London Exhibitions
When I first heard about Cut&Paste digital design tournament, I thought to myself, 'Good lord, this sounds quite brilliant.' Basically, Cut&Paste get a load of the best 2D, 3D and motion designers in London, put them on a stage and make them design stuff, really fast. There's music and judges looming over their shoulders and you can see their designs develop in real-time courtesy of some tech-wizardry projection. Sounds pretty frantic, right?
Well, I always like to find out more about events like this – it is my job you know – so I spoke to Lizzie Ostrom from germination, the European Regional Directors of Cut&Paste. They've been working on Cut&Paste since 2007, when it first expanded out of the States, so Lizzie seemed like a pretty good person to ask.
How did the idea for Cut&Paste first come about?
It all started in Brooklyn, New York back in ye olde 2005. Basically a group of friends thought it would be fun to organise a design-jam party and see if anyone would turn up to watch some graphic designers playing on PhotoShop for a few hours. Evidently so; over 700 people crammed into the venue!
What were the original aims? Have these changed at all as the project has expanded?
Cut&Paste has always been about shining a light on undiscovered talent. There are lots of ways a designer can raise their profile, but this is a different take, a dynamic way of bringing together designers with recruiters and creative directors.
But more than that, it's about connecting the industry with the public. Graphic design is such an important part of all our daily lives, and influences our thinking more than we know, yet how many of us outside the industry have an understanding of how this work is created? The live competition structure means you get to see a design made from start to finish, and an insight into the creative process.
As Cut&Paste has grown it's become more of a global community beyond the events, so we also run online creative contests. 
The tournament now spans 16 cities. Are there noticeable differences in each city? In terms of the people involved, work produced, general response, audiences attending etc?
Yes there are differences. Obviously there are some cities, like New York and London, that are global centres for design and so you have a wider pool of talent to work with. Berlin is very arty and experimental, as you'd expect, and Portland really punches above its weight - though small it's a really important creative city. Milan is understandably strong in product and 3D.
This year we'll see these differences in much greater focus, as all the winners from around the world will be travelling to New York for our first global championship.
Audience-wise, the yanks go crazy while the Brits take a bit more warming up before they start cheering and whooping! But when they get there, they go mad!
How does the London edition of Cut&Paste compare to the others?
The basic format is the same around the world. So to that extent, London is true to the original. It's more the style with which we run it; a bit less Hip-Hop than LA, a bit more geeky. In London the club scene is obviously in a real state of flux at the moment. Nightlife is a lot more niche and specialised, partly because of sites like Spoonfed that help you access events outside the mainstream listings. We get lots of ex-clubbers who want to do something more creative with their nights out, alongside arts-goers who are looking for a new experience. All of which means that London gets a great mix of designer and non-designer, all getting along. 
Has Cut&Paste helped to further the careers of any of the designers involved?
Yes it has indeed. Last year our competitor Hanneke Treffers got work offers when we put her portfolio online on the Cut&Paste site, and another competitor called Carlos had a creative director come up to him at our Test Rounds (this is before the actual event) and asked him to do some work. It's not like you get creative directors grabbing the contestants as they come off stage (that might be terrifying!), but you do get a hugely raised profile for participating.
What can a first-time visitor expect?
A crazy party and lots of adrenaline. Cut&Paste feels like a gig but instead of watching a band, you're following the designers as they make their work against the clock. The work as it evolves is all projects on big screens above the stage so you see everything as it's happening.
Even if you're in the audience, you'll get butterflies in your stomach as you'll find a favourite creative and will be gunning for them. Each 2D round is only 15 minutes long. Our DJ really rachets up the tension with the music and we have an MC who translates and interprets what's going on for the audience.
If you think it looks easy, we run offstage audience design contests in between the audience rounds - this year we're working with the clothing brand 55dsl so you can try designing a T-shirt graphic in 15 minutes. If not, just go have another beer and maybe in half an hour you'll feel ready...
Cut&Paste is at the Coronet in Elephant and Castle on Saturday, 4th April. Advance Tickets are £10 and can be purchased here.
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