Introduction:
Motion graphics are a type of animation. While motion graphics describes moving or animated graphic design, animation is an umbrella term for the whole field of moving imagery, including everything from cartoons to claymation. Motion graphics focus on giving movement to graphic design elements, but tend to have less of a concrete storytelling aspect than other types of animation.
The terms are often used interchangeably and the distinction is not always completely black and white.
In this article, we’ll define motion graphics and explain how it differs from other styles of animation. We’ll also explain when to use which term when talking about Animation & Motion Graphics.
What is Animation?
Animation is a method of photographing successive drawings, models, or even puppets, to create an illusion of movement in a sequence. Because our eyes can only retain an image for approx. 1/10 of a second, when multiple images appear in fast succession, the brain blends them into a single moving image.
In traditional animation, pictures are drawn or painted on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed. Early cartoons are examples of this, but today, most animated movies are made with computer-generated imagery or CGI.
What is Motion Graphics?
Motion graphics are an offshoot of animation and are widely used today. Specifically, it is graphic design when design elements, objects, shapes, images, and text are animated or put into motion.
Motion graphics take graphic design to another level. You don’t have to have a story or narrative to create a piece of content with motion graphics.
Motion Graphics vs Animation
Animation is a broad term that covers all kinds of techniques where objects or images move. This could be hand-drawn animations, claymation, CGI, or motion graphics. An animation is an art form that focuses on a narrative. The animation uses cinematic techniques and storytelling to take the viewer on an emotional journey.
Motion graphics is a type of animated graphic design and is highly used in marketing. While traditional animation focuses on characters, stories, and elaborate settings, motion graphics bring life to static graphic elements, abstract objects, shapes, and text. These elements are typically put into motion to explain a concept, illustrate a point, create awareness or engage visually.
Get Better With Motion Graphics?
Grab Viewer Attention
A study revealed that humans have an attention span of eight seconds, which is shorter than that of a goldfish at nine seconds. More importantly, human attention decreases by 88 percent every year.
This means that when your audience is online, they are not looking at the content but scanning it. If it is not interesting, they are more likely to move on to the next thing.
Graphics and interesting visuals have the power to grab attention in a fast-evolving online media space. But motion graphics goes one step further combining audio, visuals, animation, and sound to attract the attention of your viewers in a short space of time.
Motion graphics are usually 30 seconds to 3 minutes long and even watching 10 seconds of a social media ad with motion graphics is enough to increase brand awareness according to a Facebook study.
Creates a Visual Impact
Humans are visual learners and are more likely to remember concepts and ideas through charts, diagrams, illustrations, graphics, and more.
The power of motion graphics lies in visual presentation. Using graphic elements and animation techniques makes it a popular medium to deliver your message in a few seconds and create the impact you need.
The benefit of this type of video is that it brings life to static graphic designs and easily conveys information about your brand.
The latest statistics show that people retain 95% of a message when they watch a video compared to 10% when they read it in text. This means that people are more likely to enjoy, engage, and keep any information when motion graphics are used in your social media posts and ads.
Convey Complex Ideas
Simple static graphics or infographics cannot explain some ideas and concepts and often need to be simplified.
With motion graphics, you can easily add excitement to static graphic elements with the help of an animation, live video footage, and audio to present complex ideas that appeal to your sense of sight and sound.
Humans can process visual information in just 13 milliseconds according to an MIT study. This rapid-fire processing in the brain is a continuous process as your eyes move from point-to-point about three times per second sending information to the brain.
This incredible biological reaction is the reason visual communication is so effective. The graphical representation of ideas and information with the help of motion graphics works with the way your brain processes visual information, making it useful to convey complex information.
Increases Engagement
When motion graphics are used in social media posts and ads, they not only attract attention but also entertain your audience. This leads to better engagement and brand awareness.
The latest research supports this too, and according to Twitter, tweets with GIFs see 55% more engagement than those without.
Motion graphics are more engaging because they captivate your emotions. Imagine watching a short clip where the mood is set with moving graphics, strong visuals, great copy, voiceover, and sound. If you like it, you are likely to like it, comment on it, and even share it with others.
Social video generates 12 times more shares than text and images combined, making it an ideal choice for social media posts, ads, presentations, promos, and more.
Conclusion
In Video Advertising, motion graphics can be used to enhance your marketing strategy. It is one of the most popular styles of videos used today by marketers due to its high engagement value.
Motion graphics are easy to produce and this means fewer production costs for businesses and less time taken to create stunning content.
With so many benefits, it’s no wonder that motion graphics are becoming a dominant form of marketing content for most brands and businesses globally.