Creating Amazing Animations with Eleven Principles of Motion Graphics

Designing an image is a form of art that has transformed to become more elaborate and alive. Like any other discipline of work, design too has some set of principles that every animator must follow. 

It is true to say that animation and design is an innovative discipline where a creative mind has the opportunity of experimentation. Where it is important to follow the principles of design, it can, however, be bent to make the design aesthetically pleasing for the viewers. In simple words, it can be said that they are created to make the animation look believable and entertaining based on the laws of motion and the physical world. 

Consider gravity and weight, for instance. It is something that you cannot ignore in motion graphics for which it is essential to follow the law. Here are twelve principles of motion graphics that every individual providing video animation services must understand. 

1. Squash and stretch

This is an important principle to fathom and implement when crafting an animated video. It gives the animated object a sense of flexibility and weight. The object becomes organic and creates an illusion of motion. Stretching the object may also give the illusion of speed in the video.

2. Staging

In simple words, it is the arrangement, perhaps placement of an object or image, to grab the attention of the audience. It is a skill in how an animator can maintain the balance and white spaces in a design. It is one of the important aspects of presenting your object to the viewer. 

3. Anticipation

Anticipation is the movement before the actual action. This helps the audience to believe the illusion of movement in a video. Moving the object a little backward before moving it forward or a little down before moving up can help in the sense n movement. 

4. Determining your animation approach

It is the way you take to animate your video. Using straight ahead animation, you simply animate the entire scene from the beginning till the end or in frames deciding the key features of every movement. 

5. Follow-through and overlapping

Keeping the physics of movement in mind, follow-through is the result of inertia in the video. Meaning, the object in motion will stay in motion until stopped. For example, a rolling tire will keep on rolling unless it is stopped forcefully by an object heavier than itself. On the other hand, overlapping suggests the action of different parts of an object, which represents the timing and pace of the moving object. For example, a tail or a drape that overlaps that action of its parent object. It creates a feeling of drag in the motion giving a realistic effect to the video. 

6. Flow in with motion

This is an important principle of motion design. Consider a car moving from point A to point B. it won’t directly start from 80 miles/hr. Neither will it stop directly on stop B. it will, however, gather speed and gradually drop it down to stop. 

7. The secondary action

Bear in mind that every action has a secondary action, which gives it some character. For example, an alarm clock ticking and going off at six; these actions added to a video can enrich the animation making it more attention-grabbing for the audience. 

8. Timing of an action

Timings refer to the number of frames given to each action. In motion, timing set a perfect tone making the action look more realistic. For example, a paper is lighter than a brick and will take some time to fall on the ground than a heavy brick. 

9. Exaggeration

A principle that can create a sense of emphasis in motion design. You need to exaggerate the action in the design to make sure it stands out. It can add variety to uninteresting actions and help in conveying a message effectively to the audience. 

10. Solid drawings

Solid drawing is the volume and weight of the object in a 3D space. When designing, consider the object in a 3D sphere rather than just focusing on the x and y-axis. You can make a realistic drawing by adding a sense of depth to the design. It can be achieved by shading the object and its animation through space, which can give it a sense of illusion of volume and depth.

11. Appeal

In a nutshell, the design is all about the appeal. It is about how your design can captivate and mesmerize the audience with the animation. The way you arrange your scene in harmony as well as the application of all the principles of motion graphics, the design is capable of speaking for itself. It makes your scenes more interesting and captivating for the viewers and engages them visually.

Author Bio: Colors and designs were the first passion that I had. It took me years to become the master of this art. With 4 years of experience in the industry of animation and serving as a senior creative artist at Animation Dok, I am also playing my part in promoting the field through my posts and blogs.