THE DESIGN PROCESS

Blog post #2

  1. LINK YOUR DISCUSSION TO THE MATERIAL COVERED IN WEEKS 4 AND 5 AND THE READINGS BELOW – HOW IS YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF MOTION DESIGN AND GRAPHIC DESIGN FUNDAMENTALS INFLUENCING YOUR DESIGN DECISIONS FOR TASK 1?
  2. PROVIDE AT LEAST 3 SCREENSHOTS OF YOUR WORK IN PROGRESS AND DISCUSS. 
  3. COMPARE AND CONTRAST YOUR PROJECT WORK WITH THE PROVIDED CASE STUDY MATERIAL – INNOVATION OF LONELINESS, AVANT GARDE MOTION DESIGN. USE IMAGES. 
  4. WHICH MOTION DESIGN FUNDAMENTALS ARE BEING EMPLOYED IN YOUR PROJECT? (REFER TO DISNEY’S 12 AND LUPTON/PHILLIPS GRAPHIC DESIGN: THE NEW BASICS). 
  5. WHICH GRAPHIC DESIGN FUNDAMENTALS ARE YOU EMPLOYING?

Experimental Motion Design

My Task 1 project started out as a way for me to practise with After Effects and gain a better understanding of the software. Through my video/poster, I’ve been attempting to construct smooth transitional geometric forms by experimenting with form, movement, and opacity changes. I’ve been attempting to keep the movement of my shapes consistent while retaining visual interest.

Swissted – Vintage rock posters reimagined in motion graphics

Another inspiring example is the well-known film corporation ‘Walt Disney,’ which is well-known for its ‘Golden Age’ cartoons, in which they developed a whole suite of cartoon characters that have continued to animate into the twenty-first century.

Disney has integrated the “12 principles of animation” after decades of growth, rapid adaptation to new technology, and industry experience. Squash and stretch, suspense, staging, straight ahead & pose to pose, follow through & alternating action, slow-in & slow-out, arc, secondary action, pacing, exaggeration, strong sketches, and appeal are examples of these concepts. Each of these factors contributes to the development of a modern understanding of motion design.

Understanding how elements of scale, x and y axis, colour, structure and form can develop the illusion of motion, has informed my project development.

Abstract, Concrete, and Movement components derived from motion design fundamentals are featured in my latest ‘work-in-progress.’ I’ve looked at the fundamentals of abstraction and how to improve this skill. I started by taking an abstract approach to creating my motion design piece, concentrating solely on perfecting my Adobe After Effects skills and, as a result, creating simplified shapes in abstract movements. Since my emphasis was on form or object movement, this line of experimentation primarily coincided with primary motion design fundamentals. I used some concrete fundamentals, such as geometric shape types in a variety of colours and sizes, to create this abstract approach. “Geometric figures are mathematical, abstract models” (Leborg, C 2006, p. 18).

These shapes became the basis of my work, and I was able to increase interest in the movement of the shapes by exploring the possibilities available in the x and y axes. I have played around with overlapping to get different effects and colours. These experiments led to a deeper investigation of abstract concepts like the format and manipulation of anchor points to produce centrifugal radiation.

My experimental work

In The Innovation of Loneliness, basic forms are used to prompt the viewer into linking geometric shapes through movement and external clues (in the case of The Innovation of Loneliness, this hint is in the form of speech and sound to establish meaning). When comparing my work to previous works such as the Innovation of Loneliness, I can see that there isn’t much of a flow between the various compositions in my work. And, although it resembles Avant-Garde in appearance, it doesn’t fit into the series and seems disjointed. I’m thinking of improving my animation so that there’s more flow in each set of compositions and each section looks good together.

The Persistence of Vision is an idea that I have been curious to work with – I’ve been working on creating the illusion of movement with a mixture of both stable and active graphics (Lupton, E, & Phillips, JC 2008).

All of the animation in this film is done in After Effects; I believe that animating by hand in a hand drawn animation style will be beyond my capabilities at this time. In order to create this movie, I’m learning new skills and using the tools I already have, so it’s a simple film with positional and scale main framing to achieve the desired movement.

As Lupton & Phillips (2008) state, “Designers of motion graphics must think both like painters and typographers and like animators and filmmakers.”

I need to clean it up a little for my final project. Refining the colour palette and making it more organised and professional. So that I don’t get too lost along the way, I think I need to set more boundaries and outline a course of action. Given that I entered this challenge with no prior experience in motion design, I am very pleased with the final product, which is smooth and cohesive. To create both an abstract film and a visually appealing design, I used my prior knowledge of typography, colour, and layouts, as well as my newer knowledge of movement, temporal aspects such as speed, and positioning.

References

Lupton, E, & Phillips, JC 2008, Graphic Design: The New Basics, Princeton Architectural Press, New York. pp. 215-226

Leborg, C 2006, Visual Grammar, Princeton Architectural Press, New York.

Oh My Disney Contributor 2016, ‘The 12 Principles of Animation as illustrated through Disney and Disney Pixar films’, Oh My Disney, accessed March 26 2021, <https://ohmy.disney.com/movies/2016/07/20/twelve-principles-animation-disney/>

Krasner, J 2013, Motion Graphic Design : Applied History and Aesthetics, Routledge, Oxford

Heller, S 2005, ‘The Education of a Graphic Designer’, 2nd Edition

Leave a comment