Information Design

23/04/2026 - 31/05/2026 (Week 1 - Week 6)
Carren Yeliandi / 0376990
Information Design / Bachelor of Design (Hons.) in Creative Media
Exercises

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Lectures

2. Instructions

3. Reflections

Lectures

Week 1

This week, we learned the basics of After Effect. In class, we were taught how to animate a simple ball movement and change of colors.

Fig A. After Effect Exercise (24/04/26)

We were then separated into groups and were asked to make a PPT about the "Types of Infographic". Here the use of AI is encouraged to try and find out about the types of infographic, which I did use and crosscheck with information found in blogs and other google search results.

Types of Infographic PPT Link

Week 2

Public holiday

Week 3

This week in class we learned how to animate graphic. We were taught to separate the parts that we wanted to animate in Adobe Illustrator first before importing it to After Effects where we used the transform tool (Position, Opacity, Scale ;etc) as well as the anchor point and the pin tool to animate the vectors based on our liking.

Fig B. Vector animation tutorial (01/05/26)

Week 4

This week in class, we learned how to make different types of animated charts from bar charts, line charts, pi charts and donut charts. All of which uses the same concept which is to use trim paths that is manually set into different percentage depending on the data.

Fig C. Chart animation tutorial (08/05/26)

Week 5

This week we learned how to do some kinetic typography using 3D. We first set our camera into a 3D view camera and separate them into 2, one for us to animate and the other for us to see how it'll look like. The texts is set to be a 3D layer, allowing them to have a Z position and rotation and then parented into one null object so it's easier to manipulate. After which, we were given an audio to animate to with a creative freedom to choose our own use of fonts which I just went a bit crazy with.

Fig D. 3D Kinetic Typography tutorial (15/05/26)

Week 6

This week we learned how to do more kinetic typography once again. This time we'll be using 3D Camera Layer with aperture effect for blurs that'll depend on the position of the texts we put in and add a keyframe with the camera away from the layer and then added another one with the camera . I put in 10 texts which is a lyric from a song called "Hated by Life itself" and then set them all apart with scale and position, changing the opacity based on how close they are to the camera (Optionally, you can also rotate the camera Z rotation for more dynamic).

Fig E. Camera layer - 3D Kinetic Typography tutorial (22/05/26)

Week 7

This week in class, we learned about Gestalt Principles.

BACK TO TABLE OF CONTENTS

Instructions

EXERCISE 1 - Quantify & Visualize Data

For this exercise, we were to use a collection of things that we have, in this case for me it's stationery, and sort them to a data that can be visualize. The first step is to sort and arrange the data, I first separated them based on their colors, types and the tip (by design). After which, I just lined them up in rainbow order and labeled them using pens and markers to present them visually.

For the sort and arrange data, I had no images as I sort and write them directly on the paper itself using pencil which I traced with a pen after everything was okay.

Fig 1. Stationery infographic (02/05/26)

FLIP 1

Fig 2. Infographic redesign (01/05/26)

For FLIP 1, we were tasked to take a badly designed infographic and remake them to a better version. As you can see on Fig 2 "before" the infographic is nice and has a nice flow where the text i flowing with the water, however the readability became and issue which I sought to tackle.

I decided use Fig 3 as an example of arrangement where it's separated by block with a subtitle to highlight the numerical data.

Fig 3. Reference (01/05/26)

I summarize the texts and arranged them to be more readable, using different font size for hierarchy. I mainly used blue color to show the oceans and added some correlating graphics to the informations which is the effect of trash to sea life.

EXERCISE 2 - L.A.T.C.H.

For this particular exercise, I wanted to do something other than Pokemon. I chose Sofia the First as I liked the series and the fact that it had so many people from so many kingdoms which in my mind made it an option be made into an infographic. So I just went ahead to the Sofia the First wikipedia and selected a few kingdoms to be made into an infographic.

Here I'm focusing on Location, Alphabet (the arrangement of the kingdoms were placed alphabetically), Time (the episodes), Category (kingdoms) and a bit of Hierarchy with the sizes.

Fig 4. First draft (09/05/26)

After consulting with Mr.Martin, I went ahead and try to arrange it so that it looks less confusing. I also realized that there were quite a lot of weird blank spaces while the images itself was pretty small which made the hierarchy pretty confusing.

Fig 5. Multiple unused draft (11/05/26)

In the end, I decided that the graphic is too distracting and opted to make it more simple. I once again tried to find a map but it doesn't existed so instead I used a globe that can be found in one of the episodes. I estimated each kingdoms location and placed them like the reference below.

Fig 6. Location Infographic Used As Reference (16/05/26)

I made the characters bigger so it's more visible and then decided to put the logo in the middle using some drop shadow to create some distinction between the globe and the logo itself.

Fig 7. Final L.A.T.C.H. (17/05/26)

EXERCISE 3 - Vector Animation

Since we did a demo in class already, I already knew that I need to know what I wanted to do so I can separate all the items that's gonna be animated from the one that's gonna be static. Since I know I wanted to animate the windmill and the shadow, I went ahead and separated that. I added a new layer for the mountain to create an effect of the day (the lighting) changing as well.

Fig 8. Separating the parts in Adobe Illustrator (17/05/26)

After which I went ahead to After Effect to animate it. The windmill itself was not too complicated, just use anchor and rotate it. The mountain change of color can be done through opacity but the shadow was a bit complicated. The shadow of the windmill can be moved with anchor tool but the rest not so easy to do. So I had to use pin tool to move the shadow instead which works alright.

Fig 9. Animating the shadows with pin tool (17/05/26)

Vid 1. First draft (17/05/26)

After asking for feedback, I went back to Adobe Illustrator to make the canvas, hence the vectors, larger. I also added another layer for a different color of the sky. After which, I went back to After Effects and redid my entire animation with the new vectors I imported.

Fig 8. Redoing the animation (23/05/26)

Vid 2. Final vector animation (23/05/26)

FLIP 3

For Flip 3, we were to find out about Miller's Law. We were separated into groups and were given some time to do research and find example on the Miller's Law.

Miller's Law PPT Link

EXERCISE 4 - Animation Chart

After learning how to make an animated chart in class, I proceeded to make the animation chart for exercise 4. I was assigned a pi chart, it uses the same procedure, add -> trim paths, then just manually adjust the percentage according to how much the percentage of the data is.

I'm using a topic of Indonesia Religion Population as of 2025 from the Global Statistics. To add on to the pi chart, I used the position and opacity to animate the titles and supporting texts. As some of the pi chart was so thin, I couldn't just put the percentage inside the chart itself, so I make do with using a line with trim paths to connect the pi chart to the percentage that I put outside of the chart.

Fig 9. Animating the chart (30/05/26)

Vid 3. Final chart animation (30/05/26)

FLIP 4

This exercise had a FLIP, where we were grouped together with other students and using AI or google search to create a PPT about what is "Manuel Lima's 9 Directives Manifesto". I struggled a bit here as despite so many tabs and so many prompts asking AI to help me understand, some part is a bit difficult to find an example that I feel like fit from what I understand.

Manuel Lima'S 9 Directives Manifesto PPT Link

BACK TO TABLE OF CONTENTS

Reflections

Overall, all the exercises were pretty easy to do as we always have a demo beforehand in class. However, the workload felt a bit overwhelming not due to the difficulty but simply due to the amount. The exercises itself were fun to do but the thought of more felt dreading. In class, it felt like I keep skipping from one topic to another and while I managed to keep up, it felt a bit draining to do so many different things in one sitting.

Carren Yeliandi (0376990)

Search This Blog