Interactive

Interactive gimmicks in publications have been around for a long time. The technology for die-cutting and inserting gimmicks is very old, but expensive in time and planning.

This Natl Assn of Mfrs film showed various ways that corporations communicated with their employees, ranging from the usual bulletin boards and suggestion boxes to closed circuit radio and TV stations.

The best of all was the internal newsletter of Robertshaw Controls, which still makes thermostats and timers for stoves and industrial equipment. The cover often included brilliant physical interactive devices, each with a didactic purpose.

Sheet of paper in a typewriter:

Rockable balance scale:

Wheel Of Fortune:

Pullout deck of cards:

Greeting cards have always used such devices, but I’ve never seen them in a national magazine.

The most you could expect in a magazine or book was a foldout diagram or a map in a pocket. Here’s the map pocket in my copy of the magnificent WPA Guide to Oklahoma, edited by the even more magnificent Angie Debo:

I must admit that I’d never actually pulled out the map until just now. Here’s one corner of it scanned:

Printed magazines didn’t use the full potential of muscle memory, and now the web doesn’t use the (far more limited) potential of interactive gimmicks. As I’ve bitched before, interactivity is easier in a Windows EXE than on the web. Videogames make wider use of available tech, especially when operating inside a proprietary gamebox with varied input devices like joysticks. Even so, the indirect experience of a mouse or joystick can’t compare with the physicality of pulling out a real card or turning a real wheel.