Event
May Chen
In 2012, The New York Times introduced Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek, an online article that redefined digital storytelling. While most publishers at the time were limited to uploading PDFs, this Pulitzer-winning piece integrated interactive graphics, animations, and video—offering a glimpse into the future of online editorial design.
Building on the ideas of past innovations, I created the Event platform to explore how fashion editorials could exist in a 3D web space. This ongoing project reimagines articles, advertisements, and interviews in an immersive online experience. These worlds are familiar yet uncanny, sharp yet soft, tactile yet pixelated. Drawing upon the idea of skeuomorphism, I merged technical precision with raw, texturally inconsistent low-poly scans to create a sense of digital tactility—inviting something human and withered into the synthetic.
Just as a traditional magazine houses a collection of printed stories, Event creates a digital universe to host a collection of 3D web space worlds. The name Event embodies the platform’s event-driven publication schedule, as each story launches with a countdown. Users (represented by ‘@’ symbols) will see other readers online when they enter the Event world, so each release allows users to engage with the magazine’s content and each other.