Two opening-night events stole the hearts and won the favor of most attendees—both with their inventiveness, youth, and accessibility.

Command X, the graphic design reality show, proved to be as or more entertaining than everyone expected. Michael Bierut played the self-declared role of Heidi Klum (with dapper threads a la Tim Gunn).

Seven pre-selected student contestants (chosen from a pool over 100 entrants) were given a challenge seven days prior to the event: re-design the logo for NFL franchise Denver Broncos. Contestants presented their designs to the room of 2000+ designers and were judged by a panel of harsh critics:

Brian Collins, Bonnie Siegler, Emily Oberman, Noreen Morioka, and special guest judge Annie Hellerstein, Creative Director of the Denver Broncos.

A groan of concensus came from the audience when Michael Bierut said “always name your logos well. Give them a nickname before your client does.” This after contestant Kelly Dorsey’s logo with a smoke-snorting horse was affectionately dubbed the “the popcorn snot logo.”

While the judges’ debate remained private, the results were later unveiled to the eager audience and nervous contestants. Sadly two contestants were “deleted.” Translation: Scott Anderson and Mike Burton were able to relax and enjoy the conference while their peers spent all of last night working on Assignment 2: re-design the packaging for Jimmy Dean’s Pancake and Sausage on a Stick. We’re anxious for the outcome of this round tonight.

“I love the youth,” said Kurt Andersen after 20/20, which competed with Command X as the crowd favorite for the night. In 20/20, 20 designers present for 1 minute each on the conference theme. This year to serve the Next theme, 20 influential designers each nominated an emerging design talent.

In the 20/20s past, pre-created videos were disallowed, and live performances this year were the exception. Alas, delivery was trumped by the ingenuity in a the best of set: Armin Vit noted his favorites. I have to agree on Andrew Sloat‘s video of the 22nd Amendment Section One. Dissent this beautiful has a special resonance that I truly believe can connect beyond the converted.

Maybe I’m biased by friendship, but Serifcan Ozcan/Naz Sahin‘s promotional video for Next pill was one of the more sophisticated of the twenty yet still managed to crack smiles and stir laughter with references to pets, food, Paul Rand, and Ladislav Sutnar.

Into the evening and this morning, both 20/20 and Command X remained regularly overheard hallway conversations.

What’s next? Fun at Kid Robot. Being Good Human Beings. More Command X. Momus.