If you own a business or have ever tried to tell a story or persuade someone, you probably know the difficulty of creating an engaging and intriguing story or premise.
People love stories, but typically have a hard time keeping their attention on any one thing for too long, including stories, sales pitches, and promotional materials that are meant to move product.
You can alleviate this problem by turning to motion graphics, a medium not used nearly frequently enough for the awesome power of its storytelling ability and novelty.
There are a few key reasons you should use motion graphics, as well as some principles to keep in mind if you choose to use them for your business.
Here are ten such principles if you decide to take your company or storytelling to the next level.
Keep The Animation Fluid And Smooth
Reading plain words on a screen can be incredibly boring for many potential customers. No one likes to sit and read for hours on end about products they may or may not want.
Great motion graphics will add a new dimension to your marketing if they’re fluid and smooth. Bare bones, gliding motion graphics are a great way to keep your audience engaged as a narrator reads text off of a screen.
Motion graphics over text have even helped artists like Weird Al Yankovic create compelling and memorable music videos.
Start With Custom Templates
If your company doesn’t have the creative talent or expertise to do your own motion graphics from scratch, you can always use templates from the internet.
These templates are pre-packaged to be totally slick and professional, so you won’t have to worry about customer reactions.
There are thousands of online templates for any imaginable scenario or sales pitch you can think of, so be sure to look around and choose wisely when creating your campaigns.
Use A Company With Motion Graphics Experience
In today’s climate of side giggers and struggling artists, it’s easy to find a company or an individual who will make you truly stunning motion graphics for an affordable rate.
One of the best companies in the business for motion graphics in business is Flocksy.
Flocksy has a team of dedicated graphic artists who are skilled in their crafts and who will take direction and feedback well every time, giving you motion graphics that stand out from a crowd and entice your customers to trust your company and its products.
Relate The Graphic To Your Story
No matter who you choose to make your motion graphics, or whether you choose to make it in house or out, you should do your research and thoroughly know what you’ve chosen what you’ve chosen.
Specify exactly what kind of motion graphics you need and find scour the net for those which best fit your need and story.
Finding premium graphics that relate to your company’s mission and guide your customers through the what and why of your products or services will engage their minds and teach them why your company stands out from the rest of the industry.
Always Stay Original
Again, no matter which route you take, it’s always of the utmost importance to stay true to your company’s style and choose images which represent your brand messaging.
Customers like you for you, so stay original when animating, or choose motion graphics which capture the mind and engage the eyes.
Bland motion graphics do exist, and they can be a turn off to many, like the soulless motion graphics of Kroger.
If you stay original and know what you want when you choose your motion graphics, there’s no limit to how far this impressive medium can take you.
Keep It Colorful
Many consumers enjoy motion graphics because they provide a burst of popping color, such as vibrant reds, deep blues, and natural greens.
When selecting or making your motion graphics, be sure to pay close attention to the colors you’re choosing and why, relating your choice to the product and overall narrative.
While stark motion graphics can be highly stylized, many people today gravitate to the more expressive and colorful styles throughout the online landscape today.
Combine Animated Elements To Static Photos
One of the coolest products motion graphics offer right now is mixing of animated pictures, backgrounds, and objects into an ordinarily static picture.
Your company can use a photo or image from another marketing campaign, or start from scratch, blending animated doodles, clip art, or expressive characters into the photograph to create an entirely new and engaging campaign.
This method is effective because of the craft and skill in merging two different mediums to create something entirely new.
Stay True To The Fundamentals Of Aesthetics
If you’re all-in on motion graphics, there are some great things to remember before you officially start to make your impact. For example, you need to understand the basics of artistic composition and color.
Remember to utilize unity, hierarchy, and contrast within your videos. In other words, keep all visual elements in agreement with each other and point the viewer’s eye toward the point of the screen you want by slightly tipping the balance of the image within that local region.
Even simple animations should be framed in interesting angles and move in a way that pleases the eye.
Go Looking For Inspiration
If you’ve reached your limit on creativity and develop a case of graphics block, there’s always inspiration on other sites.
Don’t just copy these of course but looking at others’ creative work can often inspire a breakthrough or renew a sense of purpose and novelty.
Some of the best sites to search when looking for a leg up on the competition are Behance, Dribble, and Muzil.
There are hundreds of graphics between these sites and more, so something is bound to spark a creative moment.
Don’t Make It Too Distracting
Last but not least, your animated graphic shouldn’t distract from your product, brand, or overall message.
It can be tempting to make a meticulous, complex, or overly busy graphic in order to wow your customers, but all you’ll really be doing at the end of the day is shifting their focus away from what you’re selling to what you’ve created.
Great graphics don’t have to be highly complex or overly ornate; many of the best graphics today are simple, clean, and straightforward.
