ANIMATION
From classic Hollywood title sequences to the graphics on your Instagram feed, motion graphics have been telling stories through movement for decades. Here's the definition, history and examples you need to know, plus how generative AI is opening up a faster way to create them.
Film studios pioneered the discipline from the 1950s, using graphic designers to create film titles that not only listed the cast and crew but also conveyed the sense of a film through colour, text, illustration style and pacing of movement.To this day, film opening credits utilise motion graphic design, with digital technology democratising the discipline to open it up to creators at all levels. But motion graphics are also used for:
The appeal across all of these uses is much the same: motion draws the eye and holds attention in a way static graphics can't, while they can require less production time and resource than a full animated film.
The arrival of digital technology in the late 20th century had a huge impact on motion graphics design. The Apple Mac landed in the early 1980s, empowering designers to create even more inventive title credits for films and TV shows.
Though the technology of the 1980s looks primitive today by comparison with what had been available in the 1960s and 1970s, it significantly changed how motion graphics could be created and edited. And as digital technology has advanced further in recent years with software such as Adobe Premiere and Adobe After Effects, the creative capabilities of designers have increased.
As television grew in popularity, the creators of popular TV shows employed the motion graphics principles of cinema. Early versions of TV credits from the 1970s and 1980s were basic. But as TV has grown to rival cinema, that gap has narrowed. Today, big-budget miniseries on HBO or Netflix boast opening credits to rival anything seen in Hollywood, with 3D motion graphics in particular providing some memorable title sequences.
The advent of the internet, social media and digital advertising in the 2000s ushered in a new era of motion graphic design. Creative agencies began to employ talented designers to create short, animated graphics to advertise their client's products and services, often to break down complex processes into simple steps.
Infographics developed as a medium throughout the 2010s, aided by initiatives such as The Information is Beautiful Awards. But as social media became more prominent, many designers began to animate their flat infographics to tell more engaging stories that used motion to bring data and charts to life.
The opening credits of The Seven Year Itch, designed by Saul Bass, broke up the frame into a series of animated boxes in bold colours which opened and closed and appeared and disappeared to reveal the names of stars such as Marilyn Monroe and screenwriter Billy Wilder.
The iconic HBO series based on the books of George R.R. Martin took readers to a vivid fantasy world. The design team behind it chose to use the opening credits to give context to that imaginary world, as the viewer journeys around a map of the different locations.
Named a staff pick by video-sharing platform Vimeo, this charming animation tells the history of architecture with a motion graphic design for the letters of the alphabet. Created by Andrea Stinga and Federico Gonzalez.
Fiona Radford created this engaging animation for the Ted Ed site. It uses animation and a voiceover to tell the story of Spartacus and the creation of Sparta. Cleverly, the designer has based the animation on paintings found on ceramics from Ancient Rome.
Adobe After Effects is one of the main tools motion designers use day to day. So, our first bit of advice on learning how to create motion graphics would be to spend as much time as possible getting to know After Effects.
If you've never opened the software before, Basic tools of After Effects walks through the core panels and workspace before you touch a single keyframe. From there, Basics of keyframe animation introduces the technique behind almost all movement in After Effects.
Adobe Firefly's generative AI tools give motion designers a faster route from idea to finished animation, without starting from a blank timeline.
Skip the manual keyframing and turn a design, sketch or simple text prompt into a moving graphic with the AI animation generator. It's a quick way to see a static idea in motion before refining it further.
Already have a logo, title card or flat design? Adobe Firefly's image to video tool can animate it directly, adding movement without redrawing it from scratch.
Generate multiple looks for the same concept with Text to Image, then carry the style you like into your animation.
Export what you generate and bring it straight into Adobe After Effects or Premiere to refine timing, add sound and finish the piece the way you always have.
Discover how AI animation generators work, and what they mean for animators.
Explore how computer animation works, from CGI techniques to the software behind it.
Generate storyboard frames in seconds and speed up your pre-production process.
Learn how storyboards shape animation production, from sketch to final shot.
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