On television, on the Web, in movie titles, and
sitcom intros-- moving text is everywhere. Most of the time, movement
is pretty subtle. Sometimes, it can be jerky and draw attention
to itself. As you watch the required viewing videos this week,
STUDY the motion, how and why and when does it move? What effect
does the motion have on understanding the mood of the sequence?
How does sound contribute to this setting?
Check out Juxt
Interactive and look at how their design identity is carried
out through motion and sound.
2. Think about other elements of design and how
they can contribute to the message
a. vertical and horizontal lines
b. shapes: When you work with shape, pay
attention to both the figure you're creating (the positive form)
and the shape it makes out of the background area (negative
shape). Both shapes are equally important to the composition
of your animation.
c. scale and proportion
d. unity and repetition
e. balance
f. emphasis and coordination
g. contrast; color tints
h. speed and time
i. point and focus
3. Some Common Problems:
a. too many colors-- hard to focus
b. too many elements are moving-- jumbled
with little meaning
c. elements that enter or exit with too
much movement. Remember, subtle is sweeter.
d. text that does flips or arcs (most of
the time this is considered gratuitous movement and is more
often than not a distraction)
e. animations that go on for too long. Believe
it or not, we have short attention spans. Eight seconds can
be a very long time. Thirty seconds is an eternity.
