What are motion graphics?

- The field of motion graphics combines the traditions of print graphic design with animation and filmmaking. But this simple definition doesn't really explain what motion graphics are. At its core, motion graphics is communication using animation and graphic design. The most important word in there is communication. Motion graphics artists must impart a very specific message about a subject to their audience using a combination of text elements, animation, and imagery. This communication is usually in a service of a company or cause to tell a target audience about a product or idea. And it's this communication that sets motion graphics apart from regular animation or filmmaking, where the artist is telling a story. Motion graphics, or MoGraph for short, is a relatively new form of communication. The exact birth is a bit murky, but a well-accepted milestone is the work of artist Saul Bass. Creating the titles for groundbreaking movies like "The Man with the Golden Arm", "Vertigo", and "North by Northwest", Saul Bass transformed the idea of a movie title from a simple text listing of the cast and crew of a film, to a full-fledged character and essential part of a film's personality. Modern film and television title design is influenced heavily by the work of Saul Bass and other early pioneers, but motion graphics has expanded far beyond what Saul Bass could've imagined. Today, MoGraph can be seen in the branding campaigns for television networks. It's used for infographic animation to communicate complex statistical analysis. And, it's a huge part of application and user interface design. What all these genres of motion graphics have in common is a solid foundation of design and animation principles. In our library, we've got critical courses in color theory, layout and composition, as well as typography. Because MoGraph isn't MoGraph without animation, our animation courses will teach you crucial principles like timing, ease in ease out, overlap and follow through, anticipation, exaggeration, and squash and stretch. Armed with these foundational design and animation concepts, you'll have the knowledge and eye to begin learning the software tools that you'll use to create and communicate with motion graphics.