In today’s discussion, I’ll be focusing on Theo Van Leeuwen and Emily Djonov’s discussion on kinetic typography. In particular, they focus on animating typography with a sense of personality, where modifications of different features could convey a “speaker’s tone of voice.” Their discussion on pictorialization, the use of simplified pictures often intermingling with letter forms, resonated with Scott McCloud’s discussion of the broader categories to which words and images combine in comics. For example, the presence of emoticons can often serve to convey further emotion or substitute in for the emotion left out in text. Leeuwen and Djonov’s discussion on informalization also reminded me of the Spiekermann reading focused on looking at type. Both authors empathize how typography has a certain personality, that of which can be modulated through changing different features (ie. Font width, length, style, etc.) The concept of emotivization dovetails well with our discussion on Neil Cohn’s work “The Semantics of Chicago Union Tribune Advertising,” where emotion can serve as a powerful tool to capture either the reader or the designer creating a media. Dynamicization focuses on the fact that whatever “static must become dynamic,” which relates to our Dondis’ readings of how visual elements can contribute to a sense of “movement” which is more often implied than actually expressed. A grammar kinetic design focuses on describing kinetic typography as a “language with a lexicon and a grammar.” As such, being cognizant of the state of a process can be instrumental in crafting animated movements in typography. For example, a powerful example of an effective movie title sequence can be seen in the Marvel franchises’ introductory. In particular, it leverages both a familiar theme song as well as scenes from past MCU movies to convey a dynamic sense of movement and upbeat feel for the audience. The transition from the silhouetted movie-frames to gun metal font is also an effective use of kinetic typography.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SkMUjilx_M