What exactly is a live design competition? That’s the question we asked when we first heard about Cut & Paste, the London leg of which took place in Shoreditch last week. Luckily, one of Umbro’s graphic designers was chosen to take part in the final, so he’s been able to give us the lowdown on this fascinating event that’s now taking place all over the world.

Graeme Peacock was chosen from the many entries put forward for the London Cut & Paste, and last Thursday he travelled down to the final after submitting his portfolio and impressing at a preliminary round. So what exactly is a live design competition?

“It’s exactly as it sounds!” Graeme explained. “Four people are given a brief and have 15 minutes to come up with a design that fits the bill. You have to do it in front of a big crowd, with music being played, and with everyone following everything on massive screens. It’s a pretty strange experience!”

So, Graeme stepped up to the plate at Shoreditch Village Underground last week, and given a brief of using a tattoo, a photograph and a paradox, came up with the image at the top of the page. He was entering the 2D competition (there’s also a 3D and motion graphics round) and his design was chosen as one of the four best, meaning he made it through to the final round.

In the next round, the brief was around Confucious (a Chinese philosopher), and Graeme came up with the above image in his allotted 15 minutes. It wasn’t enough to see him chosen as the overall winner unfortunately, but he’s happy with his Cut & Paste experience.

“I’m a bit gutted that I didn’t win the trip to New York which was the overall prize, but I did enjoy the whole experience,” said Graeme. “I’d probably do it again, everyone else except me had practised this time around so maybe next time I’ll do the same!”

Congratulations to Graeme on his success at Cut & Paste, and to everyone who took part. For more information on the whole worldwide live design competition thing, take a look at the Cut & Paste website.