What Is The Difference Between Motion Graphics And Animation?
The terms “motion graphics” and “animation” tend to come up frequently when planning your business’s digital marketing. These art styles are often used interchangeably but are actually distinctive from one another. While both animation and motion graphics are engaging, exciting, and eye-catching ways to market your business or connect with consumers, they have fundamental differences.
In this post, we will answer the question, “what is the difference between motion graphics and animation?” by explaining the difference between motion graphics and animations. We’ll also explain what their benefits are to help you better understand how they can better your marketing efforts.
What Is Motion Graphics?
Motion graphics, also called motion graphics design, is animated graphic design. It takes traditional graphic design and transforms it into moving imagery. In order words, motion graphics transform still images into moving graphic designs.
Although motion graphics are moving graphic videos, they don’t follow storytelling techniques. Usually, motion graphics focus on adding a visually appealing or eye-catching flair to traditional graphic design elements like text, objects, or shapes. Infographic or web design can also fall under motion graphics design if they have moving visual effects.
What Is Animation?
Animation design is a broader umbrella term that motion graphics falls under. Animation is any specific art form that makes static objects into moving pieces, giving life to characters, objects, text, etc. This may sound exactly like motion graphics, but motion graphics and animation have their individual attributes.
The main difference between motion graphics and animation is that animation focuses on storytelling and cinematics to take people through an emotional journey.
For instance, when most people think of animation, they think of the hand-drawn cartoons in old Disney films. We watch the characters move, live their lives, and go on an adventure. We also connect with the characters on an emotional level. These traits are tell-tale signs of animation.
Animated characters and concrete storytelling aspect is a great way to remember what separates motion graphics and animation.
The Benefits of Motion Graphics and Animation
1. Animated Video Captures Attention
Unlike motion design, animation uses video, sets, graphics, and other video features to tell a story. The detailed nature of animation allows you to go much more in-depth with cinematic effects and narrative. Instead of only having a few seconds to connect with consumers, you can take up minutes of their time. And, if the story is engaging enough, they will watch the entire thing through.
2. Your Branding Stands Out With Motion Design
3. Motion Graphics Makes The Complex Simple
Marketing is all about reaching your target audience and communicating an idea to them in the simplest way possible. While text and static imagery has been a great way of doing this, marketers have found that giving movement to images is a more effective way to communicate ideas.
Motion graphics video is all about using graphics to emphasize a point or serve as a visual aid. Motion graphics designers illustrate complex ideas visually by breaking them down to their simplest pieces. Then, using movement, they signal connections, concepts, or information between the objects. The visual effects of a motion graphics video help make ideas easy to understand.
For example, users may have a difficult time figuring out how they can sign up for a course on a website. Using animation, a motion designer can create a simple video showing users how to navigate their website, where to click, and what information they will need to enter to sign up. What would otherwise be a long set of instructions can be simplified into a video that is only a couple of seconds long.
4. Motion Graphics Can Be Used For Almost Anything
Since animated videos typically follow a story, animation usually includes a human character. Motion graphics are much different. Motion graphics are used for video without a narrative or plot, meaning that it doesn’t need to feature characters. Since motion graphics have few visual rules to follow, they can be used for almost anything you desire.
Here are some examples of how hand-drawn motion graphics can be used:
- Logo animation (e.g., Google's special logos)
- Maps with animation
- Promotional video
- Informational or educational video
- Video explaining service or product features
- Animation telling users they've entered the wrong password
- You want to tell a story
- You want to feature humans or characters in your videos
- You want to create a lengthy video
- You want to simplify a complicated idea
- You want to explain a product or service with marketing videos
- You want to create a moving advertisement
Motion graphics appeal to many businesses because of their ability to break down complicated ideas and memorably present them; they can communicate an idea to an audience quickly, cleverly, and beautifully. What more could you want from an animation?
If you’re looking to take your business’s marketing to the next level, we can help. Our graphic designers are skilled in animation and motion graphics. A motion graphics designer can transform your vision into a visually appealing and information animation.
