(Una de las 20.000 portadas)
Hoy cumple 15 años. En 1996, un ex periodista de guerra canadiense afincado en Londres, Tyler Brûlé, lanzaba la revista de diseño Wallpaper*. "Nos copiaron demasiado, hasta el punto de tener que reinventarnos si no queríamos convertirnos en un cliché", ha declarado en un reportaje reciente. Y uno de los momentos que han hecho de esta publicación algo distinto, difícil de copiar, ha sido cuando los lectores de la revista podían hacer la portada de la revista.
En Visualmente, te contamos, en un reportaje exclusivo, como, a través de un desarrollo del estudio londinense Kin Design, como se pudo concretar este concepto revolucionario editorial. En ese momento, se podía acceder a una paleta especial de recursos visuales creados por artistas del momento, para diseñar la portada de su último número. Así James Joyce, Nigel Robinson, Hort, Anthony Burrill y Kam Tang habían contribuido con una selección de imágenes y patterns disponibles en el sitio de la publicación.
El 28 de agosto del año pasado, el inglés Matt Wade, cofundador de Kin Design, nos habló de ésta experiencia única en el mercado editorial. En Tipográficamente, te mostramos la tipografía que el estudio inglés Airside, creó para la revista.
1. How was born the project for readers arming the cover of Wallpaper?
It started as an idea that Meirion Pritchard had. He asked me to come in and meet him to talk about whether it was possible to create a way of each reader creating their own cover for Wallpaper*.
(Meirion Pritchard, a la izquierda, y Matt Wade, en la imprenta)
2. Covers many were received on the site?
I'm not sure about the final numbers, but we ended up creating over 20,000 unique covers.
3. What was the criterion for what would be printed?
Meirion also commissioned 5 artists to make a series of assets. We then had to design and program interesting ways for people to use them. We were happy for people to subvert our original intentions, and find new creative approaches to their compositions. In fact, this was one of the most interesting aspects for me... in terms of all the unexpected uses. As a mass creativity project I'm really pleased with the outcome.
(Una trama hecha con el filtro Pixelate, Color Halftone, fue uno de los más elegidos por los lectores)
4. Covers were created offensive?
Hardly any, maybe 5. I find people will often manage themselves, and when someone is paying for it, they don't want to risk it not getting through the system.
5. What assessment can we make of the experience?
I think it's up to other people to tell us if they think it was a good experience. Personally, I am really proud of what we did.
6. They think to repeat the experience?
Yes, absolutely!