Esquire Gets Interactive

Esquire will enter the world of Augmented Reality when its December issue hits newsstands Nov. 17, as the Hearst Magazines-owned men’s-targeted title teamed up with digital-services and design firm The Barbarian Group and design and animation studio Psyop on the interactive issue.

The issue contains coded markers that “cause the magazine’s pages to come to life in ways that have never been seen before” when held up to a Webcam, Esquire said, adding that five articles will contain the technology, including the cover, which features actor Robert Downey Jr.

Along with the Downey cover, the other Augmented Reality articles are: actor Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker) on the issue’s fashion portfolio; Gillian Jacobs (NBC’s Community) acting out two additional jokes in monthly feature “Funny Joke from a Beautiful Woman”; and profiles of rogue photographer JR and musician Robert Glasper in Esquire‘s annual “Best and Brightest” section.

Esquire editor in chief David Granger said:

For the last three years, we’ve been working at creating new ways for readers to interact with a magazine—using new technologies, as well as simple print innovations, to attract new readers and advertisers to the magazine. Magazines are the most compelling medium, and this project is a way to call attention to the fact that magazines are capable of things no other medium is.

The Barbarian Group co-founder and CEO Benjamin Palmer added:

The Esquire AR project is exciting to us because it represents a legitimate experiment in fusing print and digital media. Yes, it is fancy and fantastic, but it’s not just a stunt—we’re using technology to enhance, not usurp, the print medium. Our hope is that this is just the beginning of finding the best of both worlds.

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