by Vikram Babu
Product Designer and Writer
Absurdist is a relatively young publication that launched on Medium on December 31st, 2014. I published the first story from Mexico City’s airport. At the 6 month mark it had already grown past 10k followers, pulling in anywhere between 50–200k reads a month. It takes a lot of work and collaboration to build and grow a publication.
Tape Famous
The story of Absurdist actually began in January 2013. I found the music scene in the Bay area lackluster and was collecting cassette tapes. I began writing about cassette music on tumblr under the banner, Tape Famous. It wasn’t revolutionary, just edgy independent music journalism. But it struck a chord with music makers. Soon musicians were mailing me dozens of cassettes each week with letters of admiration.
The tumblr, twitter and facebook counts grew to about a 1,000 followers each. Before we shut of the lights, we’d reviewed nearly 300 cassettes.
More than anything, we helped put cassettes on the map. The photography of a physical medium helped revive a re-emerging medium. It also changed the way I discover music, something I wrote about here.
Codify
Working in Silicon Valley isn’t without it’s disillusionments. With the economic disparity in the Bay, I shaped a critical look of Silicon Valley’s claims of world improvment. I’d launched a tinyletter, and threw all my contacts into it. Within a few weeks, new folks started subscribing.
Codify was a place for me to write critically on culture and technology. It was so far from Tape Famous but I wondered how artists might talk about broader issues. I made a cultish logo for it.
Absurdist
Towards the end of 2014, I decided to shutter both Tape Famous and Codify and start something new. It wasn’t a popular move but it seemed there was a real opportunity to talk about things other than technology on Medium. The project began by researching other publications. I took note of their editorial voice, following counts, publishing frequency and operational models.
Following much the same process as before, I launched the new publication on Medium.
- Created a styled manifesto
- Identified audience as smart and conscious millennials
- Developed a visual style guide
- Recruited popular twitter personalities to write
- Added and on-boarded 4 editors
- Communicated regularly with readers
We caught the attention of Medium early, which is when I realized that the prototype was working. I also continued to cultish eye motif in the brand.
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Amidst the noise of advertorial hyperbole, Absurdist manages to stand apart as authentic narratives. We speak on culture, technology, policy and nature. 6 months after our launch, Absurdist surpassed many set goals, pushing the project to mature. I’m curious about the future of on-demand publishing and see Absurdist growing into a media justice lab. Sorta. The project wouldn’t be where it is today without the contributions of many folks. Thanks to Alex Beckett, Laura Noema, Ethan Avey, the staff at Medium and our regular contributors.
Project: Absurdist, Codify & Tape Famous
Tasks: Creative Direction, Communications and Social Media
Tools: Medium, Tumblr, Twitter & Facebook
Date: 2015
Vikram Babu is a product designer and writer, living in Oakland. He can be found on twitter and sometimes dribbble.
Additional Artworks:
