Just watched a very interesting video about mag+, a system developed by Popular Science for the viewing of, and interaction with online publications via touchscreen devices such as the iPad. You can see it here.. http://vimeo.com/m/#/10630568.

We all know this is the future of magazine publishing and it's an area I'm currently excitedly investigating. The opportunities for illustration are massive. The shackles usually associated with static illustration can be removed. It may be something as simple and functional as 'what's behind that wall or object', or it may be something altogether more aesthetic and beautiful.. a flock of birds rising from a structure over a steamy city in the morning sunlight. Or better still a combination of functionality and aesthetic beauty... The rising flock of birds draws your attention to a specific area of the image, inviting you to look closer. Then the subject of the piece (a train or some other logistical piece of hardware for example) ascends from the city below and arcs it's way off to it's destination. These animated elements don't need to be overly complicated and difficult to achieve. We can just hint at things, a small reveal that expresses the point of the article. 

I'm re-investigating some old jobs and trying to re-imagine how I may have approached it with this tech in mind. I'm setting up an animation/iPad gallery section within my homepage (www.jamiesneddon.co.uk) to show these ideas in practice. 

I'm also working an update to my site and the linked folio pages. Should be live in a day or two. The animation/iPad gallery is empty at the moment but I'll upload ideas/experiments to it as and when they come..