A Moving Magazine Cover (literally!)

By Ashley Lenz

Spring always evokes feelings of renewal and growth. Naturally, Georgia Printer would take advantage of the season to communicate print’s ability to stay fresh on its Spring 2010 cover – but how to do it in a way that most readers hadn’t seen before?

Through the addition of simulated animation we were able to show that after centuries of innovation, print is still on the move.

Engaging The Senses
In previous issues, Georgia Printer explored sensory experiences created by print through texture (touch) and scent (smell). We wanted to take this approach a step further by experimenting with the illusions created through sight.

This led to our earliest decision to use fluorescent ink for a bright and eye-catching effect. With a neon hue, The Spring 2010 cover would be visually shocking enough to stand out in readers’ mailboxes. But how could we create cover art to push the idea even further?

Fooling The Eye
To find an image that would add to our concept, Georgia Printer graphic designer Mackenzie Brookshire began researching different visual effects for the cover. “With fluorescent inks in mind, my first thoughts were that it would be fun to do some kind of optical illusion. I thought about using flat lines and shapes to suggest depth or movement, or even playing mind games through negative and positive space,” she remembers. “I became really interested in the idea of colors and/or images “playing tricks” on our eyes and how that related to everyday visual experiences.”

Bennett Graphics of Tucker, Georgia, printer for our Spring 2010 issue, was completely onboard with the idea to create a unique visual encounter for readers. Their adventurous spirit, coupled with the healthy desire to create a cover that would be hard to top in future issues, was inspirational.

Ultimately, Brookshire came across a YouTube video showing real moving images from Colin Ord’s optical illusion book titled Magic Moving Images (May, 2007). In the video, each image comes to life when the user places a printed sheet of film over the picture, moving it slowly over the artwork to suggest motion.

“Immediately I knew I wanted to make the visual experience interactive, something that required your hands to make it work, and something that many people hadn’t seen before.” The question was; how did it work and what would it take to pull it off on the cover?

Brookshire reached out to optical animation artist Rufus Butler Seder, who coined and copyrighted the term “scanimation” for his work with moving images. Seder was kind enough to offer up some helpful tips and useful links that could be used to create a unique image for the cover. With his encouragement, she started to tackle the artwork.

Creating The Illusion
In animation, successive frames create the perception of motion. The Spring 2010 cover image of an old-fashioned press uses essentially the same theory, except that the frames of the animation are layered on top of each other. The frames and the clear film with bars printed on it fit together like a puzzle to create the illusion of movement.

Illustrator CS was used to create the animation frames and the bars artwork. While you can easily test your animation on screen by moving the bars back and forth with your left/right keys, we found that it was still important to test it in real life because sometimes the animation worked even better in print than it did electronically.

The idea to make the image one of an old press was from Jim Claxton of Claxton Printing in Atlanta, Georgia. We loved this suggestion because it was such a simple way to visually show the leaps and bounds that print has made – a “something old/something new” kind of notion.

The Printing & Imaging Association of Georgia (PIAG), publisher of Georgia Printer, is celebrating 115 years of service to the industry this year, so it was a nod to that important milestone as well.

Production
For the clear film overlay needed to create the perception of movement, we were directed to GPA, the largest independent provider of specialty printable substrates solutions in North America.

GPA generously agreed to donate the materials needed and gave Bennett Graphics sample sheets and instructions on how to get the best results on its HP Indigo Digital Press.

With the samples turning out great, and artwork ready, we were all set for production. After printing, Family Binding of Norcross, Georgia, tipped in the transparency film to the inside spread of the magazine, where we had printed an explanation along with instructions.

The Reaction
Our readers were totally surprised and thrilled with our use of movement on the Spring 2010 cover. The fluorescent ink did the trick of capturing their attention, for sure – but what we’re really pleased with is how the animation captured their imagination. It just goes to show you that with print, anything is possible.

To request a copy of the Spring 2010 Georgia Printer magazine, please e-mail alenz@piag.org. The magazine is free of charge (copies available while supplies last).

Watch this video of the cover in action!

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Ashley Lenz is editor-in-chief of Georgia Printer magazine and marketing and communications manager for The Printing & Imaging Association of Georgia (PIAG).

Helpful Links

Animated illusion links:
http://www.rufuslifetiles.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X59yfCNyRQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC90Gbx2PgA&feature=related
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/12/amazing_animated_optical_illusions.html
http://www.dudecraft.com/2010/01/scanimation-style-tutorial.html

Some neat old optical devices:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoetrope
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaumatrope

An in depth look at optical illusions:
http://www.visualillusion.net/Chap02/Page02.php