Whether through sudden spectacle or steady erosion, collision is a foundational force in the formation of our earth’s geology. This concept was the bedrock for the design direction of this issue. On the book-ends and edges of pages throughout, you’ll find collages of shells, roots, rock, magma, lightning, galaxies merging, and cells forming – cycles of destruction and creation recurring in the natural world. These collages form a grounding motif throughout the pages that otherwise expand out into colliding chaos, each story having its own tone and style captured through expressive typography, use of colour (or not), texture, layout, and graphics – layers of stories accreting with layers of design.

To add another layer, Studio MIMU, Monica Lasuardi, Harrison Cromarty, and Mia Mont were invited as guest designers to interpret the theme and content through their own voices, collaborating to build a colliding visual cacophony befitting ‘Stories of Collision.’