Infographic Techniques

TakePart: Participant Media - Waiting For 'Superman' - Infographic from Jr.canest on Vimeo.

The above animation that was shown as an example, demonstrates how using a varying combination of animation techniques can create an engaging and effective way to communicate strong and serious matters. In the previous workshop we were asked to look at different existing infographic animations as to identify which style we would like our own graphics to resemble. I have an admiration for simplistic minimalist graphics due to just that, their simple design. Sometimes I have seen a design created using such and just thought wow, that works so well and yet is so simple. Further to this I like how the colour schemes can be uniform and/or subtle which helps the viewer to digest the information as you are not bombarding their visual senses, but rather enticing them. Below you can see a video from YouTube called "The Power of Food" this uses the minimalist style.

The below video "Irritable Bowl Syndrome" is another example of how information used within motion graphics can be diverse in content, fast-paced and informative. This animation also demonstrates a few of the techniques I learnt within today's workshop. These are "Tilt Shift" and "Wipe" in combination with previous learnt techniques such as using textures, 3-D depth and movement. Wipe is a technique that is used very often within animatics, this is because it helps distinguish between different scenes which helps to avoid confusion. Another popular film style that wipes are used in is sports shows, this is due to the constant fast pace the sport, commentators and news presents itself.

Bill Maher - Irritable Bowl Syndrome from Cub Studio on Vimeo.

When working with these techniques it can be very fast paced and is designed to be so as to ensure fast production while retaining quality. Within TV production and when working with statistics the work needs to be fast paced as to keep up with the news and the changing data. This ensures accurate up-to-date information is used at all times. However you still need to ensure the graphic elements work visually as to ensure the audience understands your message, both visually and vocally. This is also a good way to help inform those who may be deaf as although they don't have the audio they can pick up the main points through the visuals. Though of course in order to obtain full accurate understanding either sign language or subtitles is beneficial.

Techniques In Practise

We were asked to base our animation upon a story as many infographic videos use storytelling as a platform to communicate the information. We had half an hour set within the workshop to create the main imagery for the piece and I decided to base it upon Sleeping Beauty, a classic well-known fairytale. Advised to include some statistical data of sorts within the story, I planned on representing the 100 years in which sleeping beauty is said to have slept. However when it came to near the end of the workshop, I found I hadn't enough time to incorporate this into the animation due to explaining the first half of the story within the first five seconds. Although that is the case, I plan on re-creating the animation if not creating an infographic based on real facts as to practice and develop my newly learnt skills.


Sleeping Beauty from Nicole H.D.W. Sinclair on Vimeo.

I have used the "Tilt Shift" effect within the first half of the animation in combination with "Gaussian Blur". This is to create the impression that the viewer is looking at a page of a book, which in this case a fairytale book. Further to creating the main subjects and icons within Illustrator, we also created the "Wipe" prior to animation. This involved creating a scene which we would animate later and if any items were to crossover the artwork board, the file was required to be saved twice, the first as it was and the second with the art-board stretched to accommodate the extra shapes. However once this is to be used within After Effects, the composition for the larger wipe is changed to that of the screen, this allows for easy placement while retaining the rest of the image for movement. Above is my finished piece from the workshop which I added two sound effects to, courtesy of soundbible.com. I also used a sheet of paper featured within G.F. Smith's recent Sample book as the background texture. In regards to the final outcome of the piece, I feel there is a lot of improvement to be made which can easily be achieved with a little more time. However, considering this was completed within the workshop I feel it effectively demonstrates the skills I have learnt. The main area for improvement within my animation is the wipe, this is because I tried to squeeze a scene's worth of information within the one transition. Due to the wipe being a transition it was never going to be a long length of time and I can see that it may pass the viewer by, in terms of the content shown there.