See fonts come to life in these amazing kinetic typography animations, including music videos, movie tributes and more.
Kinetic typography can come in all shapes and forms. Whether it's an
homage to a famous movie speech or song or an exploration of the
typography itself, these creations are a feast for the eyes. If you want
to create your own, our selection of free fonts and After Effects tutorials will help you on your way.
Need
a little inspiration? Here, we've picked some brilliant kinetic
typography animations, including music videos, movie tributes and more.
Enjoy!
Ryan Perera's
video based on a sequence from the film Kick-ass uses a hand-drawn
style to reflect the brand's comic book influences. It's a great example
of how drama and emotion can be expressed with moving type.
02. Coconut woman
This lively animation by Motion Surfing uses coconut-shaped type timed with the rhythm of the song to to convey personality and energy.
03. From Paper to Screen
This masterpiece was, unbelievably, a graduation project by graphic designer Thibault de Fournas.
The animation shows the evolution of typography from paper to screen in
serious style. The first half of the video deals with the basic rules
of typesetting, before moving on to the use of typography in cinema,
with impressive effects running throughout – the tribute to Saul Bass
being our favourite.
04. Language
Designer Matthew Rogers
is the man behind this kinetic typography animation of the words of
writer and actor Stephen Fry. A fan of this particular essay on
language, Rogers decided to make it his first kinetic typography project
using a combination of After Effects, Flash and Illustrator.
05. The 10 Commandments
In
just under two minutes, this kinetic typography animation reveals the
10 Commandments in serious style. The man behind the piece is designer Vit Ryznar, who completed the project using After Effects.
06. Shine a Light
Let's
be frank, this J-pop tune by DJ Takuma featuring Angella Guistini is
pretty forgettable, and we imagine the lyrics were sugary nonsense even
before they got translated from Japanese. But the vibrant typographic
video by Bait makes everything better.
07. Childline: First Step
Ad agency YCN Studio recently collaborated with LA-based production company Buck on this powerful animation, which encourages children to talk about and report sexual abuse.
The
video promotes the services of UK-based, confidential, free, 24-hour
counselling service for children, Childline. Following a conversation
between child and advisor, the four-minute animation
uses kinetic typography and abstract art to get its message across.
It's by no means an easy issue, and we think YCN Studio and Buck have
done a sterling job at covering it in a powerful yet sensitive way.
08. Breaking Bad
American
TV show Breaking Bad has won multiple awards since it first aired back
in 2008. Which is hardly surprising when it includes brilliant
monologues like 'I am the danger', in which school
teacher-turned-criminal Walter White convinces his wife that he's a
dangerous man, capable of striking fear into hardened criminals.
Graphic designer, illustrator and animator Paul Cooper decided to pay homage to the infamous scene using kinetic typography.
He visualises the intense scene through a series of black and white
illustrations and text, all cleverly timed to each character's lines.
09. The Hush Sound – Lions Roar
Part of a two man team, designer Mig Reyes
worked on this typographical motion graphic piece to The Hush Sound's
Lions Roar song. Heavily inspired by motion graphics studio MK12, the
duo used After Effects to time the song's lyrics to the brilliant
typography and graphics.
10. Procrastination
This trailer for David McRaney's
international bestselling book You are Not So Smart uses cleverly
animated typography to sum up its contents. Animated, designed and
produced by Plus3
productions, the perfectly timed animation is all about
proscratination, and it'll have you nodding in agreement and smiling all
the way through.
11. The Edge
Hunter S Thompson has influenced a generation of film-makers, writers and designers. This homage to the author by Piotr Kabat combines an array of design disciplines to showcase some of his finest words.
12. Apocalypse Rhyme
This is an amazing piece of work considering it was all done by one person. Oliver Harrison
wrote the poem, composed the music and organised it all into a splendid
animated whole for Channel 4's Random Acts, and his reward was the
'Best Motion Graphics' prize in the British Animation Awards 2014.
13. Bob
Oliver Smith
is a 3D animator and compositor who can turn his hand at many aspects
of the moving image. Inspired by 'Weird Al' Yankovic's Bob Dylan parody
'Bob', the song features Yankovic's signature style and comical lyrics.
Although the amusing tune is the main influence for the video, it's
Oliver's stunning array of graphic titles and typography that really
stand out.
14. Anonymous
This
super-cool infographic kinetic typography animation tells the story of
how online hactivist group Anonymous came together in 2003 and
subsequently went on to stage various protest actions. The 90-second
animation, which uses 3D effects, electronics and text to convey the
message, was created by multimedia designer Savva Tsekmas.
15. Shop Vac
Artist Jarrett Heather made this kinetic typography music video for Jonathan Coulton's
Shop Vac. The humourous animation took Heather somewhere between 500
and 1000 hours to complete. At just under three-and-a-half-minutes long,
the brilliant video features a number of different fonts, all perfectly
suited to the story each tells.
16. Rolling Stones - Doom and Gloom
Celebrating
their 50th anniversary with a series of recent comeback gigs, the
old-time rock 'n' rollers even managed to release a new track that was
pretty darned good. For the accompanying music video, Trunk Animation designed this great splatter style animation, which is reminiscent of Ralph Steadman's typographic artistry.
17. Karloff
Another piece from graphic designer Thibault de Fournas, who has combined modern typefaces Bodoni and Didot
in this beautiful animated video exploring how two extremes could be
combined into a coherent whole. Stylistically, the video is centred
around a series of expanding and disappearing hairlines, with cuts
complementing editorial typographic layouts.
18. Mad as Hell
Peter
Finch's iconic 'I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take this any
more' speech from Network is still relevant 40 years on, and while it
doesn't necessarily need any extra weight lending to it, this kinetic
typography treatment by Aaron Leming makes a pretty good fist of it.
19. Alphabet
This
alphabet in motion video is sublimely smooth. There's no accompanying
soundtrack but the animation is so slick you don't notice. Former
graffiti artist turned motion graphic artist Pavel Pavlov morphs simple but beautiful lines and graphics together to form a unique design for each letter of the alphabet.
20. Conan O'Brien
Working
from one solid artboard, this entertaining kinetic typography video
recreates the dialogue on the final episode of NBC's The Tonight Show
presented by Conan O'Brien. The camera pans between nicely set type,
ending with a shot of the entire piece. The combination of eclectic
typography and modern 3D letterforms achieved in Cinema 4D provides a contrast between old and new.
21. Make it better
Colour and morphing typography are wonderfully combined in this video. Creator Climent Canal and animator Sebastián Baptista's beautiful video brings an inspiring message to vivid life.
22. ALQUIMIA Animated Type
Pavel
Paratov has constructed a mesmerising piece of golden kinetic
typography here. The letterforms reshuffle to the electro beat by
Satoshi Yoshitake integrating abstract shapes into the mix.
23. Back to the Future
If
you're anything like us, you'll already be a huge fan of Back to the
Future. So, what could be better than kinetic typography of this
priceless conversation between Marty McFly and his mother? It's the work
of Canadian graphic designer Melanie Burgess. We love this original offering!
24. Alphagames
This
inventive animation has quickly become one of the most popular kinetic
typography videos on Vimeo. It was created by freelance editor and
animator Evan Seitz,
who has worked on commercials for Coca-Cola and the American Cancer
Society – one of which went on to win a Telly Award at the 32nd Annual
Convention.
25. Fight Club
There's plenty of Fight Club kinetic typography hovering around the World Wide Web but this particular offering from Adrian Moran
is a belter. The visual FX, motion graphics and 3D artist has created
this animation to accompany Brad Pitt's infamous Fight Club rule
listing. We love the colours too!
26. Hello Hola Hallo Bonjour Ciao Ola
This adorable kinetic typography animation was made by Spanish graphic and motion designer Daniel Moreno Cordero. Daniel created his animation using After Effects, Illustrator and some Photoshop, alongside a typeface entitled Granaina Limpia.
27. Ira Glass on Storytelling
The producer and host of This American Life, Ira Glass, discusses what makes up the building blocks of a great story in this animation, made over three days by David Shiyang Lu using Illustrator and After Effects. You can catch the whole Ira Glass talk over on YouTube.
28. Elbow Grease - Habitat Promo
Motion design craftsman Joe Dunlap
created this insightful promo for furniture giant Habitat. Through
creative, kinetic typography and slick, dynamic animations, this short
public service announcement for Habitat for Humanity explains that it's
easy for anyone to achieve something big. It has attracted a lot of love
on Vimeo!
29. RocknRolla
Created by Siddharth Raj,
this kinetic typography animation takes a speech from British action
thriller RocknRolla and brings it to life. We love how Raj has
incorporated various font shapes and sizes to fit perfectly between each
other.
30. Pulp Fiction
Gangster
movie speeches are cropping up a lot in this list – it seems like
they're the perfect accompaniment for great kinetic typography. This
Pulp Fiction number was created by Norweigian motion designer Christian Gjerde. Watch for the particularly clever 'car' moment at the end of the video.
31. Fusion Design
This
animation combines motion graphics with kinetic typography to a
faultless execution. There's not much information on this one by Dusan Tatalovic but we love the way he has managed to almost personify the typography throughout the musical accompaniment.
32. 29 Ways to Stay Creative
Created by Japanese motion graphic design studio TO-FU
the video is by far one of the most popular kinetic typography
animations out there. It's easy to see why with its inventive graphics
and helpful content.
33. Kid President peptalk
Motion designer Taylor English
is the artist behind this fun, animated typography project, who created
it for her time-based typography class while studying at the Savannah
College of Art and Design. The 90-second video is a visual
representation of one of 9-year-old Robby Novak aka Kid President's
motivational speeches.
34. The Alphabet
Designer and animator Alessandro Novelli
captures his love for typography and animation in this 60-second
Alphabet video. The gorgeous animation spells letters A through to Z,
with a different font featured for each. The dancing letterforms are
accompanied by Si Tu N'étais Pas Là by Fréhel, a track used in the movie
Amelie.
35. Husbands: Dream
This music video for Husbands' single Dream sees the lyrics light up as they're sung. To make it, French design duo Cauboyz
created individual boxes with each word placed on the front using
laser-cut and hand-cut stickers. Wires were then attached to each box,
complete with a handy switch to press once the word came up.
36. Coldplay: Atlas
Featured
on the Hunger Games: Catching Fire soundtrack, this video for
Coldplay's latest single 'Atlas'. was created by New York-based agency Blind Pig in collaboration with creative agency Hugo & Marie. The team effort has executed one of the best uses of kinetic typography we've come across in a while.
Directed by Mario Hugo, the illustrations are largely based around the celestial sky map and myth by Micah Lidberg. Animation creative directors Ric Comline and Jonny Bursnell ensured that the video would be a seamless animation sequence, with both agencies providing gorgeous inspiration.
37. The Dead Words
Hypenemious by David McLeod
The Dead Words project was begun by Karen To Nakada
in 2010 as a way to express her love of both words and type. The
graphic designer, illustrator and letterer is driven to promote and
commemorate no-longer-used words before they are forgotten forever.
The
project has generated much interest in the design community with well
over 100 contributions to the project and counting, including everything
from handcrafted to kinetic typography. Here is just one of the
beautiful submissions, with many more to see on the website.
