Mixel, the collaborative collage app for iPad which is the brainchild of former NYTimes.com design director Khoi Vinh, has been removed from Apple's App Store today in preparation for a full shutdown of its network next month. In an email to existing users, quoted by Macworld, Vinh explains that "the Mixel community is not as large as it would have to be in order for us to sustain it as a business."

Vinh tells Macworld that his company, Lascaux Co., is currently working on a new app, which will also be focused on creating collages and which will likely make use of the resources freed up by the shutdown. When the Mixel network closes in September, the current app will stop functioning completely, and all Mixel pages will be deleted — the company plans to introduce a feature allowing users to download and save their work in bulk over "the coming weeks."