While ‘motion graphics’ has become a bit of a specialty form of design, the term really originated as a coverall for any computer generated animation – graphics that move. It’s not full-on computer animation like Avatar, but it’s also not the old-fashioned frame-by-frame footage and animation.

With great tools like Adobe After Affects, motion graphic design has become more of a style and is a very attainable way for B2B and other small businesses to tell their stories in video. And we know that people will stay on your website 10X longer if there’s a video.

Show-off That Product

If you have a product that is hard to explain, maybe that lives inside other equipment when utilized so you can’t even see it, or effects are invisible then motion graphic design would be a good way to illustrate how it works. You can create motion graphics out of the equipment or product, then do things you can’t do in real life, like create a cross section to show inside how it works inside. You can add abstract elements in motion graphic design to demonstrate invisible benefits like sensors, signals or intangible benefits. Think about the antacid commercials where a silhouette of a person shows a throbbing red glow in his stomach, then the solution coating it and turning it white or blue – all better.

We have a client who’s unique and innovative product works inside heavy construction equipment (such as cranes) to sense it is too close to dangerous things like hydro wires and sets off alarms. It’s difficult to explain when the device actually lives at the base and inside a crane. We’ll be using motion graphic design to demonstrate this product.

Make Professional Videos with Motion Graphic Design

Doing a live action video shoot can be really expensive and therefore out of reach for many small businesses. With motion graphic design you can use inexpensive still photography, vector graphics, typography with voice-overs or stock music to make beautiful professional-looking videos. Where amateur live-action looks cheesy, a simple but well-done motion graphic design video can more easily look really cool.

For Pollution Probe’s annual Clean Air Commute, the idea of shooting four different models in the four areas of clean commuting we were promoting was completely out of the budget. Instead we used the photos from the print campaign along with typography, some sound effects and great motion graphic design to create a broadcast-quality PSA.

Motion Graphic Design With Live Action to Enhance Ideas

You’ve seen television shows use Motion Graphic Design over top of scenes, like to label who is talking, a location or date. The use of motion graphic design has taken this simple element to a new level. You might see something like ‘New York Public Library, New York City’ that looks 3D and has perspective so it appears to be part of the landscape or scenery that changes as the camera moves. It’s way more interesting than simple type across the bottom of the screen. It’s a simple thing, but seeing where it can fit in on top of live action is a motion graphic specialty.

The more every day way to mix motion Graphic Design in to live-action corporate videos would be to insert a few seconds between live shots to illustrate more abstract concepts like processes and benefits. When we created this video for CMA Ontario, we used motion graphic design to highlight the top things looked for in CFOs, giving it more life instead of just showing more of the instructor talking. When other live action footage like students in a classroom was not appropriate to the narrative, we used motion graphic design to fill in the blanks and make transitions.

Transform Your Bounce-rate

Motion graphic design can also be used to jazz up presentations. But, the most common place to use motion graphic design is on your website. This is a place formerly relegated to a lot of text, and we know people do not have the patience to read a wall of text. They will bounce. Adding a simple video done with motion graphic design can be a really great way to tell the more difficult parts of your story as well as keep people on your website longer.

You know what they say, a picture is worth a 1,000 words. I’d say good motion graphic design is work 10,000 words.