The Fight Club of Design
With influences as diverse as UK rave culture, Detroit’s vaunted boxing heritage and the city’s car culture, there are few events in the automotive design calendar that get the blood pumping than the Middlecott Sketch Battle. Car Design News caught up with event founder Brook Banham to hear about the method behind the madness
The Middlecott Sketch Battle is a heady cocktail of warehouse party and showcase of raw car design talent. Founded and hosted by CCS alumni Brook Banham, aided by a mildly unhinged man in a snappy suit and white facepaint, the competition captures the edgy, creative atmosphere of Detroit. Billed as the Fight Club of Design (a nod to the city’s famous boxing heritage), it pits aspiring designers against the clock and each other in a high-octane battle royale to see who has the wontons to claim the championship belt. Car Design News caught up with Banham to hear more.
Why did you launch Sketchbattle?
I conceived Sketchbattle as the business part of my Transportation Design Master’s from the College of Creative Studies. We were tasked to create a fictional business plan, so mine was Sketchbattle, but it wasn’t intended to be fictional. I wanted to create a business where we celebrate the competitive nature of design, particularly automotive design. Whoever has the best sketches gets the best job, or their project is chosen to move forward.
We billed it as the Fight Club of Design. I also saw a business opportunity: unlike universities, which compete in sports like football and basketball, art colleges have no such way to compete. There are also no live design contests. That’s partly where Sketchbattle comes in.
As I had just moved to Detroit at the time and loved it, Sketchbattle also became a celebration of Detroit. I grew up in the UK in the 90s, and rave was a very big part of my life then. So Sketchbattle included some of my favourite things: sketching, cars, design, underground parties in abandoned warehouses, electronic dance music/ raves, and general bedlam. Detroit included everything that I loved, including being the heart of the automotive industry, car design, underground warehouse parties, and the home of techno.
How long has it been going?
Sketchbattle started in 2012 as our grand opening party for Middlecott Design. Hence, the name is Middlecott Sketchbattle. For our opening, we didn’t just want to have only a cocktail party, we needed some entertainment factor, and this was the perfect time to launch Middlecott Sketchbattle to the public.
Did you have a clear vision for how it would develop or was it more organic than strategic?
I have always had a clear idea of what Middlecott Sketchbattle should be. In fact, I’ve had to water it down because most people wouldn’t be able to handle the whole shebang as I envisioned it. I even planned its growth nationally, with a presence in cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Las Vegas and San Francisco, but it hasn’t yet reached its full scale – being international with a presence in Asia and Europe. Also, I envision it spreading out beyond just automotive design, but also into sneakers, product, fashion, and fashion design.
For those that have not attended, break it down for us: what happens at the Sketchbattle? (Who sets the brief, how long do the contenders have etc?)
Sketchbattle is an arena where we celebrate designers as athletes. It’s a head-to-head competition where approximately 20 designers, from college students to professionals, compete to win prizes and become the Middlecott Sketchbattle Champion.
The design brief is decided upon by me, a panel of colleagues, and sometimes the sponsors. One week in advance of the event, we inform the contestants of the brief, so they come to the event prepared.
The contest consists of three rounds at 30 minutes each:
- Round 1: initial sketch
- Round 2: sketch development
- Round 3: final render
Three to five high level professional designers judge giving the set of sketches a score from 1 to 10. The top 3 contestants with the most points are the winners.
We have three winners: first place is the Middlecott Sketchbattle Champion, who is awarded with a Championship title belt belt and a cash prize. Second place is the Darby Jean Award, which celebrates the best female designer. It was named after our first female winner in 2015, Darby Jean Barber. Third place is the People’s Choice Award, which is awarded to the designer who gets the most points votes from the attendees.
What are the judges typically looking for and has that changed over time?
Judging criteria have not changed much over the years. It consists of three parts, including sketch quality, pertaining to the brief, and creativity.
The atmosphere on the night is high-energy to say the least – has it always been like that? Sketching seems like it should be a quiet, solitary pursuit.
The event is definitely a spectacle. That’s the way we want it, to attract a large crowd, and people to have fun just like a football or basketball game. Sketchbattle differentiates itself from the stiff, formal, and not very inclusive automotive industry parties. Instead, Sketchbattle is open to the public and is absolutely not stiff, and it’s informal. In fact, industry executives come to Sketchbattle after a long day at the auto show, and take their tie off, have a few shots, and get their funk on. It is THE party of any auto show.
The audience is intrigued to see people sketching by hand as there is an authenticity that cannot be hidden through a computer
Who is the white-faced master of ceremonies? He certainly takes it up a notch.
That is Satori Circus, a local Detroit legend. He’s loud and obnoxious and his purpose is to distract contestants and entertain guests. When potential employers walk around, looking to hire, if contestants can handle creating quality in this environment and level of distractions, they can certainly handle doing it in a nice, quiet studio.
There is a community feel to the event in that it feels particularly “Detroit”. What are your thoughts on that?
As I mentioned above, we pay particular attention to making it a Detroit-centric event. When international people come to Detroit for the auto show, they don’t necessarily want to go to the fancy Marriott bar and restaurant, they actually want to see the real Detroit, the gritty side that it’s famous for. Detroit culture is naturally infused into Sketchbattle with being the home of techno, early underground warehouse parties, the birthplace of industrial design, and the automotive capital of the world, which all come together at Sketchbattle.
Do many sketchers go on to careers in the industry – any famous winners?
We have many well-known designers who have been a part of or come from Sketchbattle. Apart from famous judges, such as Ralph Gilles, we also have contestants like Luke Mack, who is credited with designing the Rivian vehicles. As past Sketchbattle designers continue to develop their careers, I’m sure we will see some of them head of design.
What are your thoughts about sketching as part of the design process? We are seeing more and more technological tools. What place for the humble pen?
Analog/manual, sketching still has its place. It’s still the fastest way to rapidly materialise ideas. It also helps keep the art in design. Besides, the audience is intrigued to see people sketching by hand as there is an authenticity that cannot be hidden through a computer.