If you’re a Pinterest fan, you may be interested in the company’s new endeavor, Shuffles, an app specifically dedicated to photo collages and collections, mood boards, and the like.
Shuffles is currently in testing with an invite-only list of users, though hopeful applicants can sign up for the waitlist on the app’s home page.
As of publication, Shuffles is available only on iOS devices; you can currently download and log into the app, but will be prompted to join the waitlist after the introduction cinematic plays.
The app promises the ability both to upload photos from your camera roll or the internet and to snap photos of your own to add to your collage. Shuffles also draws from Pinterest’s own database of photos and media, allowing users to interface with their past artistic collections if they so choose.
Images themselves can be manipulated as one might expect, as well as have a section cut out and saved as its own image.
Once photos have been added and organized to a user’s liking, Shuffles will allow them to apply visual effects and animations. Users can then share a collage with friends or public forums, where other users will be able to “remix” the final product.
Shuffles’ description in the App Store purports that the app can be used to “curate a festival outfit…visualize [a] dream bedroom…[o]r just express yourself by creating something beautiful, strange, or funny.”
This insinuates that Shuffles, like Pinterest, has the potential to be a far deeper artistic experience than first impressions might inform.
Upon opening the app, users are greeted with an introductory video that evokes late 90s-style sneaker ads, which lends a hint of what to expect from Shuffles’ art style and persuasion – a distinct departure from the minimalist trend seen in most social media apps.
As Shuffles moves from its current restricted testing format into the open market, it will be interesting to see how it competes with existing image-centric apps like Instagram.
Questions around whether or not aspects of Shuffles will be monetized remain unanswered for the time being, but are expected to be addressed as the app gains traction.
Jack Lloyd has a BA in Creative Writing from Forest Grove's Pacific University; he spends his writing days using his degree to pursue semicolons, freelance writing and editing, oxford commas, and enough coffee to kill a bear. His infatuation with rain is matched only by his dry sense of humor.
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