer Tennis competition. I’m your color commentator, Ben Greenman. The colors I will be using will be black and white and, occasionally, red.
That's how I started the last Layer Tennis Match I wrote commentary for, all the way back in March of 2009. I started this one the same way on account of my limited brainal abilities. But if the match has the same beginning, it is sure to have a different end.
This time we have two designers, Radim Malinic and Dustin Amery Hostetler. Last time we had two, too, so my whole thing about how this time is completely different isn't completely true. But last time it was spring, and the birds were blooming, and flowers were in the air. Now it's autumn. We're all older. Trees have lived, loved, and and died. And so now, in the autumn of our years, we have Radim and Dustin. Dustin has both a first name and a last name that would come first alphabetically, but I will not submit to that tyranny; instead, let's turn the spotlight over to Radim for a moment.
Radim is based in London, a city often located in England, a country that is "Across the Pond," which means that it's on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. He runs a company called, confusingly, Brand Nu. I think the reason for the name is that when "nu" is spelled in that fashion, as if it's Yiddish, it refocuses the attention of readers/audiences on the word "brand," which is a good word for designers and illustrators who work with technology products, fashion, music, and so forth. In perusing Radim's portfolio, I was struck by the bright colors and bold designs. I was also struck that he has worked on a print magazine about the iPad, which is like a magazine about campfires printed on logs. In the long bus ride from the hotel to the convention center, I asked Radim about technology, and how it is changing both his profession and the habits of his audience. He answered with the thoughtful tone that I have come to expect from him in our zero point zero years of friendship: "Technology gives you option to make mistakes, learn from it and better your work without spending or losing too much of time. These days we can eliminate visual treatments even before we start working."
Okay: now back to Dustin, the king of alphabetical order. Dustin is based in Toledo, a city often located in Ohio, which is on this side of the pond, though there's also a Toledo in Spain, on that side of the pond. Enough about ponds.. Dustin runs a company confusingly called UPSO. (I have learned in my time with cutting-edge designers that no one wants to go by their own name. There are not design companies called DUSTIN, and I think the world is poorer for it.) Dustin also works with commercial clients such as Mountain Dew and Casio, though I was more struck by his Renaissance-like diversity: he designs clothes, co-owns a restaurant, co-manages a record label. I asked Dustin if he has ever eaten at his restaurant while wearing his clothes and listening to his music. He, shattering my mental picture, answered in the negative: "I can't say I've ever had all of my worlds collide like that, and I'm worried my head would explode if they did."
I join you in hoping that some part of someone explodes during this week's competition.
Ben Greenman is an editor at the New Yorker and the author of several acclaimed books of fiction, including What He's Poised To Do (which the Los Angeles Times called "astonishing"), Superbad,and Please Step Back. His new book, out later this month, is Celebrity Chekhov.
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Congratulations to Mig Reyes, Layer Tennis Season 3 Champion.
Thanks to all the players, commentators and fans who made Season Three of Layer Tennis a big success. And thanks to the crew at Goodby Silverstein & Partners and all the folks at Adobe Creative Suite for making it possible. Watch this space (or sign up for Season Tickets or follow us on Twitter) for news about some special exhibition matches being planned and about Season 4.
Cast your votes on The Championship Match. Both Finalists will receive invitations to play in the post-season tournament for Season Four.
Here's how the voting works. Decide who you'd like to declare as winner and then simply tweet their first name following a hash mark. Either #mig or #noper and, this is important, also include #lyt in that tweet. We'll leave the voting open all weekend and announce our Season Three Champion on Monday.
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