Information Design - Final Project: Animated Infographics
Ting Wen Yi / 0361799
Information Design/Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Final Project: Animated Infographics
INSTRUCTIONS
Research the given topic in your group and break down the information into parts - narrative and visualization to educate the viewers about the issue.
Use questions ‘What, why, where, when, who, and how’ into the building of your narrative before transferring the information onto your storyboard.
Use relevant visuals to create associations of information to the infographics. Refer to the chart here to decide how to visualize.
Expected outcomes:
An animated infographic informing the audience about a given topic (min 1.5 - max 3 min video)
Must include some form of data/statistics.
Must use the questioning technique and provide answers.
FINAL PROJECT : ANIMATED INFOGRAPHIC
Week 1 - Grouping & Research
Group members:
- Ting Wen Yi
- Liew Xiao Hui
- Gam Jze Shin
- Chen Nan
During week 1, we began with group discussions and immediately chose our topic: the journey of a plastic bottle. After forming our group, we discussed our direction for the project and conducted research on plastic bottles. Each of us contributed to the research efforts.
Figure 1.1 Research - Week 1 (11/2/2024)
Week 2 - Narrative, Concept, Ideation Storyboard
In week 2, we began our story planning and storyboard development. We aimed to make our storyboard as detailed as possible to plan the duration and content of our video accurately. This detailed planning also assisted us in refining our assets list.
Figure 2.1 Storyboard - Week 3 (20/2/2024)
Week 3 - Creating Assets List
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| Figure 3.1 Assets List - Week 3 (24/2/2024) |
This week, our progress was slow. To facilitate our direction and ensure clarity on the assets we needed to create, I compiled a list of assets. Additionally, I created two examples of the water bottle for my groupmates to review and determine if they liked the visual style/character style.
Week 5 - Creating Assets
This week I have starts to create the assests. I tried to maintain the same illustrate style throughout my design. I have drawn my assets in Illustrator.
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| Figure 4.1 Creating Assets in Illustrator - Week 5 (5/3/2024) |
We also received some feedback from Mr. Shamsul that we should add a timeline to roughly estimate the duration of our video and include transitions. The below is the amended version of our storyboard.
Figure 4.2 Storyboard Amended Version - Week 5 (8/3/2024)
Week 6 - Creating Assets & Animate
As the group leader, I have delegated tasks to my members. I will be responsible for creating all the assets, animating, and editing the video, as I can determine what assets are needed. Jze Shin will be writing the script, Xiao Hui will be adding sound effects, and Chen Nan will do the voiceover.
I envision parts of the video involving transportation movement. Therefore, I created a long background to animate the car's movement. Instead of moving the car itself, the background is animated to create the illusion of the car moving. It remains centered in the middle of the video.
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| Figure 5.1 Driving Background - Week 6 (10/3/2024) |
It involves numerous assets in the video. To save time, some of the assets are quite similar; I simply modify the color, arrangement, or make minor changes to the shapes. For the assets below, the factory looks similar to the recycling factory. I adjusted the arrangement of the buildings and relocated the smokestacks. I changed the color to green to represent a recycling facility. Similarly, I made adjustments to the trucks to match the theme.
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| Figure 5.2 Similar Assets - Week 6 (10/3/2024) |
For assets like water bottles, I utilized similar shapes but modified the colors and adjusted the arrangements to create a pile of water bottles that appear distinct from one another. As the sole person in charge of creating assets, I ensure that everything is completed on time and that the graphics maintain a decent quality.
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| Figure 5.3 Similar Shapes - Week 6 (11/3/2024) |
Now that I have created all the assets shown below, with the references provided on the left corners, I am definitely proud of the effort and time I invested in this project.
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| Figure 5.4 All Assets Created - Week 6 (11/3/2024) |
The image below shows the outline view of the assets.
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| Figure 5.4 All Assets Outline View - Week 6 (11/3/2024) |
Before animating, I layered each scene to facilitate the animation process. For example, as seen below, to animate each gear to rotate and make the transmitter platform appear as if it's rolling forward, I have layered them in different layers. This allows each gear to have its own anchor point in the middle, so when in After Effects, they rotate along their respective anchor points.
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| Figure 5.5 Layering - Week 6 (12/3/2024) |
Similarly, I have completed all the layering for each scene.
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| Figure 5.6 All Layered Files - Week 6 (12/3/2024) |
Similarly to Project 2, I have separated each animation into scenes in different compositions. This approach helps me work more efficiently by animating in parts and also prevents the file from crashing.
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| Figure 5.7 Compositions - Week 6 (12/3/2024) |
To create the effect of filling water, I utilized masks to cover the layer of the water being filled. This gives the impression of the water level gradually rising.
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| Figure 5.8 Filling Water Movement - Week 6 (12/3/2024) |
As mentioned earlier, to create the illusion of the truck moving, I positioned the background to move from right to left. Additionally, I added a slight movement to the truck, leading it forward a bit to simulate braking. This combination gives the impression that the truck is traveling from one destination to another.
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| Figure 5.9 Truck Movement - Week 6 (12/3/2024) |
To make the fire appear as though it's burning with movement, I applied a wave warp effect to look like a wavering motion.
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| Figure 5.10 Wave Wrap Effect - Week 6 (13/3/2024) |
To create the scene where it appears that the hand is letting go of the plastic bottle, I designed two hands—one closing tightly and the other letting go. Then, I decreased the opacity of the closing hand while simultaneously increasing the opacity of the open hand to 100% to create the transition effect between the two hands.
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| Figure 5.11 Recycle Bin Scene - Week 6 (13/3/2024) |
Animating Act 4 was easier for me compared to the others because I'm more familiar with animating these types of scenes. I gained experience from working on Project 2, which made this process smoother.
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| Figure 5.12 Act 4 - Week 6 (13/3/2024) |
After exporting all the scenes from After Effects, I arranged the video in Premiere Pro. I also edited the scenes to the desired length.
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| Figure 5.13 Video Editing - Week 6 (13/3/2024) |
Then, I added video transitions between each scene. Exporting the scenes separately not only helped me reduce crashing and overloading in After Effects but also facilitated smoother insertion of transitions between scenes.
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| Figure 5.14 Video Transitions - Week 6 (14/3/2024) |
Figure 5.15 Edited (No Sound Version) - Week 6 (14/3/2024)
I have uploaded all the videos and Premiere Pro files to Google Drive for my team members to access and continue with the project.
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| Figure 5.16 Google Drive Sharing - Week 6 (14/3/2024) |
Jze Shin has assisted me in adding the ending rolling credits.
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| Figure 5.17 Rolling Credits - Week 6 (16/3/2024) |
Chen Nan contributed by adding his voiceover to the video according to the script that Jze Shin has written.
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| Figure 5.18 Voiceover - Week 6 (16/3/2024) |
We realized that Chen Nan had some difficulties pronouncing some phrases clearly, so Jze Shin offered to help with the voiceover. Chen Nan was concerned that he didn't contribute much, so he took on the task of creating captions and add in Jze Shin's voiceover into the project.
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| Figure 5.19 Jze Shin's Voiceover - Week 6 (17/3/2024) |
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| Figure 5.20 Captions added by Chen Nan - Week 6 (17/3/2024) |
Week 7 - Sound Effect & Amendment
Afterward, Xiao Hui added in the sound effects and made some minor adjustments.
Figure 6.1 Version 2 (with Sound Effect) - Week 7 (19/3/2024)
Figure 6.2 Minor Amendment (Act 5 Shot 2) - Week 7 (21/3/2024)
Xiao Hui also assisted with editing the video and updated the rolling credits to include our references in APA format.
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| Figure 6.3 Rolling Credits - Week 7 (21/3/2024) |
Final Outcome
Figure 7.1 The Journey of a Plastic Bottle - Week 7 (21/3/2024)
FEEDBACK
Week 7: Before the last scene, add a transition to avoid it appearing like a glitch. Insert a pause before transitioning to the credits. Also, include references in the rolling credits.
Week 6: For the walking scene, you have the option to either animate the walking movement or include a skateboard.
Week 5: For your storyboard you should add in the timeline so that you will roughly know how long your video will be. Also add in transitions like pops out, fade in etc.
REFLECTION
Experience
Being a group leader in group work has helped me take on the responsibility of managing a team and ensuring there is no slacking. I appreciate that my team members are helpful and quick to respond. Personally, I haven't always enjoyed group work because it often resulted in me doing most of the work. However, in this case, my team members have been incredibly helpful and responsible in taking on their share of the work, and we've had smooth discussions throughout this project. Working on this project has also helped me improve my animation skills. I can definitely see myself doing more animation work for my own development in the future.
Observation
I have observed that storyboarding has been extremely helpful in my project. It provides a clear direction for how I should animate my scenes, and the script section helps me estimate the duration of each animated scene. This ensures that I stay organized and focused throughout the animation process.
Findings
I found that separating each scene into different compositions in After Effects definitely helps to ease the process and avoids crashing and lagging issues, as some classmates have experienced. This approach was also advised by Mr. Shamsul, and I have found it to be effective in managing the project smoothly.
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