Back in late September, via a tweet I stumbled upon an opportunity to participate in the making of the first-ever crowdsourced magazine cover, by O.K. Periodicals. The experiment is simple: 400+ participants, each get an image square to "remake", which then become part of the cover design for O.K. Periodicals #3: REPEAT. Simple, right? Yes and no. Here's my square, before and after:
Needless to say, I had no idea what the image was, nor any clue as to how the squares were to be compiled and incorporated into the final design. Instead of a remake, it was more like an exercise of visual interpretation and pure imagination - just as many of us did countless times as children, staring at clouds and waiting for various creatures to emerge - so I let my designer-self go and simply had fun with color, texture, and shapes inside my image square.
The final cover was revealed in late October:
REPEAT is now available for purchase, and a preview of the entire issue is available online. I don't have a printed copy (yet) but after a digital sneak peek, I'm intrigued. The remake cover, while visually resembles the original and stays conceptually true to the "repeat" theme, is wild with undercurrents. Each square is unique - some are artfully rendered, others are cooky, awkward but fun; they may not be perfect echos but all are creative in their own ways. I don't know if that alone makes this crowdsourced cover a success, but perhaps there's no "result" to be had with this experiment, only the many reflections of a shared experience. And I like that, a lot - as a participant that played a part, as well as a designer looking in from the outside.
Learn more: press release from O.K. Periodicals.
