April 1st, 2022

Reddit is one of th most downloaded apps of our generation. An electronically driven community in which users can post, comment, and form groups in order to chat about things in which they find a common interest. The app has millions of users and continues to be one of the most used apps of all time.

In 2017, Reddit hosted an online experiment where any user could place a single pixel on a canvas. The goal? Create a community-driven piece of design that could be changed one pixel at a time. Otherwise known as r/Place. The experiment was popular with 90,000 users editing and viewing the collective design. However, Reddit decided to re-introduce the experiment on April Fool’s day five years later.

The resurrected experiment was announced on March 28th but did not start until April 1st. The rules stayed the same as the previous years, however, one user only had a 16-color pallet at their fingers, and could only place one pixel every 25 minutes. Ultimately, the community-driven canvas reached one million users and collectively has over 2.5 million pixels changing each hour. As the canvas grew and the trend became even more popular, established communities began to collectively design fictional characters, places, flags, video games, sports teams, and more. 

The experiment was praised for creating a sense of collectivism in a time where the internet often divides individuals. Additionally, the community proved the notion that an individual can become a designer, as long as they are given the appropriate tools to do so. Below is a picture of what the final canvas looked like. 

The r/Place experiment lasted four days in total, and the changes to the canvas were revolutionary. On the last day, users were only allowed to drop a singular white pixel onto the canvas. Ultimately, the r/place canvas that used to be filled with extraordinary designs was simply back to its original form, a white square.