This campaign initiative 'WFH - Done right!' has been created to encourage healthy and happy WFH routines for those of us working or studying remotely. Part 1 of this submission features the above animation - a 1-minute explainer video showing a back-and-forth message exchange between two colleagues, one educating the other on some easy habits he can introduce to make himself more productive whilst working from home.
Part two is delivered via the button above. This micro-animated, interactive interface is a desktop accompaniment to the full length video, designed to form an integral part to educate and inform the target audience - those of study and working age who find themselves in a WFH situation.
My self-determined brief was to create an informative explainer video using self-drawn vector images to communicate a message in an interactive and dynamic way. As an interaction design student, I chose to accompany my main animation video with an interactive XD interface as it is a format which is valuable to my portfolio, as well as an area which I would like to improve my skill level. Additionally, I have found from previous projects that by using an engaging and interactive format, viewers are more likely to retain and enjoy the information being given to them.
My reasoning behind choosing this topic of working from home is because it is very relevant to today's society and can reach a wide audience. I often find myself working and studying from home, and my partner has also recently transitioned to a full-time WFH role and is currently adapting to a new way of working. It is a topic we have been discussing a lot recently, so felt this was a great opportunity to maximise.
With my target audience being mainly university students and full time workers working from a home office, the age demographic was quite wide. I chose to make the style of animation quite playful (flat, 2D vector elements), yet with a mature colour palette that made it not too child-like.
DESIGN PRINCIPLES, STRATEGIES & TECHNICAL APPROACHES
For many of the micro animations throughout the video, I used puppet pins in After Effects. I applied easy-easing to all of these to create a smooth and natural-appearing, subtle movement throughout. I also used the loop function 'ping-pong' so these would loop continuously. These added atmosphere and life to the scene.
By using carefully considered timing, I was able to match sound effects and create and build momentum to the video. For example, by sequencing the popping-up of trees or other elements within the scene, it draws your eye to different areas of view.
Note: One area I would like to improve on in terms of timing, would be to have the timing between messages more consistent and accurate to real-life. Watching the video back, sometimes the replies appeared too quickly.
I utilised anticipation in two ways throughout the video. When split-screen transitions were about to occur, I added some reverse direction on the mask to show which way the scene was headed. The other way was by using sound FX. The typing sound would let the viewers know that a message was to be expected, and the easy fading in and pop-up of the message alerted the viewer that new information was available.
Note: The easing between transition scenes such as below was not as smooth as I would have liked. Looking back, they are a bit too jolted or sudden. Perhaps having curved edges rather than the jagged edges would help this.
Camera movement was used mainly to zoom in and out of the main house scene. Accompanied by sound FX, it created a dynamic change to introduce the new characters and scene.
When transitioning Bradley from the couch to the desk, his movement out of the top edge of the screen was very fast. I wanted his body to react to the gravity, but found it was difficult to portray. Because of this, I used exaggeration to stretch his leg much longer than it would normally go, to emphasise the movement in the short space of time.
The overlying storyline was written in a playful way to communicate new (or solidify known) information. The tone of messaging between the two colleagues is cheeky yet caring, and aims to create empathy and understanding of both characters.
PROCESS
To begin each scene, I created sketches in Procreate on my iPad. To gain inspiration for starting points, I viewed many different images on Freepik and then crafted my own unique scenes from there.
I then sent this into Illustrator and created vector shapes for each element. I grouped these in layers so that I could more easily animate them later.
Moving into After Effects, I introduced each new scene in order, creating all of the micro animations and transitions as I went. The remaining elements such as the text exchange were created wholly in After Effects.
Once I had completed the animation, I moved into Premiere Pro where I introduced the sound effects. I used Splice to find the sounds, as I already have a subscription to this platform and all the sounds are royalty-free.
The process to create the animations for XD required me to learn how to make Lottie animations. Unfortunately after exporting many of these individual scenes, I realised that puppet pins are not supported by Lottie. I therefore had do re-do many of these and a lot of trial-and-error ensued. Eventually I was able to create an interface which was dynamic and interactive, albeit not as animated as I initially intended!
REFLECTION
This piece of animation was the largest-scale vector drawing I had created within Illustrator. This was also my first time properly using puppet pins and taking full scenes from Illustrator into AE. Because of this, I did encounter many stumbling points along the way which allowed me to readjust my workflow and progress my learning.
Namely, I learnt after drawing and animating the first scene, that it really helped to over-draw the elements in Illustrator so you had more to work with in After effects. For example if the arm just ends where the T-shirt begins, when animating the arm it doesn't leave you much room to move and creates extra work down the track to extend the arm when using the puppet pins. In Illustrator it is easy to take shortcuts to make things look fine, but these shortcuts are sometimes later revealed when trying to animate.
In hindsight, I am unsure whether I would use XD again for this particular type of project. It is very useful for prototyping and demonstrating simple actions, however being that this is a kinetic text and image project, I do feel like the limitations within the program did make extra work in finding ways around them. In saying that though, it has made me much more confident working in XD, which was the main goal of me selecting this particular piece of software. I feel it will be very useful in my career and current job.
Overall, I feel very happy with the progression of my animation and motion design skills since AS1 and have made many valuable findings and learnings throughout the process of putting this project together. I feel as though the two pieces really compliment each other and speak to a wide audience.
APPENDIX
REFERENCES
Working from home tips and advice:
Boston University. (2020). Five Healthy Habits for Working From Home | Employee Wellness. https://www.bu.edu/wellness/five-healthy-habits-for-working-from-home/
Moore, B. D. (2022, January 17). Top 10 Best Work From Home / Remote Working Habits. https://www.greatworklife.com/how-to-work-from-home-working-habits/
I used the following tutorials to assist me in achieving sections of my animation