Moveable type

Photo by Darkmatter

In the book We Love Magazines, I wrote in 2006: “Advances in digital paper and low-cost throwaway screens suggest that the first ever animated front cover isn’t far away. The newsstand may yet prove even more attention-grabbing.”

And here we are, with Esquire about to publish a cover that the magazine’s Editor in Chief, David Granger hopes “will be in the Smithsonian [Museum]” – a flashing E-ink cover proclaiming “The 21st Century Begins Now!”

On the one hand, Granger’s assertion that “Magazines have basically looked the same for 150 years” is completely wrong, given how far design, paper, printing technology have come even in the last 15 years. On the other hand, he’s absolutely right. Paper is static, and always has been. The wo/man on the street almost certainly won’t be consciously aware of the differences between 120gsm substrate gloss and 80gsm recycled cream, between sans serif and foil-blocked die cuts, unless you tie them down and force feed them focus-group-standard coffee and cake until they say something intelligent. But show them a newsstand that blinks, and they’ll remember it for years.

However, when you look at the details, you realise that this is still just one small step for mags. Firstly, the batteries and displays have been put together in China, then shipped to Texas, where they were sent down to Mexico to be inserted by hand, then shipped in refrigerated lorries to the US. So the 21st Century actually began a few months ago, but we’ve had to wait for it to be put together using what Granger describes as “a 19th-century manufacturing process”. Don’t expect that to change any time soon – which means this is strictly mainstream, big advertiser, non-breaking news territory. The exorbitant costs involved seem to have been spread between Hearst Corp and Ford, whose animated ad will be on the inside cover.

Secondly, don’t expect too much technologically. The E-ink display (which Esquire has an exclusivity on until 2009, presumably not because they’ll do it again this year, but so that they’re still being talked about for a while) is apparently a lower-powered version of the Vizplex, which offers eight greyscales. It’s the same one used in the Kindle, but with a smaller, 90-day power supply. In other words, if the Kindle is anything to go by, it’ll be ok for static text, but maybe not for any animation more sophisticated than On/Off.

Thirdly, less than one in seven Esquire covers will actually move. Of their 720,000 circulation, only 100,000 will flicker, and then only for 90 days. Subscribers miss out on their moment of history, unless they can grab a copy, and so, if I guess rightly, will most of the newsstand outside of New York. This is about the hype and the story, so they’ll put the covers where they matter most.

And finally, the real shame in my opinion: it’s being done by American Esquire, a magazine that has otherwise celebrated its 75th anniversary by laughing at its legacy and generally showing a lack of imagination in most of its recent editorial treatments (with the occasional honorable exception). Great brand, not going through a great phase at the moment.

For all the above-mentioned technological limitations, this is still a giant step for magazine kind, hinting towards the inevitable animated everywheres of Blade Runner and Minority Report. Sure, the tech is primitive, but seeing it on the newsstand rather than at trade shows will undoubtedly help increase the speed of technological advances. My prediction? Give it three to five years, and we’ll have basic moving colour.

Hearst has invested a lot in being the first out there. This will be the only animated cover on the newsstand, the first ever around the world. It could say anything at all, and still stand out. It’s a great opportunity for some wit, some thought. Instead, the cover line (“The 21st Century Begins Now!”) is a pretty banal, predictable magazine shout for something that’s supposed to go down in history.

People will stop, look, probably buy this anyway. If Esquire truly believes it is speaking to future generations in the Smithsonian, the kids of tomorrow will not be impressed. The first words ever spoken on film, in The Jazz Singer, were famously “You ain’t heard nothing yet.” Now that’s an opening.

(So what flashing sentence would I choose for this momentous magazine milestone? I’ve just spent 30 seconds thinking about it, and come up with “This is the future calling. Please pick up.” Feel free to suggest yours below, and expect Conde Nast to do a deal with, say, Nemoptic very soon.)