Information Design - Final Project

Week 1 - Week 7 / 04.01.2022 - 19.02.2022

Tow Wan Tian / 0343765

W1 / Final Project Briefing

Assignment Brief

Figure 1. Assignment brief

In our first lecture, Ms Anis and Mr Martin briefed us about the Final Project. For this project, we would need to team up with about 6 students and create an animated infographic as the final outcome. The topic of the project was Sex Education 101, meaning the content was about human reproductive systems, pregnancy and how to take good care of them. It is a rather sensitive topic and we should be mindful of the visual presentation. The target audience is the general public but Mr Martin added that young girls are more likely to view the video. The narration and the script for the video were prepared beforehand and given to each group to lessen our workload. The script was split into two parts, Part 1 "Your Body" and Part 2 "Family Planning". Each group would only need to work on one part of the video. 

Script

Figure 1.1 The script of the video

Sensitive and Challenging Visuals

The members of our group are Tay, Jodiann, Shofwa, Adlina, Reagan and I. After a quick read-through of the scripts, we decided to do Part 1 "Your Body" as it appeared to be more interesting. For this week's task, Mr Martin advised us to read through the script again, make a list of the sensitive visuals and brainstorm how we should visualise them. 

The sensitive visuals that we mentioned in our group discussion were listed below:

1. Sex
2. Penis
3. Ejaculation - wet dreams 
4. Pubic hair growth
5. Excretion, defecation
6. Menstruation - bleeding

Then, we moved on to brainstorm how we should translate the sensitive contents into visuals. We divided the 17 subtopics from the script into six parts and delegated each part to each member. Each member would need to write down their rough ideas on how to visualise the sensitive content. I chose to work on Frame 11 to 13. After some time, the group met up again to discuss and polish the ideas. The ideas are compiled into this document. 

We also talked about the art style, transition styles, fonts and colour scheme of our animated infographic.

Figure 1.2 Brainstorming for ideas

Feedback

(None)

W2 / Script Breakdown

For this week's task, each group had to break down the script into scenes and show it to Mr Marting during the next session. In the script breakdown, we also noted down the running time and the general visuals of each scene. 

Script Breakdown

Figure 1.3 Script breakdown

Feedback

Mr Martin: Some scenes are 3 - 5 seconds which are too short to be animated. Try to combine them together. Dividing into so many scenes will give you a hard time illustrating and animating. Maintaining the running time for about 10 seconds is good. 

W3 / Mood board and Storyboard

Roles and Responsibilities

At this stage of the project, we divided the members into two teams, one illustration team and one animation team. The illustration team was responsible for illustrating the main assets of the animated infographics and arranging them into scenes. The animation was responsible for animating the assets in After Effects and adding sound effects. Since the animators would only kick start their work later in the working timeline, they would also need to facilitate the illustrators in creating the assets when needed. I believe this helps to even out the workload and allows the animators to get familiar with the scenes. The illustrators were Shofwa, Jodiann and Reagan, whereas the animators were Adlina, Tay and I. I have yet to learn digital illustration and there was not much time for me to learn from the beginning. I had some experience in animating objects in After Effects, so I opted for the animator role instead. 

Mood board

Mr Martin asked us to compile our ideas into a mood board with the template given. Luckily, we already compiled some ideas of the art styles, transition styles, fonts and colour schemes in a Google Slide, so we just had to migrate the content into the template. The illustration team were also responsible for adding more ideas for the art style, visual reference, typeface and colour schemes, while the animation team added on to the transition styles and animation reference.  Below shows our mood board. 

Figure 1.4 Mood board

Figure 1.5 Mood board (Google Slides)

Storyboard

Although we had different roles and responsibilities, everyone had to sketch out some visuals for some of the main assets. Based on the script breakdown, each member had to create a thumbnail sketch for five to six scenes. Again we distributed the scenes evenly to each member. Other than the sketches, we also included the narration, duration, transition, sound effects of each scene. I was in charge of the sketches from Scene 2D to Scene 3B. 

Figure 1.6 - Storyboard

Feedback

Mr Martin: Suggested other ways of visualising the scene. 

W4 / Animatics

After finalising the storyboard, Mr Martin instructed us to create an animatic based on the storyboard. The purpose of an animatic is to know the timing for a piece of moving image. It also helps us to visualise what the final video may look like. To create an animatic, we need to align the sketches from the storyboard in order and sync them with the voice-over (narration). 

Each member worked on the animatics of their own sketches and Tay volunteered to compile the short clips into one complete animatic. 

For this task, I used Adobe Premiere Pro to align the images and the audio clip. 

Below shows the completed animatic:

Figure 1.7 Final Animatics

Feedback

Ms Anis: The animatic is nicely done. Kids will find it easy to understand and it is easy for parents to explain. 

Mr Martin: Suggested using one visual for similar narratives. For example, we can use the same scene whenever the narrative of sex is mentioned. 

W5 / Assets

This week, we had meetings to list out the assets for illustration. We realised that there were some assets that would re-appear in different scenes, so we agreed to illustrate the repetitive assets first and share them with each other. This reduced the workload of illustrating the same visuals and helped to maintain a consistent art style. 
Here is a list of the assets:

1. Baby
2. Young boy
3. Young girl
4. Teen boy 
5. Teen girl
6. Woman
7. Pregnant woman
8. Doctor
9. Male silhouette 
10. Female silhouette
11. Male reproductive system
12. Female reproductive system
13. Lungs
14. Stomach
15. Bladder
16. Large intestine
17. Small intestine
18. Egg cell
19. Sperm cell
20. Red blood cell
21. Banana with fluid
22. Boy sleeping on a raining cloud
23. Girl with menstrual pad umbrella
24. Fetus
25. Droplet of pee
26. Bread
27. Poo
28. Backgrounds
29. Period cycle - donut chart
30. Period cycle - game board

The illustrators contributed most of the illustrations but some members of the animation also volunteer to help create some of the illustrations. For example, Tay created a book animation for the opening of the video. 

Figure 1.8 All of the assets compiled in the group drive

Feedback

Mr Martin: 

1. Suggested using zoom in and zoom out as a transition for one of the scenes.
2. Egg and sperm scene - ensure the visual balance of the composition. 
3. Pregnant lady scene - reduce the text.
4. Rearrange certain scenes to better fit the narrative. 

W6 / Illustrating and Animating 

Working Timeline

Since we were only left with two weeks to complete the animated infographic, we decided to illustrate and animate the frames simultaneously. The scenes were divided into two parts (refer to the script breakdown spreadsheet for more details). We would work on Part 1 this week and Part 2 for the following week. Of course, if we complete Part 1 in time, we could immediately work on Part 2 to not waste any time. The deadline for completing each part was each Sunday. The illustrators and animators were paired up to complete their parts of the animated infographic. Not to mention that Tay stepped up to stitch the video clips together to form the final video. 

Here are the pairings and their respective tasks: 

1. Shofwa - Illustration (1 - 2D, 16A - 16C) & Tay - Animation (1 - 2D, 16A - 16C)
2. Jodiann - Illustration (2E - 4, 11A - 11D) & Me - Animation (2E - 4, 11A - 11D)
3. Reagan - Illustration (5 - 10, 12 - 13B) & Adlina - Animation (5 - 10, 12 - 13B)

Work in Progress

Figure 1.9 Illustrations of each scene in Part 1

Figure 2. My illustration to show 'vaginal sex'

The illustration team did a great job of preparing the frames. I love the attention to detail, especially the human organs which were quite hard to draw. I helped to create a scene that depicts a male and a female having sex (Figure 2.). Though the scene would only appear in Part 2, it is always better to get things done earlier. 

As for the animation team, we applied a lot of bounce effects to make the objects appear. We also used a cool liquid transition in between scenes that have different backgrounds. Applying sound effects adds flair to the animation. 

The video is the animation I did for Part 1:

Figure 2.1 Animation for Scene 2E - 4

We also received feedback from Mr Martin and make the necessary amendments. 

So far, I was really impressed by the quality of work put out by each member. By maintaining the quality and dynamic, I believe that we have the potential to create a great animated infographic.

Feedback

Mr Martin: Good progress. Adjust the composition for the donut chart. 

W7 / Final Outcome

We continued the task and the last viewing with Mr Marting on Thursday. Again, we consider Mr Martin's feedback and improve on our video. 

The video is the animation I did for Part 2:

Figure 2.2 Animation for Scene 11A - 11D

Feedback

Mr Martin:

1. Add more sound effects.
2. Young girl changing to teen girl scene - try using the morphing effect. (Mr Martin provided us with a YouTube tutorial)
3. Show full male anatomy.
4. Period cycle (game board) - use easy ease.
5. Apply motion blur to all scenes. 

After a few tweaks here and there, we finalised the animated infographic and uploaded it onto YouTube. 

Final Outcome

Figure 2.3 Final outcome for Final Project