Information Design — Project 3: Animated Infographic
03.03.2025 - 25.03.2025 / Week 5 — Week 8
Project 3: Animated Infographic
With that in mind, I trimmed out some frames where needed, and worked on the rest of the video.
Chan Zhi-Ren Zenndan / 0369069
Information Design / Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media / Taylor's UniversityProject 3: Animated Infographic
Table of Contents
1. Instructions
2. Process
3. Reflection
1. Instructions
Fig 1.0 Module Information Booklet
Project 3: Animated Infographic
Project 3 is a continuation of Project 1: Instructable Poster. From my understanding, we are required to translate the recipe instructions into a 60-second video format by animating our elements and planning how to fit everything within one minute. We will utilise what we’ve learned over the past six weeks to transform our poster into an appealing, informative, and easy-to-follow step-by-step video guide that presents the recipe from start to finish.
The requirements as posted by Mr. Kannan is as follows:
Use the assets from Project 1 Instructable Infographic poster into a 60 secs motion graphic.
Once again, capture the aesthetics and narrative of the poster with movements, SFX and music.
Max 60 seconds infographic video 720p: 1280x720 pixels (H26/mp4) published on YouTube (set to Unlisted)
Note: This task is meant to be done in groups of two, but due to uneven numbers of students in my class (one of the students deferred), I was advised to work solo.
2. Process
Fig 2.0 is the reference video I decided to learn from. Their process seemed to be straightforward and to the point, which was more of my style.
Fig 2.0 Reference video
To start, I needed a storyboard along with an animatic video. Since I already have a rough idea in my head, I quickly sketched and animated the draft on Canva. Note: I only used Canva to make the storyboard and animatic.
I also needed to show a timing map for my video. Fig 2.1 shows what I plan to do within the given 60 seconds.
Fig 2.1 Timing map
Fig 2.2 shows my storyboard and Fig 2.3 shows the animatic. The transitions in the animatic will be improved when I work on After Effects. This animatic is just to show a rough idea.
Fig 2.2 Storyboard
Fig 2.3 Animatic
Now that I have an idea, I started to put everything together in After Effects.
It was mostly playing around with keyframes and making the elements flow smoothly altogether, but it was a tedious process throughout since there were too many keyframes to control.
It was mostly playing around with keyframes and making the elements flow smoothly altogether, but it was a tedious process throughout since there were too many keyframes to control.
Fig 2.4 Progress #1
Fig 2.5 Progress #2
Fig 2.6 Progress #3
Since I was short on time and the first draft review was the next day, I did as much as I could before submitting my draft. Fig 2.7 shows what my draft to be presented in class.
Fig 2.7 Draft video
The feedback I received is as follows:
1. Try to fit everything within 60 seconds
2. Intro part could be shorter
3. Ingredients part could be shorter
4. Steps 8-11 frame can be positioned and scaled better
5. Timing is good overall
With that in mind, I trimmed out some frames where needed, and worked on the rest of the video.
Fig 2.8 Progress #4
To finish things off, I searched online for some royalty-free bossa nova that best suited the video.
Click here to see the page.
Click here to see the page.
Fig 2.9 Free Bossa Nova from Pixabay
With that, I made some minor changes and was ready to submit. Fig 2.10 shows my final video.
Please click here to watch the video on YouTube.
Please click here to watch the video on YouTube.
Fig 2.10 Final Animated Infographic Submission
3. Reflection
This was the task I was most worried about, since it was meant to be done in pairs. The person I had asked to partner with deferred halfway through the semester, and there was no one else in class to work with. It felt like working on the final project of IVN all over again, doing a pair assignment on my own. However, the assignment itself was still fun to work on, although it was very tedious at times. What I enjoyed most was planning and arranging how the elements would appear, ensuring each frame had an equal amount of time. This was noticed by Mr. Kannan, who said I had a “good sense of timing,” which I really appreciated. That said, this sense of timing only came from spending a significant amount of time replaying the project and making small adjustments to the keyframes.
This leads to what I found most challenging, which was managing hundreds of keyframes. There were moments when I accidentally created a keyframe that blended in with others, making it difficult to identify the issue. Not being able to quickly locate and fix these problems was frustrating, although I understand these were mistakes on my part.
This is a task I could have done more with in terms of adding sound effects, improving composition, and refining the animations. However, since I was working alone, I did not have a second opinion to guide the structure of the project. Because of that, I stayed true to my own principles and vision for how I wanted the video to turn out.
My takeaway from this task, and from the final project for IVN, is that I need to be better prepared for unexpected challenges in future projects. This experience showed me the importance of planning ahead and having a backup plan. Overall, despite the challenges from Project 1 and the unfortunate deferment of a student, I did my best to approach this project positively and make the process enjoyable.
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