Information design GCD60504/Project 2:Motion Graphic

Information design

GCD60504/Project 2:Motion Graphic

LIU CHENG RUI  (0370930)

GCD60504/Information design/ Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media / Taylor's University  

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INSTRUCTION

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Exercise 1 Kinetic Typography

First, I set a moving direction and speed for the lyrics "You are my treasure", ensuring that the sound and the lyrics corresponded. Then, I realized that simply displaying the lyrics would be too monotonous, so I added stars and made them move along with the appearance of the lyrics.

Fig1.1The animated lyrics of the first line

When I was doing the second and third lines of the lyrics, I decided to use a different way of presenting the lyrics. I made the lyrics appear diagonally and also changed their size.

The most important thing is that I added a slow movement to the lyrics. For this, I added an extra keyframe.

Fig1.2 Inclination angle and easy ease

After the lyrics for the first part were completed, I began to think about the transition animation. So I came up with the idea of changing the stars below the last line of lyrics in the first part. That is, when the stars move, they will grow larger and cover the entire screen. So I adjusted the positions of the stars, changing the ending position to the middle, reducing the size from the original to making it larger by the end, and also adding a rotation effect.

Fig1.3 Cutscene animation 1

The cutscene includes "yeah, you, you, you, you are". To make this process look quick and in line with the lyrics, I adjusted their movement paths and timing, making them move very fast, and also added the motion blur effect.

Fig1.4 Adjust the movement path and speed

When creating the last "you are", I considered how to smoothly transition to the following "1". So I changed the animation of this sentence to fade upwards. As a result, it had more frames than the other lyrics. It first appeared from the right and then faded upwards, while connecting to the new lyrics below.

Fig1.5 Change the direction of disappearance of the lyrics "you are"

When creating the lyrics for the second part, I changed the way the lyrics appeared, arranging them diagonally. Additionally, when the line "You are my treasure" appeared, I added a gentle fade-in effect, and this effect continued until the next line "You are my treasure" appeared.

Fig1.6 Add Easy Ease effect to the second part of the lyrics, ‘You are my treasure

For the cutscenes in the second part, I will still use the same animation as in the first part. The difference is that the direction of the stars changes. In the second part, the stars grow larger on the left side. So I adjusted the movement direction and trajectory of the stars again.The other contents are similar to those of the first part.

Fig1.7 Cutscene animation 2

After completing these, I adjusted the tempo of the lyrics and other details to ensure that the overall presentation was smooth.

Kinetic Typography My part

Final Kinetic Typography 

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Exercise 2 Animation Chart 

First, I used the Pen Tool and Text Tool to draw the chart structure and add the Y-axis values based on the video tutorial.

Fig2.1 Add the x-axis and y-axis

After that, I continued to use the text tools to complete the text on the x-axis as well as the main title and sub-titles.

Fig2.2 Add the main title and x-axis data

Next, based on the instructions in the video tutorial, I used the Pen Tool to create the individual bars and distinguished them through different colors and heights to represent different data. After that, I adjusted the start and end time of each bar so that they would appear sequentially. To achieve this effect, I slightly shifted the start and end time of each bar forward in sequence.

Fig2.3 Create different column 

Fig2.4 Adjust the start and end times of the column 

After completing these steps, I added the data labels on top of each bar to indicate the values they represent. These labels appear together with the bars as they animate onto the screen.

Fig2.5 Add the corresponding data for each column

To make the bar chart look more professional, I also added some grey background lines to help viewers compare the values of different bars more easily.

Fig2.6 Add background gray lines

After completing these steps, I began refining the animation. This included adding a fade-in effect to the X-axis, Y-axis, and the numerical values that appear at the beginning, making the overall appearance more natural. To achieve this effect, I adjusted their opacity so that they gradually become clearer over time.

Fig2.7 Adjust the transparency to achieve the gradient effect

Final bar chart 

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Exercise 3 Vector/Character Animation

When working on this task, I first organized the layers in the AI file by merging and grouping them. This made it easier for me to animate different parts separately.

Fig3.1 Merge AI file layers

After that, I imported the grouped AI file into AE. I first worked on the character’s entrance animation. Following the tutorial, I used tools such as scaling and position adjustments to control how the character appears on the screen.

Fig3.2 Add character zoom animation

Next, I animated the chair using a similar appearance animation to the character. However, instead of applying motion blur, I used easy ease.

Fig3.3 Add easing effects to the animation of the chair

For props like the desk and the plant, I enhanced their original movement with additional dynamics. For instance, the plant first moves upward to a higher point before falling. I felt that adding such variations makes the animation more engaging. To implement this, I adjusted the position keyframes by adding an intermediate keyframe between the original two, which allows the plant to reach the peak position before descending.

Fig3.4 The animation of the table and the plants - rising to a height and then falling down

After completing the main props, I moved on to animating the background. I applied an up-and-down easing animation to the background text bubbles and symbols. I started by setting their start and end positions and creating keyframes. Then, I added several intermediate keyframes to make the elements move smoothly up and down.

Fig3.5 Floating animation of background symbols

After completing these steps, I carried out the final refinements, including adjusting the timing offsets for the movements of different props. After finishing all adjustments, I exported the completed video.

Final Vector/Character Animation

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Feedback

Mr. Kannan suggested that we incorporate more natural transitions between different sections, so that the entire video would be more smooth and not seem abrupt when viewed. Besides, Mr. Kannan also reminded us to carefully review some details in the final version, such as text, time control, and overall visual consistency.

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Reflection

Experience

In this Information Design project, I gained a lot of experience in teamwork and project management. From the initial topic discussion and data organization, to the later production and revision stages, each phase required cooperation and communication among team members. Everyone had different tasks, such as design, animation production, dubbing, and editing. Through reasonable division of labor, we could complete the project more effectively. Additionally, after receiving feedback from the teacher, we continuously revised and optimized the work, such as adjusting scene transitions, modifying text size, and synchronizing dubbing with the visuals. These processes helped me become more familiar with the production process of a complete design project and also taught me how to coordinate and complete tasks within a team.

Observation

During the project production process, I observed that details have a significant impact on the effectiveness of information design. For instance, in the feedback from the teacher, many issues were actually related to details, such as spelling errors in the text, too slow animation rhythm, blank scenes between scenes, and an overly abrupt ending. Although these problems may seem small, they all affect the overall viewing experience. Therefore, during the revision process, we need to constantly check every detail and improve the overall smoothness by adjusting the animation speed, optimizing transitions, and re-syncing the dubbing. Through these observations, I realized that in information animation design, the handling of details is extremely important for the final effect.

Findings

I gradually realized that different types of animations actually have different focuses. In the "Animated Chart" assignment, I needed to think about how to make the data and the chart more clearly presented through animation, so the focus was on the expression and readability of the information. In the "Vector/Character Animation" assignment, I paid more attention to the character movements, visual presentation, and the smoothness of the animation. In contrast, in the "Kinetic Typography" assignment, it was necessary to combine the content information, visual design, and animation rhythm together.

By completing these different assignments, I realized that animation is not just about visual effects, but it requires choosing the appropriate presentation method based on the type of content. Data-based content emphasizes the clear transmission of information, while character animation emphasizes expressiveness and action design. This has helped me better understand the role of different animation forms in design, and also enabled me to learn to adjust my design approach according to the content during the production process.