ATM & ITM Animation (2019)

Role: Art Director + Motion Graphic Designer

Task: Create an animation for the ATMs and ITMs illustrating that you can save money by bringing a loan from another bank to Seattle Credit Union.

Deliverables: 

• 16:9 animation

  • Uses: ATMs, ITMs, branch monitors

Note: This animation is mute.

Tools: Adobe Illustrator and After Effects

Brainstorm, Sketch & Pitch

This assignment came with copy. From there, I refined the copy to work with a muted animation. The uses for this animation do not call for audio, and therefore the copy needed to be more succinct since we were not using voice-over.

I wanted the animation to work like a true infographic: if the copy was not there, you can still know what is being said. I wanted money to stack to show how much is being spent with other banks.

With the launch of the new website, it is important to create brand equity with the icons we use in multiple channels. I wanted to use the icons on the homepage to create a sense of familiarity.

The style of the animation was meant to mimic an arcade game. ATMs (Automated Teller Machines) and ITMs (Interactive Teller Machines) have an arcade essence.

Animation Techniques

After attending the After Effects World Conference, I learned a fair amount of new techniques. One of which being textperiments from Kyle Hamrick. Kyle showed us the text animator’s capabilities and therefore showed us how to use type and the text animator to do more than just showing text.

I used the text animator (in favor over presets) to have more control of which lines came into the scene at the right time. This lead to a more unconventional workspace to show the long list of controls.

With this tecnhique, instead of using multiple shapes layers to depict money, I used the “|” character to create stacks of money that I could manipulate over time.

Another new-to-me technique was the Master Properties in Essential Graphics. This allowed the creation of the Super Mario Bros. inspired stack movement accents in a more accelerated time period.