Roses are red, Violets are blue,
Sugar is sweet, And so are you.
Project Name
WEDDINGS
Motion Graphics Educational Tools
Role
Concept / Research / Storyboard / Illustration
Motion Graphics / Testing
Designed by
Xichen Yang
The Prompt
Modern people have lots of free but short time slots every day. People can use these fragment time wisely and we are seeking an effective way to gain knowledge for our interests or veritable senses. Meanwhile, compared to traditional books, computer technologies, such as motion graphics, have more practical implications for accessing all kinds of education.
The Solution
Combined motion graphic design with education together. Design a series of animations of a typical theme to inspire the audience to learn more from various cultures. The animations can be applied to public social media, specific websites, or other internet platforms.
Tang
The wedding of Tang Dynasty
Choice of Theme
Marriage customs are an important culture of any society and a wedding is the most vital part of a marriage. With time going away, the formats of weddings changed a lot but still exhibit traditional diversities of different areas.
Billions of people get married every year in the world. However, not many of them know the history and culture behind the marriage and wedding etiquettes.
Design based on Educational Principles
· Guidance to establish the design process
· The foundation of designing the animations
· A set of standard to check the effectiveness of educational tools
People learn new ideas by reference to ideas they already know - Use simple words, not the professional word, to describe the content
Learners will be more motivated and successful in academic environments when they believe that they belong and are accepted in those environments - Create a cheerful environment by background music and voiceover to make the audience feel enjoyable
Goal-directed practice coupled with targeted feedback enhances the quality of students’ learning - Choose a suitable theme for the audience to learn, and layout the main points of information to convey
Design from Four Aspects
When I start to design the animations from various aspects of motion graphics, I am thinking about how to convey the information to my audience clearly.
Audio - Voiceover and background music will help the audience understand the content of the animations.
Time - All of the working structure is based on the timeline plan. How long the animation will be? How many seconds is to be used for the effects? Pay attention to time schedule from the first step is definitely a good start.
Graphics - Graphics present the characteristics of each historical period and impress the audience by unique illustrations.
Motion Effects - Motion Effects show how to transform the graphics and convey information appropriately.
Committee
Adam Smith
Daniel Deluna
Duration
01.2020 - 04.2020
Last Edited
05.06.2020
The Problem
Online learning and digital studying is a worldwide trend in education. Based on modern social media and technologies, people need a unique and effective way to get information to acquire knowledge and information. However, how can we make it valid, convenient, and enjoyable at the same time?
Edo
The wedding of Edo Period
Choice of Times
I wish to show some different and typical wedding rites at the beginning of the series. The Tang dynasty (A.D.618-907) and the Edo period （A.D.1603-1868）are the most interesting options for me.
Tang dynasty and Edo period both are great times in Asian history and both lasted the equivalent length of period about than two hundred seventy years. They are different with some similarities existing. By comparing the wedding process of these two times with today's, we can learn the progress in wedding rites and the social status of women. Various cultures will be presented in these animations too.
Audio · Script
· The essential part of whole process
· Cover the main points of weddings
· Give the audience a clear outline of two animations
Time · Storyboard
· The basis of the animation process
· Offer the outline of the entire animations
· Inspire the preliminary ideas of graphics and motion effects.
Audio · Voiceover
· Guidance to build a timeline
· Create a positive emotional atmosphere
· Energetic tone gives the audience a feeling of joy
Audio · Backgroud Music
· Create a positive emotional atmosphere
· Joyous music can draw the attention of the audience
Graphics · Color Palette
· Impress the audience at first sight
· Represent the characteristics and background of each time
· Establish a visual connection with the wedding process
Edo
In the Edo period, the political power was transferred from the noble to the samurai. Probably the dominant class loved the tone of seriousness and elegance. Gradually, brown and grey became the most popular colors. Based on information in my mind, I choose the specific dark colors of brown and grey to represent the Edo Period.
Graphics · Illustration
· Attract the viewers by illustrations
· Inspire them to learn more from designed details
· Represent the characteristics and background of each time
· Indicate the culture and status of society behind each period
Tang
The Tang Dynasty is famous because of its wealth and prosperity. Yellow and red were its mark colors to representing Imperial power and glory. Their clothes and buildings of this era used these colors mostly to build a unique style. On a purpose for the better visual experience, I use similar bright colors of yellow and red in the design for the Tang Dynasty.
Tang
Graphics · Examples
There are some details I designed in illustrations for easy communication and understanding.
I illustrated different architectures in different places or times, indicating various wedding processes and marriage systems.
The cloth of astrologist is one typical style in the Tang Dynasty. The background of the star and moon is more modern for the audience to understand what the person is doing.
Based on the references, I designed different girl images for Edo. Girl's hairstyle and flowers show the typical poses in Edo. Besides, we can see the similarities comparing with the ones in Tang.
Edo
Based on the references, I designed different girl images for Tang. Girl's hairstyle and clothing show the typical poses in Tang. Besides, the Chinese lute tells the audience that a girl in ancient times shall have a unique talent to prove herself.
The illustrations behind the magnifier tell the audience what things need to be investigated before a wedding, such as property, family status, etc.
The different patterns on the armor indicate different hierarchies. Combined with motion effects, the illustrations imply the importance of Daimyo in the Edo Period.
Motion Effects · Process
· Make content more interesting
· Attract the attention of the audience more effectively
· Break down complex information, delivering the message simply and clearly.
Motion Effects · Examples
There are some details I demonstrate in my animations helpful for communication and understanding.
I use the motion of turntable and color transformation to indicate the changes in weddings at different times.
The transition from daytime to night will help the audience to understand that the wedding is held from sunset.
Different girl images changing hints the boy's family has the right to choose the daughter-in-law from multiple options. Besides, the flying butterfly is used to reveal the final decision.
Paper doors are the typical symbol in the Edo period, and it is more impressed for the audience to remember. The way of opening the paper doors also works as a transformation.
The kite in the Tang dynasty is the symbol of letters' delivery. I use the kite here to express that the boy's family sends the betrothal letter to the girl's parents. It also works as a transition.
The overlapping and spinning of the images indicate the different classes alternate progressively in the Edo period.
Four Factors · Refinements
Based on four factors and effects on each other. I refined parts of my animations. Here I list several examples to show how I deal with the problems.
Replace some marks to emphasize the obvious changes in different times and illustrate different couples to show people can choose their lovers with free will nowadays.
Add more details to present the period with more plentiful representative elements. Use Chinese zodiac animals and Chinese characters to imply the girl's information. Change the motion effects to match with the whole animation.
Make a transform from night to daytime to indicate when the wedding will be held. Additionally, adjust the transforming speed to make the effect smoother.
Add small movements of girl images to make the fleshes more humanize. In this way, the audience may feel better from beauty in ancient times.
Application · Website
· A preliminary attempt for further development
· A vivid example to show how to apply the series of animations
· Establish a connection with the public via their familiar way of social media platforms
Interact with the elements on the homepage
Testing · Survey
To check the effectiveness of animations, I conducted a survey for each video to the public. The questionnaires contain two parts. One part includes some specific questions about the wedding process to check the effect of the video. The other part contains general questions to look into new methods of learning based on motion graphics.
The survey of the Edo period contains 8 questions. I received 21 effective responses.
Testing · Conclusion & Feedback
Based on these responses, we are confirmed that this animation conveys effective information to the audience. People learned the knowledge by this motion graphic educational tools easily. And most of them are willing to study more.
However, sometimes the audience might be misled for some reason, such as the images don't match the voiceover, the speed of motion effects, the way of describing the question, or stereotypes of these ancient times.
The wedding museum is an online website, which collects various wedding shows/videos around the world. The audience can interact with the joyful moments on the website and watch the videos to enjoy the world of weddings.
Select the video
The survey of the Tang dynasty contains 10 questions. I received 64 effective responses.
Evaluation & Conclusioin
Using motion graphics as educational tools to convey information to the audience is a kind of effective, enjoyable, and unique way of education and learning. From my exploration of the wedding process, we are encouraged that the audience is willing to study with this method. Motion graphics have been applied to education all over the world, and I believe it will go wider and farther in the future.
I will continue to explore the animations of different weddings in various historical times and refine the things I have developed. I hope you enjoy my work and sincerely appreciate your reading!
Design System for Further Development
Through designing two animations, I establish a design workflow for further development of other weddings. It also works as a guide to work on other animations for a different theme.
Research - The process of weddings, the typical clothing, the form of the custom, the format of architecture, the most popular colors, etc
Scripts - Write the outline of the weddings; The Scripts should be limited in 1 minute and cover the main points of weddings.
Voiceover & Backgroud Music - Find a suitble person to do the voiceover part. The tone should be energetic and joyful.
Storyboard - Design the storyboard and refine them accoarding to scripts
Color Palettes - Choose 4 colors as a set to repesent the period based on the research
Illustration - Illustrate the images for keyframes and elements, using the colors above; The style should be simple, flat and well-designed, like the pictures in the animation of Tang Dynasty
Motion Effects - Design the motion part based on the 12 principles of animations and educational principles. Use the typical animations or symbols to show different cultures in each period.
Refinements - Refine the animations according to 4 factors and the principles of learning
Test - Check the effectiveness of conveying the main points
Inspiration From My Life
Before choosing a topic for my theme of animations, my experience in Cary inspired me. I attended my friend's wedding there as a bridesmaid. It was the first time I got to know that a girl has to wear a white dress at her first wedding in the U.S for some traditional reasons. The wedding process was complex but worthy. What kind of wedding do I want? Why so many steps have to be followed and what requirements are there in different places? No doubt it is mainly attributed to “historical legacy” or call it “traditional culture” of course not limited to this however it is enough attracting me to explore something about wedding animations.
Thank you for your time +v+
If you have any advice or interest in my projects, feel free to contact me.
