OuterEdit: Watch creatives collaborate real-time on an artwork, then buy it as a shirt

Imagine putting five top creative minds in a virtual room, where they go back and forth creating, critiquing, and editing each other’s artwork. Each piece will be submitted to a vote, and the most popular one will be made into a tee that can be bought online.

That’s OuterEdit in a nutshell. Moving beyond the typical vote-for-your-favorite-design tee concept, it aims instead to celebrate the faces and processes behind the names of graphic design.

The founders, Clive Foo and Ryan Tan, hopes that it will reconcile the growing disconnect between designers, retail stores and consumers of graphic tees.

The collaborative event, called ‘O/E Collab’, happens once a month. Five creatives from around the world will crack their brains on OuterEdit.com to answer a themed challenge. OuterEditors, essentially the audience, can get involved with and comment on the creative process as it happens. The most-voted-for artwork will be produced on premium OuterEdit apparel.

By creating their own line of graphic tees and directly promoting the artists behind them, OuterEdit ensures that the creative intent does not get lost in the process of commercialization.

Screenshot of OuterEdit's O/E Collab

The startup has a global mindset from day one. OuterEdit has secured participation from A-list creatives from around the globe for O/E Collab till July 2013. These talents hail from major design cities like Barcelona, Tokyo, London and Singapore.

With the support from DesignSingapore Council’s Design for Business Innovation Grant (DBIG) and SPRING’s former Young Entrepreneurs Scheme (YES!), the OuterEdit platform was designed by Plate Interactive, a boutique interactive agency founded by Sean Lam, one of Asia’s top creative directors and former co-founder of Kinetic Interactive.

Furthermore, renowned Singapore entrepreneur Elim Chew, who runs 77th street, a chain of apparel stores, has helped the team throughout the initial chapters of Clive and Ryan’s entrepreneurial journey.

OuterEdit’s other informal mentors are Sean Lam from Plate Interactive, and Alvin and Jackson Tan from Phunk Studio.

With strong community support from the local design and entrepreneurial scene, OuterEdit is an example of Singapore’s new wave of design-centric startups.

Check out OuterEdit’s goosebumps-inducing launch video: