Listen To The Type

In the field of motion graphics, typography is extremely important. Not only does it help to relay messages, but it also can make or break whether or not your message clearly got across to viewers. Paula Scher is a great artist who is big on using typography in her work. She has very busy work and appears to love the idea of typography art and typography portraits. After examining some of Paula's work, it is very obvious that she knows how to effectively put type into her work. She was very good at choosing a font for her words that help to express the feeling of the word.

The next artist that I researched about was Milton Glaser. His work is very subtle and uses a lot more color than actual text. Paula Scher was an excellent typographer, as to where Milton Glaser is more of a colorist. One fact about Milton that I never knew is that he helped with the now famous "I Love NY" campaign (example below). It was his creative typography that set that image as a staple for life. Overall, both Milton and Paula have very different ways of expressing thoughts and feelings into their work, but it is obvious that they both know how to effectively use typography.


Photos used with a Creative Commons license.

Dreaming About Color

Currently I am on a mission to find exceptional examples of color in motion graphics. The first one I came upon was an instant winner for myself; it is portrayed just below this paragraph. Easter and pastel colors have always been a favorite color tint of mine; I love the way that pastel colors seem so much gentler and calmer than if the colors were darker. This motion graphics example however has the type going from a fun Easter vibe in the beginning to ending in a darker shade. To me, it seems like an edgy use of color but it turns out to be very nice and usable; the way they blend the colors into each other is very pretty as well. The creator of this graphic kept the colors separated from one another instead of blending them together.



Another motion graphic I came upon and enjoyed was the one that follows this paragraph. I love the way that it has black as the background and then introduces little bouncing balls of color. This technique made me, the viewer, focus on the colors that were entering the screen. As you get further into the video, more colors and different shapes enter the screen that draw the viewers attention to them. The mixture of colors is very exciting and I also liked how the end of the video ends with the same balls of color that are first shown in the beginning of the video.



Overall, there were a lot of examples of exceptional color use in the motion graphics world. The examples I found seemed like things that I would associate with a dream state of mind. Color helped to make these videos what they are, but I think it is the artists who made these videos that made them truly successful in the end. After all, you have to know how to effectively use color if you want color to matter.

Videos courtesy of YouTube.

The EBay App Here to Stay?

About a week ago, I tried to download the new and very exciting EBay app! I have always been a fan of EBay and like the way that the website itself works, so I got excited for the app. So, here I go to download it. Loading, loading, knowing that I am getting closer and closer to the real thing, well, it's thrilling!! Once the download was complete, I bite my nails a few more times before beginning the exploration of a new era; and to my surprise... it didn't work. Yes, I was disappointed. Like I said before, it was about a week ago that I tried, I have been trying ever since to get it to work. I think I am finally giving up. Yes it might just be something that is not installed on my computer that is needed to run the application, but it is also a possibility that the EBay app itself still has a few bugs to work out. It took me so long to write this blog because I was secretly hoping it would magically work one morning... but it didn't. So I have come to the realization that I may never be able to use the EBay app, but at least I still have the good ole website!

Photo used with a Creative Commons license.