FormFiftyFive is inviting ten of the hottest designers/illustrators/artists to respond to a six-word story. So that's one writer, six words, ten interpretations. You'll find a list underneath of the people we're asking to join in. Will you be joining us?

 

First things first. What's a six-word story? Exactly as it sounds. A story told in six words, no more, no less.

 

It's impossible to speak of them without mentioning Hemingway. After accepting a bet challenging him to tell a story in, yes, just six words, he penned a poignant mini masterpiece. It went 'For sale: baby shoes, never worn'.

 

Fast-forward a good few decades and you find a writing community addicted to tiny stories. Next time you're in a café, look out for writerly types hunched over notebooks counting to six on their fingers. The little decisions involved in creating six-worders are oddly satisfying. What to leave in? What to leave out?

 

In the end, we plumped for a story that intrigued us with its ambiguity. Where would it lead our ten hand-picked individuals? It's going to be great to watch different sides of the story unfold.

 

The six-word story

The story we want each designer/illustrator/artist to interpret is:

Given up yet? No, still trying

  

The details

This is a pretty open brief. The only thing that's set in stone is the six-word story itself. Everything else is up for grabs. It's up to you whether you want to include the actual six words in your piece of art. You might want to do some fabulous typesetting or you might want to do an illustration based on what the six-word story means to you.

  

The deadline

1st October - we're quite flexible, if you really want to work on the project but don't have the time just let us know. Or you can always work on the next issue.

  

The deal

6x10 will be hand screen-printed in a very limited run of 60 copies (of which each contributor will get 1 copy), available to order online from the new FFF shop and a mini-site on sixbyten.com. With over 25000 visitors each month now we're sure they'll sell out pretty fast! The aim of the project is to continue to inspire the creative industry with the most amazing work from around the World, but with a much smaller selection of artists working together to make something completely new and totally unique.

  

The selection

Andrew Shannon

Nicolas Taul

Chris Gray

Chris Ro

Edward McGowan

Jez Burrows

Jon Boam

Lizzy Stewart

Merijn Hos

Robert Hanson

 

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