In this situation, the word on screen may stand out as too influential if it’s viewable for an extended period of time. An example would be a single word that violates the frame of the screen while composited into a montage. ![]() There are times when a motion designer can use typography to influence or support a specific feeling in a sequence. If the motion graphic requires the audience to read the text on screen, such as a title in a lower third, the designer will want the graphic to exist on screen long enough for the audience to read and understand it. When timing text on screen, the motion graphic designer has to take into consideration their audience and the message they want to convey. For this reason the motion designer must be aware of how much text is on screen at one time and the pace at which their audience can read it. On the video screen, the viewer becomes passive and the pace is determined by the motion graphic designer. In this way a print typographer is able to block out and fill a page with type, even decreasing its size and placing the text into columns to fit as much legible type on the page as possible. On the printed page, the viewer determines the pace at which they consume what they read. Motion graphics are a time based media, visual information is revealed to the audience over a specified and controlled duration. Again, this doesn’t mean thin weights should not be used, it just means use caution and understand the final delivery of the motion graphic before creating it. A thin weight is also problematic with fast movements, the lines run the risk of creating an unintended strobe effect. There is a danger when using a thin weight, however, as it doesn’t show well on a small screen to which video is often scaled down. Thin and light fonts are popular in the sparse, minimalist designs trending today. This matter of size applies not only to the font height, but also to the weight of the letter. Twelve point type might look fine and be perfectly legible on a projected screen, but the same type could be indiscernible if the video is embedded into a small window on a website. A phone has a different screen size than a movie theater. There’s a difference between screen resolution (i.e. ![]() There isn’t a locked in formula for this because screen sizes are different. The size that matters is what shows on screen. Motion graphics didn’t inherit this full spectrum, in the digital realm of video there are two values that measure type size, points (pts) and pixels (px), and those sizes are to an extent arbitrary when creating motion graphics. The world of print bestowed an array of measurements for typography. It’s a good rule of thumb to save the overtly stylized typefaces for situations in which they are needed. There is the rare instance when a comic book style talk bubble is part of a motion graphic and Comic Sans looks much better inside of it than Myriad Pro. This doesn’t mean they should never be used. Comic Sans, Papyrus, Copperplate, Curlz and decorative fonts like Bleeding Cowboys are going to look amateur. There are some typefaces that have generally worn out their welcome. Typeface trends come and go what’s popular right now may look outdated in several years. Illustration of the difference between serif and sans-serif The clean lines and well defined angles of a Swiss-inspired typeface provide contrast and make it easy for the viewer to identify the letter form. Clean sans-serif typefaces, such as those influenced by Swiss typographers, present well on digital displays. Serifed fonts help in motion design when there is title on screen that can only be up for a short time, but because of digital display resolutions serifs can get muddy and be hard to read at small sizes. ![]() This is because the serifs help define the shape of the word and help lead the readers’ eye. Serif typefaces are most commonly used in large blocks of text, such as paragraphs and the page layout of books. The human visual system is able to recognize words not only by their letters but by their overall shape. The shape of the letterform lends itself to the legibility of a typeface. Throughout history, typefaces were designed to take advantage of the technology used to create the fonts and influence the meaning of the printed word. For instance, Helvetica is a typeface, but a user installs the Helvetica font file on their computer to use in their applications. This goes back to early days of the printing press when a font was a collection of lead letters, displaying a typeface, to be used for physical printing. Typefaces are commonly referred to as fonts, the difference being the font is the actual digital file used to create the typeface. Typefaces are the uniquely styled shapes that make up letterforms.
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