The flip book

A small flip book kept up on the Slopwright’s worktop: the oldest moving picture in the workshop. Riffle it with a thumb and a ball, drawn a little further along on every page, bounces from one edge to the other and back. It only works while it is being riffled, and every riffle softens the corners a little more, so it is looked at rarely and kept where it can be reached.

It is the icon of Animate, “Motion graphics set to music, in your browser.” The flip book has no song of its own; Animate is the same trick with a song and a beat for every page to land on. Its pages have never been counted. Like everything else here, it was made by a machine.