Information Design: Final Project

 01/02/2026 - 23/03/2026 (Week 1 - Week 8)

WANG JINYI / 0374697

DST60504 / Information Design / Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media / Taylor's University

Information Design: Final Project

TABLE OF CONTENT

1. Instruction

2. Final Project

3. Feedback

4. Reflection

INSTRUCTION

FINAL PROJECT

This final project was completed in a group of two. The task was to transform our Project 1 instructable poster into a 60-second animation. After discussing with my partner, we decided to use my infographic poster as the base. My poster is Pitta di Patate, which is a traditional Italian mashed potato pie. We wanted to keep the original idea but present it in a more engaging and dynamic way through animation.

Preparation

Before starting the animation, we focused on preparation. First, we decided to reuse the color palette from my Project 1 poster to maintain visual consistency. For the typography, we chose the font “Merienda” from Google Fonts because it matches the friendly and warm feeling of the dish. Next, we worked on the background music. We searched on YouTube and found an Italian folk music compilation. From there, we selected a suitable segment that has a strong rhythm and cheerful mood, which fits well with the cooking theme (11:18--12:18).

Font - Merienda

After that, we created a storyboard and an animatic. The storyboard helped us plan each scene, while the animatic allowed us to test the timing and flow of the animation. We also created a timeline using Google Sheets. In the timeline, we listed what happens at each second, including the steps of the recipe and the animation effects. This helped us organize the sequence clearly and avoid confusion later.

Storyboard

Animatic storyboard

Timeline

Click here to Google Sheets

Production

Once the planning stage was completed, we started the production. We divided the work equally, where I was responsible for the first half of the animation (0–30 seconds), and my partner handled the second half (30–60 seconds). For my part, I first created all the necessary assets in Adobe Illustrator. 

Most of the assets were already prepared during Project 1, so I only needed to create additional elements such as a spatula. 

Animation

After completing the assets, I imported them into Adobe After Effects and began working on the animation. Since the selected music is upbeat and has a strong rhythm, I focused on syncing the animation with the beats. I made sure that ingredients and steps appear in time with the music, which creates a more engaging and lively effect. 

Amend

After both of us completed our parts, my partner shared her AEP file with me. I was responsible for the final editing and merging process. I made several adjustments to improve the overall consistency, such as refining some animations that looked unnatural, adjusting the timing of certain elements, and making small improvements to ensure both parts match in style. 

Before

After

Compile

After consulting with Mr. Kannan, we found that the current animatic was still too stiff. So, based on his suggestions, I adjusted some details and the duration again, and finally achieved a satisfactory outcome for me.

Before

After

Final Outcome

YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/vZc-_FUayGU

FEEDBACK

Mr. Kannan mentioned that we have already done quite a lot in this project. The opening works well, even without heavy text transition effects, and the way we matched the visuals with the music creates a strong mood. It gives a slight 90s retro cutting style, which is quite interesting.

However, there are still some issues in terms of frame-level details. During the process, we might not have paid enough attention to these small details. One suggestion is to avoid grouping elements to move together all the time. Instead, each element should have its own movement. This helps improve the sense of motion and makes the animation feel more natural.

He also suggested adding motion blur to moving elements. This can reduce the “PPT-like” feeling where objects only scale and move in a very rigid way. Basically we need to study more about animation principles, especially how motion behaves in a more realistic and natural way.

Another point is about the cooking process. Before and after mixing the ingredients, there is not much visible difference. We should make the transformation more obvious, so the audience can clearly see the change. This is important for an instructional animation, where each step should show clear progression. For the stopwatch element, he mentioned that we can try using parenting. But if it looks strange or unnatural, it is safer to keep it static instead of forcing the effect.

Overall, the main improvement needed is to focus more on motion details, such as inertia and natural movement. If these details are refined, the overall quality of the animation can be improved significantly.

REFLECTION 

Basically this project made me realize that doing an instructional animation is quite different from designing a static infographic. When it was still a poster, everything was shown at once, but when turning it into animation, we had to think about timing, sequence, and how the audience follows each step. At first, some parts of our animation were too fast, so the information was not very clear. So we went back and adjusted the timing, and added small pauses between steps, which eventually made the flow easier to follow.

Another challenge was working as a team. Since we split the work into two halves, our animation styles were slightly different at first. For example, the timing and movement did not always match, which affected the overall consistency. Then, during the final stage, I took time to adjust both parts together. I refined the timing, fixed some awkward transitions, and tried to unify the motion style. This helped improve the visual hierarchy and made the whole animation feel more cohesive. We also faced a technical issue when sharing files. When opening the project, some assets were missing, which caused everything to show up incorrectly. So we learned to use the “Collect Files” function in After Effects to properly package all the assets. 

From a design perspective, I started to understand how motion can guide attention. Instead of just making things move, we had to think about hierarchy and clarity. For example, which element should appear first, which should be highlighted, and how timing can help the audience understand each step. The music also played an important role, because we tried to match the animation with the beat, which made the whole video feel more engaging.

Overall, I feel this project was quite rewarding. It was interesting to see my poster turn into a full animation. I also improved my skills in After Effects and became more familiar with the workflow from planning to final output. Working with a partner was sometimes challenging, but it also helped me learn how to communicate and solve problems better.