Information Design-Final Project: Animated Infographics

 9/1/2023-25/2/2023

Ng Jia Xien 0355062

Information Design

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Instruction

MIB

Final Project

At the beginning of the final project, we created a Google Doc to share our research about burnout. 

In week 1 task 2, we were also asked to share our personal burnout experience on Blog.

At first, I wasn't sure of the definition of 'burnout', so I searched the internet and it said it was a state of physical or emotional exhaustion that also included a diminished sense of achievement and loss of personal identity. It reminded me of a difficult time I had in the second semester of my first year when I was taking a module called Design Research, and it was definitely a difficult experience for me. At first, I couldn't come up with a satisfactory topic for my research, and my lecturer always rejected what I submitted. Thinking about the topic and doing the research every night made me feel tired, stressed, and worried that I would do very badly in the module. So halfway through the module, I kind of gave up and didn't want to do anything more related to my research. However, my lecturer pushed me harder and encouraged me to keep going. Eventually, I started to regain my confidence that I could at least finish the research. Even though I still didn't do well in the module, I had a sense of accomplishment when I finished the research and I felt happy for myself that I could overcome my burnout and continue to work hard to finish my work. 

Then, we separate into two teams, one is for planning the storyboard, and another one is for drawing the sketches for doing the animation. The figure below shows the outcome of the storyboard planning team.

Fig 1.1 Storyboard Planning

I am on the team drawing the sketches, as the storyboard is already planned, so all I need to do is figure out a way to make the whole visual more understandable for the audience. I added some small elements to make the visual look more animated and informative. 

Fig 1.2 Art Style

Then we provided our idea about the art style of our animation, and by voting, we decided on doing the doodle art style. 

Fig 1.3 Characters

And for the characters, we decided to use simple shapes, so we find some references and decided to go along with the below figure as a reference. A  B, C, and D are for different characters in different scenes.  

Fig 1.4 Characters' final decision

Then, for the typography and color palette, we also provide our own idea and voted. 

Fig 1.5 Typefaces 

Fig 1.6 Typefaces' final decision

Fig 1.7 Color final decision

Fig 1.8 Parts

Since I was on the sketching team, I started working on sketching it. I even tried to animate it to see if it turned out well.

Fig 1.9 Sketches 1

Fig 1.10 Sketches 2

Fig 1.11 Sketches 3

Animated Sketch

Our group leader then combined all of our sketches and matched them to the lines.

Animatic Sketches

Before we got Mr. Martin's feedback, we divided the group members into three groups: for character illustration, for all assets, and for animation, and this time I was in the illustration assets group. Since some of our members were going on a study trip to Japan, we were all doing our own work while we were waiting for Mr. Martin's feedback. After getting the feedback from Mr. Martin, we noted down all the feedback and improvements in Google Docs. Since some of our members were in Japan, we didn't do much processing and improvement, still finishing & improving our own work.

Fig 1.12 Illustrations

While creating the illustrations, we ran into a problem where the members of the illustration team all had their own art styles, which led to the final result of the illustrations looking very inconsistent and confusing. Therefore, to solve this problem, we had another meeting to double-check the art style, while reducing the number of illustration team members to make it easier to discuss and adjust the art style.

Fig 1.13 Final Illustrations

Finally, we finished our illustrations in a team of three people, of which I was one. We made sure that all the assets were well separated into different layers and well named so that the animation team could work in a more convenient way.

Final Outcome

Reflection

It was a very rare opportunity for me to work in a team and create an animated infographic. And I think it was a very interesting and fun project for me, I enjoyed thinking about how to sketch, make illustrations, create animations, and all the other steps. In addition, I learned a lot from working in a team, learning communication skills, and learning from others. It was definitely a great experience for me and I'm glad to be in a good team and happy to have learned a lot in this module and this project.