In the zone

And here's Croda after the starting bell. Like most of the other contestants, he's dropped into the Design Zone, becoming oblivious to his surroundings. But, he says, being onstage wouldn't have been a problem for him anyway.

"I played in a lot of local bands and stuff like that growing up," he says, "so I'm kind of used to being in front of audiences and being in that kind of situation. But honestly, once you start working, you're so focused on what you're doing that I don't think it's really too much of an issue being on a stage in front of people. The computer screen takes up most of your view anyway."

(For a pictorial overview of the tournament, see our related gallery, "Digital designers duke it out at Cut&Paste." And you can check out our introduction here.)