Magazine’s art director stresses animation by Christoph Niemann of traffic in the rain is not a ‘technical gimmick’

Famous for its front page art has unveiled its newest innovation - the first animated cover used by a digital magazine.  The animation called "Rainy Day" was created by a German artist named Christoph Niemann.   Niemann has used animated gifs in the past, including a recent projects for Google Doodles for the first days of summer/winter and a project for MoMA called DESIGN AND VIOLENCE. 

The New Yorker’s art director, Françoise Mouly, explained to Mashable how it came to commission an animated gif: “We wouldn’t have done it if it was just a technical gimmick. It had to be a good image. The rain one has the graphic quality and the aesthetic quality that meant it was a modern version of a very old fashioned New Yorker cover."  She added: “I don’t want to set up an expectation that from now on it’s always going to be some kind of added web version of the cover. Most often it will stay as it is. I think that’s the most powerful.”

Read the entire article on the New Yorkers animated gif cover here.