A specially designed Facebook app allowed 27,000 people from around the world to add their profile picture to become part of an epic new mural in the city of Derry-Londonderry. A bespoke algorithm analysed each profile picture’s colour value and placed them in the best possible location within the piece. And the design emerged picture-by-picture, like a giant jigsaw puzzle. Users could search for friends, zoom in and out and interact with the piece online. Finally, the image was transferred from the cyber world, to the real world, creating an 18-metre long mural in the heart of the city.

The results were unprecedented:

27,000 people uploaded their profile pic to add to the mural.

85,000 new facebook followers joined Tourism Ireland.

144 countries viewed the app.

The piece became an official tourist attraction, part of the Derry-Londonderry walking tour and helped to attract over 1,000,000 visitors to the city over the year.