Congratulations to Nicolas Osborne from AIMS Community College, this year’s Design Slam Competition winner!

Design students from five of the best design school programs in Colorado brought their skills with them to the annual Design Slam competition October 24th at RMCAD. The students were given 15 minutes to design graphical solutions, LIVE in front of an audience, with their screens projected behind them and their creative hearts on their sleeves. Some of the Pro judges were amazed at how these design students kept their cool under such a time crunch and in front of a heckling audience. Adobe, Matter Studios, RMCAD, Ace, the DAM, and other sponsors sweetened the pot with some amazing swag, including an Adobe Creative Cloud Subscription, an Ink and Slide, a one-of-a-kind trophy designed by Rick Griffith, and other sweet prizes to support these students bringing all of their guts to the table to win ultimate design glory among their peers.

This year’s Design Slam program was pumped up with three Regional Design Battles hosted at local colleges with design programs, where students had to first compete within their regions to make it to the State Design Slam Finals at RMCAD. Students loved the format as they got a chance to compete with their classmates before bringing their A-Game to the finals if they won regionally. Design students often think they are THE BEST within the safe confines of their collegiate vacuums. Design Slam breaks students out of their comfort zone, strips them of their padded deadlines, and showcases their raw abilities to truly problem solve with only the tools of their craft, the internet, and a room of their creative peers pushing their limits.

The esteemed panel of Slam judges were AIGA CO members Mike Herburger, Senior Creative Director at Monigle Associates; Helen Young, Owner at EnZed Design; Steven Parisi, Art Director at Ibotta; and Shruthi Balakrishna, student at Art Institute and AIGA CO 2014 Scholarship Winner.

Look out design students of Colorado, Design Slam Regional Battles will begin again next September with Finals held in late October. Will you be ready to lay it all on the line and battle for design glory?

Have questions on how to be a Regional Battle host? Email Amber Atkins, AIGA Colorado’s Vice President, Education and Mentorship.