Motion graphics

Motion Graphics

Graphics in video have one job: deliver information without stealing attention from the story. A title that's hard to read, on too long, or animated for its own sake actively hurts the video. Legibility and timing beat flash every time.

Legibility is non-negotiable

If the viewer can't read it in the time it's on screen, it failed — no matter how nice it looks.

• Contrast — text must separate from the footage behind every frame it's over. Footage moves; a title that's readable on frame 1 can vanish on frame 30. Use a scrim, drop shadow, subtle stroke, or a solid plate.
• Size — readable on a phone, not just your editing monitor. When in doubt, bigger.
• Hold long enough to read twice — the rough rule: time to read it aloud, plus a beat. Short titles ~1.5–2s on screen; longer ~3s+.
• Limit words — a title card is not a paragraph. Cut to the essential phrase.

Respect the safe areas

• Keep text inside the title-safe area (~10% margin from edges) so nothing clips on different displays or gets covered by platform UI (captions, like buttons, progress bars).
• For social/vertical (9:16), keep key text out of the top and bottom ~15% where the app's UI sits.
• Design for the aspect ratio it ships in, and check reframes (16:9 → 9:16 → 1:1) — text that's centered in one is often cropped in another.

Hierarchy

Every graphic has a primary message and supporting detail. Make the order of reading obvious:

• Size, weight, and color establish what's read first. One clear focal point per graphic.
• Lower thirds: name = primary (largest/boldest), title/role = secondary (smaller, lighter). Don't make them equal.
• Align to a grid. Consistent margins and baselines across all graphics make the whole video feel designed, not assembled.

Animation: motivated, fast, out of the way

• Every animation needs a purpose — reveal information, draw the eye, express brand. Motion without a reason is noise. (See interaction-designer for the same principle in UI.)
• In and out, both matter. Graphics that snap in and cut out feel cheap; design the exit as deliberately as the entrance.
• Stagger related elements (name in, then title in 4–6 frames later) instead of moving everything at once — it reads as intentional and guides the eye.
• Ease, don't linear. Ease-out for entrances (fast then settle), ease-in for exits. Linear motion feels robotic. A little overshoot adds life; too much feels gimmicky.
• Keep it quick — title animations live around 0.3–0.8s. The animation should be over well before the read time is up; people came to read it, not watch it arrive.
• Match the video's energy — punchy cuts → snappy graphics; calm doc → gentle fades.

Common elements

• Lower third — animate in from the edge or with a wipe/fade, hold for the read, animate out. Don't leave it up the whole interview.
• Title / intro card — strong type, often with the video's hook. Keep brand intros short (<3–4s); long logo stings get skipped.
• Kinetic typography — words timed to a voiceover or beat. Powerful but labor-intensive; emphasize key words, don't animate every one.
• Callouts / annotations — arrows, highlights, boxes that point at on-screen things. Animate them in when referenced, out when done.
• End screen / outro — CTA, subscribe, next video. Leave room and time for the viewer to act; on YouTube, respect the end-screen template zones.

Captions and subtitles

• Burned-in captions boost retention and serve sound-off viewers (most social viewing). Style them legibly: high contrast, a plate or stroke, comfortable line length (~1–2 lines, ~32–42 chars/line).
• Time to speech — captions appear with the words, not before or lagging behind.
• Accessibility — for true subtitles/SDH, include speaker IDs and key non-speech sound cues.

Output format

## Graphics spec: <element>

Format: <aspect/platform>   Appears at: <timeline moment>   On screen: <duration>

### Layout
- Primary: <text> — <font/size/weight/color>
- Secondary: <text> — <…>
- Background: <scrim/plate/shadow for legibility over moving footage>
- Safe area: <margins, platform-UI clearance>

### Animation
| Element | In (timing/easing) | Hold | Out |
|---|---|---|---|
| <name> | fade+rise 0.4s ease-out | 2.0s | fade 0.3s ease-in |

### Cautions
- <contrast over busy footage, reframe crops, read-time, brand fonts>

Always check the graphic against the actual footage behind it across its whole duration and against the shipping aspect ratio — most motion-graphics failures are legibility-over-moving-background or text cropped on a reframe.