episode 78: Animation Do’s and Don’ts

  • In the design community, how is PowerPoint viewed as a motion graphics design tools?
    • Nolan: Pretty low.
    • Sandy: Overall low, but the right project results rank right up there when viewed and critiqued.
    • Troy: I agree Microsoft Office has a stigma in the design industry. I expect, a trained designer with experience in Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator and other professional grade design tools to have a lower opinion of Microsoft apps viewed as “design” tools. PowerPoint has evolved into the exception, being a hybrid of layout and motion graphics design with many, many improved features.
  • Guidelines for using animation in a presentation?
    • Nolan: Use only if actively helps in telling a story
    • Troy: Subtle and understated is the standard – unless content and presenter call for dynamic and fun motion!
    • Sandy: If the presentation is being delivered by someone, less is more. In the case of self-funning presentations, animation to keep a viewer’s attention becomes more important.
  • What is the preference, single slide with layered animations or a series of slides?
    • Nolan: Layered animated items on a single slide make evaluating and proofing slides very difficult.
    • Sandy: I think it depends. In the case of creating a looping animation, all needs to be on a single slide.
    • Troy: I am in favor of making review and edits easier, so I am not in favor of stacking 9 elements on top of each other and using animation to reveal. I am pro big slide count. Make 9 slides using the slide transition as the animation to reveal each of the stacked talking points.
  • Do you use Morph?
    • Nolan: Love it. My favorite feature of the last 5 years.
    • Sandy: It’s in nearly all of my presentations because Office 365 is becoming so common with my clients.
    • Troy: I am big user of Morph!
  • Which do you use/prefer Appear or Fade?
    • Sandy: For a standard entrance animation, I use fade. In certain cases, such as using multiple slides, sometimes appear is necessary when using subsequent emphasis and exit animations.
    • Troy: I am not a fan of a bullet list animating on by clicks and each bullet popping on the screen, it is distracting – or unnessarily attention grabbing. In place of Appear I will set a .25 second really fast fade.
    • Nolan: I really dislike appear animations and hard transitions. They just feel too abrupt.
  • Slide Transition Tips
    • Nolan: 99% of the time I use either a quick fade or Morph. Webinars get no transitions and every rare once in a while I’ll use a wipe to get a specific effect. But that’s pretty much it.
    • Sandy: That’s a good point, Nolan. If you know the presentation is going to be used in a webinar, animation and transitions must be used very carefully. Internet speed, not only on the presenting computer, but of those watching, really has an impact on animation viewing. If I’m continuing a sequence from one slide to the next, that transition needs to be seamless.
    • Troy:
      • Random is not an option anyone should use
      • Duration of a transition is a big consideration for setting the tone of the overall section
      • Like animations, I like a .25 second fade vs cut or none
      • Tip: Slide transitions can be preset in the template build out. Master slide: add the overall preferred transition. Master Layouts, customize transitions on individual master layouts and to override the Master Slide preset. Slides, customize the transition on specific slides to override the Master Slide and Master Layout presets.

 

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