Intro To Motion Graphics
Motion Graphics vs Animation
The term "Motion Graphics" comes from the idea of Graphic Design in motion. It combines the traditions of print graphic design with animation and film making. The goal is often to communicate a certain message/idea for a certain purpose within a composition. And the elements used are often typography and image or video footage. "Animation" is a broader term that incorporates Motion Graphics. It's the illusion of movement within a quick succession of still images. Purpose often is often more artistic or entertainment (think Disney character animation, story telling etc.). See 01:45 in the video below.
"Motion graphics are generally short pieces of time-based visual media which combine the languages of film and graphic design. This can be accomplished by incorporating a number of different elements such as 2d and 3d animation, video, film, typography, illustration, photography, and music."
"Motion graphic design is a subset of graphic design in that it uses graphic design principles in a filmmaking or video production context (or other temporally evolving visual medium) through the use of animation or filmic techniques."
"Essentially, motion design is a discipline that applies graphic design principles to filmmaking and video production through use of animation and visual effects."
"...being a motion designer is distinct from being a fully-fledged animator or VFX artist. Instead, the discipline sits between (static) graphic design and (full-on) animation and combines elements of both."
The Moving Image
In regards how we perceive motion on screen nothing really changed in the past 120 years or so: It's a sequence of still images (frames) and there's a progressive change between each image. If we look at these images at a certain rate, we perceive motion in those images. What changed is how we create those still images. It's mostly digital nowadays created with the help of software. The software calculates changes from point/state A to B automatically. But the classic manual frame by frame animation (stop motion) is still around and something the better solution for a visualization.
Motion Graphics and Media
With origins in Cinema, today Motion Graphics is still a growing field and can be found on the Web, Apps, TV, Film, Video Games, Displays, Projections, Environmental Graphics. It's used for the purpose of Branding, Info Graphics, User Interface Design, Entertainment..
Title Sequences (Film, TV, Conferences etc):
TV Commercials:
Kinetic Advertising (posters, billboards etc.):
Branding:
Info Graphic / Explainer Video:
Explainer videos take a complex process or situation. Then uses animation to break down the process to manageable chunks that tell the complete picture.
Product Marketing:
Similar to Explainer Video but instead of visualizing a process it focuses on a certain product.
UI Animations:
Helps to clarify user interactions.
Environmental Graphics / Installation / Digital Sculpture:
"Environmental Graphic Design (EGD) embraces many design disciplines including graphic, architectural, interior, landscape, and industrial design, all concerned with the visual aspects of wayfinding, communicating identity and information, and shaping the idea of creating experiences that connect people to place."
Interactive Displays / Exhibitions
Excerpts From "Motion Graphic Design: Applied History and Aesthetics"
"Since the late 1970s, graphic design has evolved from a static publishing discipline to a practice that incorporates a broad range of communications technologies including film, animation, interactive media, and environmental design. The field of motion graphics has captured the imagination of designers and viewers in the twenty-first century. Motion is becoming a principal part of our contemporary visual landscape with integrative technologies merging television, the Internet and immersive environments. The extraordinary evolution of motion graphics in our complex ‘information age’ mandates the need for effective communication and the demand for motion graphic designers who can design for film, television, the Web, and interactive forms of entertainment."
"Designing in time and space presents a set of unique, creative challenges that combine the language of traditional graphic design with the dynamic visual language of cinema into a hybridized system of communication. The objectives of this text are to provide a foundation for understanding the essence of motion graphic design, to examine pictorial and sequential principles that are unique to choreographing image and motion, and to explore how the merging of composition and choreography can communicate visual messages with meaning, expression, and clarity. Additionally, it strives to address how designers have shaped the landscape of visual communication and how stylistic trends can be used in the design process."
"Tools for creating time-based design are increasingly easy to access and use. We’ve therefore seen a giant surge in the number of designers beginning to explore animation and filmmaking. If you’re a designer who has spent a lot of time creating static expressions, the addition of motion can be both liberating and confusing.
On the one hand, it’s rewarding to see how images can unfold over time and working with this new axis can make a designer feel very powerful. On the other, it is easy to get carried away by all the cool possibilities at your fingertips. No matter what, however, the crux of all visual communication, either motion or static, is still actually having something to say. We tend to be instantly hooked by design in motion. Humans are hardwired from our days as hunters and gatherers to be captivated by anything that moves. If a TV is on in a bar, we have to strain to avoid looking at it, no matter how interesting the conversation or how pointless the animation on the screen."