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Presentation Zen

Kinetic typography: more examplesNovember 27

As a follow-up to yesterday's post on kinetic typography, I would like to point you to several more examples. First, a clarification: my purpose in bringing up the topic of kinetic typography is not to suggest that you too should incorporate text elements in your live presentations in the same way that you see featured in the examples below and in the previous The Girl Effect example. Using apps like PowerPoint or Keynote alone would make such a task impossible anyway (though many tasteful, useful effects are possible with slideware alone, and not only by using animation effects). My real aim in highlighting kinetic typography here is simply to remind you (and myself) again that type matters and that the treatment of type requires careful thought. Though you would not likely use kinetic type to the degree used in these examples in a live talk, watching the treatment of type in these examples may give you some ideas for working with type on screen that evokes emotion or directs the eye in a certain direction, or that sets a mood, etc. The only real goal is to get us thinking about presenting differently. In the past — such as in this post on Helvetica — I have touched on the issue of typography. Before looking at more examples of kinetic typography in presentation, take a look at this presentation on typography (which uses kinetic type).

On typography



What is kinetic type?
Some smart designers at the School of Design at Carnegie Mellon University have been exploring kinetic type for over ten years (more info here). In a paper called The Kinetic Typography Engine: An Extensible System for Animating Expressive Text (by Johnny C. Lee, Jodi Forlizzi, and Scott E. Hudson), the authors have this to say about kinetic typography:

"Kinetic typography can be seen as a vehicle for adding some of the properties of film to that of text. For example, kinetic typography can be effective in conveying a speaker’s tone of voice, qualities of character, and affective (emotional) qualities of text.... It may also allow for a different kind of engagement with the viewer than static text, and in some cases, may explicitly direct or manipulate the attention of the viewer."

Kinetic typography – "text that moves or otherwise changes over time" — is a rather new field (though typography is certainly not new) and evidence as to which techniques work best and in what situations is something that is still being explored. It is believed that the first use of kinetic type on a screen was in the Hitchcock film North by Northwest; Saul Bass designed the opening credit sequence. Watch the opening below. The credits do not just convey information but also express emotion and set the mood for the film.

Opening title sequence from North by Northwest



Opening title sequence from It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World
This is one of my favorite movies of all time. The playful type treatment below set the perfect mood for a very funny film. (1963, a few years after North by Northwest.)



Kinetic typography is used extensively in commercial advertising, but its applications do not need to be limited to presentations that sell soap and automobiles (as The Girl Effect demonstrated). Here are some more examples to get you thinking. (Be warned: many contain adult language.)

The Devil's Advocate
Kinetic type set to an Al Pacino rant (Adult language).



Oceans Eleven
This one below is a bit different. Not every word is represented. The type is designed to show emphasis or match intonation, etc.



Pulp Fiction scene: "Marcellus Wallace"
I pointed to this one well over a year ago, but I still think it is effective. Notice how the type is so large that it often bleeds off the edge; I like this effect. Watch it below. You may be interested in how differently the dialog hits you when you watch the actual film clip from the movie. (Adult language.)



Duck and Cover (old public service announcement from the '50s)
Very nice indeed. Watch it.



Abbott and Costello's "Who's on First?"
I love this one. The only little mistake (which the designer recognizes) is the use of the "dumb" apostrophes a few times (the humanity!). But I love this routine (classic) and the type treatment.

If you vote, Starbucks buys your coffee
Wow, this one is quite similar to The Girl Effect. Watch it.

Another Starbucks message (RED)
Simple and short. Watch it.

Controversial Motrin moms commercial
The type is interesting, but for a lot of people that was not the issue. Watch it.

Music video:Yo No Se Que Hacer Conmigo
Looks pretty fantástico to me. Watch it.

Kinetic typography used to present The Girl EffectNovember 25

We all know that a picture paints a thousand words. So, if you were to create a short on-line presentation that dealt with an important issue such as poverty and were trying to not only inform the viewer but also to make a profound emotional connection, it would make sense to use images of the problem — photographs of the actual people in need of help. You need words to inform and express much of the story, but you need pictures to really capture people's attention and make the message stick, right? Not necessarily. Kinetic type, or animated or moving text, is a powerful and creative way to add emotion, create mood, add emphasis, etc. in a way that can amplify a narrative in a very visual way by using nothing more than type and motion (and often layering, transparency effects, etc.).

In future I'll explore Kinetic typography here a bit more, but for now I bring up the topic so that I can point you to a very cool short presentation which tells a compelling story using nothing but dynamic type and a musical soundtrack that is very much in the background. Watch the YouTube version below, or go The Girl Effect website to see a full screen version of the video presentation.

The Girl Effect

Girls at the crossroads
The unexpected use of dynamic text rather than emotional images is very effective and a powerful juxtaposition with the short video presentations featuring actual real-life stories. The first presentation draws you in, then the interviews go deeper with real examples in a more traditional documentary style. Here's one below featuring Sanchita in Bangladesh.

Design means putting yourself in the user's shoesNovember 21

Design is about many things. Above all, it's about clarity, and intentions and about putting yourself in the position of the end users (or the customers, students, audience, etc.). When designs are not well thought out, even though it may all look good from our point of view, users get frustrated, confused, or even angry. Anyone who has used a poorly designed user interface on a mobile phone, for example, or gotten lost while following the signs on the freeway in a new city understands these feelings. And anyone who is squinting to see a figure or read a quote on a PowerPoint slide is experiencing a bad design of sorts. I always say the lessons are all around. I love examples of poor design, even for the simplest of things, because they are occasions to learn. Here's one.

On the road
Last week I checked in to one of the nice Hilton hotels in Japan. As is common in Japan, one of the staff took me to my room, opened the door, put my bags down, gave me the keys and left. I then immediately changed and went for a run before dinner. When I returned to my room I inserted the key the same way I have in any other hotel I've stayed in, with the front side and the hotel logo right side up. It did not work. I tried it again slow

Beautiful example of the visualization of a storyNovember 16

This morning I caught this short story on CNN (video below) on a very cool organization called D-PAN (Deaf Performing Artists Network) which, according to their website, "...create[s] media designed specifically to serve deaf audiences through the use of American Sign Language (ASL)." Their latest video is a visual interpretation of the song "Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera. I never paid much attention to the song until I heard it augmented visually today by D-PAN. I think this is a great example of visuals combining with the music and lyrics to make a more powerful message. This is an inspirational little video for the deaf/hard of hearing and for the hearing alike. Frankly, I think it's better than the original; they did a great job with a good simple concept. You can watch the video below via YouTube, or go here to watch a larger version on the D-PAN site.



CNN on D-PAN
Here's a short news piece from today on CNN on the story of D-PAN (it was shown here on CNN Japan as well).

Embedded video from CNN Video

One more D-PAN example
If you like the video above, then you may like this one D-PAN did set to the song "Waiting on the World to Change." I like this one too, but some of the text is hard to read and it needs to stay on screen just a bit longer to be able to read it comfortably. Still, powerful stuff. Watch YouTube version below or watch a larger version here.

Whiteboard presentation: T. Boone Pickens on reducing America's dependency on foreign oilNovember 15

Perhaps you've heard by now, but billionaire oil man T. Boone Pickens is on a mission to make sure the USA has an actual energy strategy under the new US president. He has a plan — The Pickens Plan — and he's been talking about it to anyone who will listen (watch this behind-the-scenes clip from The Daily Show), and he's put together a nice little four-minute presentation outlining the plan. Slides were added to this whiteboard overview presentation (below) with good results. The combination of the whiteboard, the actual map, and animated slides worked well and is something that is easily replicated live in a typical conference room or classroom. Some of the best presentations I have seen were by people who moved from using slides and video to whiteboard to using hands-on visuals such as maps or prototypes, etc. and then smoothly back to slides and so on. Now, Pickens does not get into great detail, but he gives you the story of the plan. In