Command X, Round 2

October 10, 2009 • 1:19 pm • POSTED BY kdorsey

I can’t explain enough how completely surreal last night was for me. Sometimes I feel like my life is a movie, you just can’t make this kind of stuff up. I went from bumbling Command X contestant to guest judge within two conference’s time. At this rate, next time I’ll be an opening night speaker. Yeah, that’s a stretch,  settle to be guest DJ next time for the Design Observer party at least.

So, absurdity and lucky-bastardness ruled my evening last night. At one point, I found myself sitting at a table in a closed room with Bonnie Siegler, Chip Kidd and Paul Sahre critiquing and discussing design. Me. Seriously? The design-gods must be laughing. It was so insane being involved and sharing my input and reasonings with such seasoned professionals. It really wasn’t easy making a decision, there was a some dissent and devil’s advocate-type discussion at times as the papers were shuffled and reorganized to reflect our top picks, but in the end I think we made the right decisions.

Here are the solutions:

Basically, we stuck to the brief as our guide. We evaluated how each contestant answered it, the merits of their concept and reasoning/explanation, and finally, craft and overall design. I know how frustrating it can be to the contestants to not know exactly what was said, or how the deliberation happens, all I can say is that we really took a lot of care in evaluating everyone’s work. No quick decisions were made. So, unfortunately, Bobby and Katherine were cut, and Alison’s Cap’n on Acid was the best of the three. We really liked Ryan and Monina’s executions but felt that what they were selling was a bit of a lie. Cap’n Crunch ain’t health food. If one of them had expressed that this would be a reconfigured new and healthier recipe, then that would have changed everything.

So, next challenge is to make a statement involving civil rights. The three remaining contestants were whisked away last night and were treated to a private tour at the National Civil Rights Museum here in Memphis. They are to come back and express something that made an impression on them, and execution-wise the court is wide open. It’s going to be a tough one, I’m so excited to see what they come up with. Ok, going to go and try to make it to some sessions, and hopefully a quick visit to the museum too.