Animated Type – “You Need to Calm Down”

This is a lyric video for Taylor Swift’s song “You Need to Calm Down.” It is very vibrant in regard to color and also utilizes basic icons to accompany some of the lyrics. The sans serif typeface is set in all caps, and I think the blockiness and simplicity of this really fit with the song. I also think that having the lyrics in all caps conveys somewhat of a sense of urgency. Taylor Swift is trying to express an important social message in this song, and I think the design takes this into consideration while also managing to be very playful. The movement of the type is also very nice. It doesn’t just stay flat but also manages to grow, shrink, slide, or take a different action depending on what that part of the song is like (i.e., the “OHHHHH”s swelling with each part of the cord).

You can watch this video by clicking here!

Animated Type

36 Days of Type shares multiple artists animated letters for 36 days. Each artists takes a very different take on each of their given letters. Some work really well and create this abstract yet simplistic design that captures the viewers eyes. I believe that this project was something that can inspire others to look at type as something more than just a letter, or bunch of letters put together. But rather as art, shapes, and building blocks to create.

Type in Motion

Lumen Type

I found this kinetic type video and was really blown away with how creative the idea was expressed. Although not a traditional form of ‘type’ the name, visuals and music really came together and made something extremely artistic. The type name is Lumen and the letters formed from illuminating light which I thought was super unique and actually quite aesthetic. I loved how multiple sense came together to create a really great video expressing letters. Kinetic type is not something I was too aware about, and it’s cool to see such a different way of making and showing art through type.

Animated Type: Breaking Bad

Breaking Bad is a very popular show and I found this example of kinetic type that depicts a well know scene from the show. The animations throughout this short video worked well, it is made clear visually when one character is talking versus when another one is talking through the black/white background color. A part of the video that stood out to me is when Skylar says, “I know what it could do to this family” and then that sentence slides down and crashes into the edge of the screen, symbolizing that she means the family could be ruined. Another part of the video that I thought worked well is a 51 seconds, the dialogue that was happening between two characters makes a noticeable change visually that only one character is talking. There’s minimal activity in the background during this part that works well because you can hear as well as see that whats being said does have a more intense nature behind it.

Animated Type

The Dua Lipa lyric video above is a successful example of kinetic type through it’s use of bright, neon colored words in various fonts that quickly appear on screen in sweeping motions in accordance with the lyrics being sung in the song. The words in the lyrics in this video each have different transitions, some are more bold, some are more curved, and they are all variously animated and flashing, down to each letter. The bright, neon design of these words allow a letter to continue down to the line of the next verse. An example of this can be seen during 1:41 of the video between the verse and pre-chorus. The other words blinking around the words themselves in both lyrics add to how fast-paced the video is trying to be. All of these characteristics mentioned of the type in the video add to the theme of the song and lyrics themselves.

Animated/Kinetic Type

I discovered this Kinetic Type video that animates a scene of the famous TV show “The Office” through different font selection and vector illustrations. The conversation takes place between Jim and Dwight, Jim is represented by the typewriter-like serif font and Dwight is represented by a bold sans serif font that is similar to Gill Sans. The typewriter font that is used to represent Jim goes along perfectly with the whole theme of the shower because they run a paper mill and the logo font of The Office is similar to the one that they use here. The personalities that the fonts portray display both Jim and Dwight perfectly as well as the essence of the show in itself. With the illustrations, the tone of the video help portray the attitude and tone of the show and a major part of that is through the font choice. 

Animated Type

In my search to find a video that did type a justice, I came across such a fun and creative video . The video is titled “Word as Image”. It shows creative typography designs that are all about the type, yet display the meaning as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J59n8FsoRLE&list=PLflwtIgzTRcrfGiciYdoOWsRmB-J2xyzz

I really enjoyed this type animation because it helps the viewer understand the word without a direct definition . This would be a good mechanism for teaching children or adults learning the English language.

Below are just some of favorite ones:

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Animated Lyrics

A youtuber/artist by the name of Maginpanic has created a very graphic, animated lyric video, also known as kinetic typography,  for the song “Bury a Friend” by Billie Eilish. Eilish brands herself as sensitive, mysterious, and grim. This lyric video is composed of dark, silhouetted images which utilize only four colors. The graphics paired with the minimal color choice tells the song’s story in a stylish, artful way. The handwritten feel to the text provides more of a gritty, human element to the video as well.

Animated Type: Conan O’Brien Kinetic Typography

I think this example of kinetic type was done very uniquely. This was an animated type project done fo Conan O’Brien’s farewell address when he left The Tonight Show on NBC. The movement in the video is a bit fast sometimes but it flows well with the audio clip. The simplicity yet uniqueness of this video is intriguing and i think the color scheme is perfect. I mean how can you go wrong with orange for Conan?

Kinetic Typography

This Kinetic Typography animation created by motion graphics artist, Stepdraw, is an example of kinetic typography riffs on a classic moment from the award winning show The Office. The animation starts off with the iconic line ” bears, beets and Battlestar Galactica”. The timing is lined up perfectly with the voice over and animation.  I feel this video is very successful because their animations coincide with the typography and the typefaces used reflect a working environment.