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Final rationale and reflections

Booklet and kinetic type

After considering my pepeha and thinking about significant places to me, I chose the font New Zen because it is a round font which reminds me of safety and the feeling of peace, or zen, that I have when I am in New Zealand. I originally wanted my typeface to be about the joining of Chinese culture (my mum's side) and New Zealand culture (my dad's side), but this got a bit confusing as I was trying to combine too many different ideas, so I decided it was better to just focus on one place. I picked New Zealand because it is the place I consider home and I have a much stronger connection to it compared to China.

This being said, I originally picked red and yellow as the colours for my type specimen (as these are traditional Chinese colours), and I have kept these colours (using a lighter shade of red to make it less bold and more calming) as they create feelings of warmth, excitement and nurturing, which I associate with the idea of home and belonging in Aotearoa.

I used names of places in my local area that have significance to me to showcase the font in different weights and sizes, and used some research that I collected on the diversity in Tāmaki Makaurau to showcase my font as body text.

The first booklet draft that I made was in greyscale with a very linear and rigid style, using lines and rectangles in an attempt to emphasise the feeling of 'zen' and calmness. However, I found that this gave the booklet a serious, solemn feel and did not reflect the rounded shape of the font. I did not want to display New Zealand as a boring, serious place, but rather a welcoming, safe home to me. After reflecting on this, I decided try something different and changed the style completely to incorporate a curved, wavy design into my booklet, symbolic of the mountains and oceans in Aotearoa (also relating to my pepeha). I found this much more successful as it complemented the rounded style of my font and showcased New Zealand in a more positive, warm light.

I learnt valuable skills through making my type specimen booklet, some of the key ones being how to use grids to create a cohesive and consistent layout, spacing and use of negative space and the importance of consistent research and finding new ideas and inspiration.

Moving forward into my kinetic type video, I wanted to highlight the different aspects of Tāmaki Makaurau (city, mountains and ocean) through my pepeha. I took forward the wavy, 'zen' style of my typespecimen booklet and developed it for my video - using the wave as a transition between sections of my pepeha. I considered changing the colour scheme to green look more 'NZ' but decided against it after trying it, as it did not add any significant value, and created less contrast visually.

I did a lot of research before beginning my prototyping, gaining inspiration from different type videos and animations, as well as ads for NZ travel to get an idea of how Auckland is showcased. This inspired me to experiment with a range of different techniques and styles, including using videography, 2D vector based shapes and illustrations, adding music, fast paced animations vs slower paced, different transitions etc.

In an overall reflection, I am very happy with my finished product. I feel that I have improved a lot since I have started this course, not just in my adobe skill level, but also in my ability to generate ideas, research and problem solve.

If I had more time to do this project, I would experiment with different media and methods of animation such as stop motion or photography, as I focused solely on creating my video on Aftereffects and developing my digital skills. I originally wanted to combine analogue methods with digital but did not end up having the time to do this.

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Final kinetic type video

adjusted timing to flow better

faded music in and out

smoothed transitions

changed 'Hauraki' to yellow - to introduce yellow earlier in the video

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Final adjustments

added kinetic type sequence from earlier prototype

adding more movement to the type - especially utilising the scale and opacity tool

moving the wave off screen earlier

changing the credits to yellow on top of pink

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Colour considerations

My pink and yellow colour scheme stemmed from when I was originally considering yellow and red as my colours, related to my Chinese heritage.

As I have made the decision to focus on Aotearoa, rather than China, because this is the place I have grown up and most consider home, I wonder if I should change my colour scheme to green as this is more related to the nature of NZ.

I decided to experiment with this, to see if it would be worth changing the colours of everything.

If I were to change my booklet to green:

Current booklet:

I am glad I tried this out, however, I feel that the pink and yellow colour scheme is more visually appealing as it is more dynamic and has more contrast. And since it still relates to me and my identity, I have decided to keep it the same. Whilst the green does reflect the nature of NZ a bit better, it does not add significant value, and creates less contrast visually. Therefore, I have decided to keep my original colour scheme as it looks better overall.

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Further refining

I felt that the subtitles ('ko rangitoto te maunga' etc) were too small and not prominent enough, whilst 'Tamaki' was repeated too often. I decided that a solution to this would be to replace some of the 'Tamaki' with aspects from my pepeha.

I find that this works much better - the pepeha is the core behind the kinetic video, so it makes more sense for it to have more screen time.

(I also added music credits as I forgot to do that in my last WIP)

Result:

Reflections:

text could be moving a bit more

maybe try combine the intro from prototype 3 for more movement?

the tamaki makaurau behind the house looks too still

perhaps try add more yellow throughout the video

lighter shade of yellow might look better also

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Refining - WIP 2

I decided to continue with my second prototype (wavy style animation) and refine it for my final kinetic type video as it has the most links to my typeface booklet, and portrays the style of the font the best compared to my other prototypes. The smooth, wavy style complements the rounded shape of the font, and also illustrates the idea of 'zen.'

Some feedback I got on it:

Add little subtitles (for mountain and ocean) - maybe make them bigger - put behind mountain and have it bigger etc

OR

Have Tamaki moving in the background - like a cloud, just gently drifting up/expanding (so that its moving - the assignment is about KINETIC type)

When the wave comes up, make the text a little bit different each time (so it's not the same everytime… it gets repetitive)

Add a little title at the end & credits

Type sequence at the start of WIP 3 is cool - try combine with WIP 2

Show more yellow earlier in the video? More proportionate - less yellow, more pink, but introduce yellow earlier so video is more consistant colour wise

Adding subtitles:

After considering feedback and my own reflections, I decided to add little subtitles throughout the video, drawing back to my pepeha and giving viewers more context behind the images in the video.

Other changes:

I also made the TAMAKI move upwards and expand as the video went on, so that it is moving and changing (keeps the viewer engaged and makes the video look smoother). I also changed it to 'tamaki makaurau' at the end, rather than just tamaki, to emphasise that I am talking about Auckland as a whole, and not the region Tamaki. I am not sure how I feel about this as it takes up most of the screen and makes it look quite busy. I'm considering just putting it at the end as the title.

I added 'credits' at the end: title, font info, my name and class name

Result

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Third prototype

In one of our earlier classes we had an intro to premier pro, and using the track matte tool (where we can mask text over videos). I really liked the effect this created and wanted to experiment with incorporating this into my type video.

Using the videos used to promote Auckland as inspiration.

I found out that I could create the same effect on aftereffects, so I did so (as I have been getting more familiar with aftereffects, and it seems unrealistic to try learn premier pro - a whole new program - at this stage).

Storyboard:

Instead of making illustrations to showcase the different aspects of Auckland, I wanted to use videos.

I also wanted to combine this with an earlier experiment of mine where the letters move and animate to form TAMAKI. I decided to use this as the intro to this type video.

The result:

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Second prototype

Storyboard:

I wanted this kinetic type sequence to be smoother and to have a more wavy style - linking more to the style of my typebook. I still wanted to keep the idea of showing all the different aspects that Tamaki Makaurau has to offer, but I want it to be showcased more gradually.

Music:

For this prototype I chose a slower, more calming (but still upbeat) background music.

Type video:

Reflections:

I like the wave effect - I think it creates smooth transitions and links the different 'places' together

Perhaps I could add some small subtext to further guide viewers through the video

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First prototype

Storyboard:

Idea:

My idea is to showcase the different scenery in Tamaki Makaurau and how it has city scenery, and nature scenery (beaches, mountains, bushwalks).

Choosing music:

I browsed a variety of royalty free music, looking for ones that had an upbeat vibe. I landed on a fast-paced drum one, and decided to use this for my first draft. I like how it sounds kind of exciting and builds the feeling of anticipation. It is quite fast, so I may find that it is difficult to match all the animations to the beat, but I want to challenge myself to try anyway.

Colour:

For now I am using the same colour scheme that I used for my type specimen book - red and yellow (linking my type video to my booklet)

Type video:

Reflections:

The animations feel a bit too sudden and blocky.

Maybe fade the buildings in to make it smoother

Bit too fast? slow it down

Could include English translation to make it a bit longer

Have all the transitions go in one direction (ie all text slides down from the bottom)

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Artist model: Al Boardman

very creative with their use of shape

using shape to create/build the text

text as image

fun, playful style

bouncy animations

tells a story

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Ideas

What is the mood/feeling that I want to create with my kinetic type?

Bright and vibrant

Cheerful

Exciting

Anticipation

Natural - aspects of New Zealand's nature

Upbeat

At this current stage I'm thinking that I want my video to be more fast paced, as this is what majority of the videos I've looked at for inspiration do - if the video is fast paced it helps to create a feeling of anticipation and excitement, as it is likely to be smoother and the viewer is getting led through the video quicker. I associate Auckland with vibrancy and excitement, I love the city that I have grown up in. I could use this to show how much Auckland has to offer - I can give the viewer more content in a shorter time.

However, I could also experiment with a slower paced video, as this could reflect the peace of New Zealand's nature and emphasize how beautiful Auckland is when you take the time to look into it. 

Moodboard:

2D simplistic illustrative style

use of shadows and silhouettes

Reduced colour palette

Wavy style

Clean, linear/wavy lines

Some photos I have of Auckland:

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Aftereffects experiment

Looking at one of the earlier kinetic type transitions that I saved as inspiration (inspiration part 3), I attempted a simplified version as I really liked the effect that it had.

I'm happy with how it turned out - a very simple, but smooth style of transition. It would be cool to use this in my final video, perhaps as an intro.

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Inspiration part 4

I looked into some New Zealand advertisement videos - to see how NZ is portrayed and gain some inspiration.

calming, cinematic music (drum beat)

videos of places and people in NZ

subtitles

Voice over (dramatic sounding)

shows Auckland on the map and zooms in

Text fades in

Simplistic type intro

Compilation of videos of activities to do in Auckland

Upbeat, joyful music

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Aftereffects practice

Experimenting with shape transitions and learning how to create a drip effect.

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Inspiration part 3

individual letterforms fall onto screen, then come together to form the word - I like how they've broken apart the word, scattered it, then put it back together. Today in class, David suggested I could play around with moving the words in individually (I had been moving them as full phrases), and this motion graphic has inspired me to go even further and experiment with the letters.

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Inspiration part 2

I like how the type emerges from images that showcase the place that the type is referring to. We see London landmarks such as the Big Ben morph into letterform in a very smooth way. I am not sure that I have the skills to do this as I have only just begun learning aftereffects, however it would be cool to watch some tutorials and attempt to create a simple version of this. I could draw Auckland landmarks like the sky tower and harbour bridge on illustrator and import them into after effects potentially.

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Finding inspiration

Learning from my mistakes with the booklet, I went ahead and looked at lots of kinetic typography examples before getting into the process of planning out my own one. I looked at a variety of different designers and styles to try and figure out what I wanted my style to be like.

Atima Guzzonato

bright textured colours to reflect the upbeat song

use of shape (like circle) for transitions

very illustrative type

2. Catherine Gonzales

grunge style

flashing type

contrasting colours - red and black

red pattern flashes onto the black type in time with the song

This could be made using a combination of premier pro and aftereffects (using the technique we learnt in class of combining text and video in premier pro)

3. Impero creative agency

This is a creative agency's show reel. I focused on the intro which is made using kinetic type. I like the way it zooms out to show the text. It's very bright and fun, and the use of the crown logo/symbol is clever - perhaps I could choose a symbol and use that to help communicate my type...

4. Ben Lords

Another kinetic type lyric video - I like the simple 2D style, and the illustrative aspects.

4 colours that work nicely together

use of shapes to build images (I could use shapes to build a city scape to show Auckland perhaps)