Motion Graphics vs. Animation: What’s the difference?
Motion graphics are a type of animation. While motion graphics describes moving or animated graphic design, animation is an umbrella term for the whole field of moving imagery, including everything from cartoons to claymation. Motion graphics focus on giving movement to graphic design elements, but tend to have less of a concrete storytelling aspect than other types of animation.
Motion graphics takes graphic design that would be otherwise static and gives it animation and movement, usually without following a specific narrative. Want the bars in your graph to rise up for some extra visual flair? That’s motion graphics. Want the logo on your website to spin around? That’s motion graphics.
Motion Graphics Company London can illustrate complex ideas visually. Think of motion graphics like a visual aid. Some ideas (especially big, abstract ones) are hard to explain with words or still images. A few seconds of motion graphics can clear everything up perfectly. Just
think about how password fields sometimes vibrate or turn red when you enter a wrong password, instantly signalling that you need to try again.
animation agency is the broader umbrella term that motion graphics falls under. Animation has a history dating back more than 100 years. (Wanna dig into that history? Check out this great guide to animation).
Any technique that makes static objects or images move is animation—whether it’s hand-drawn cartoons, CGI, anime, claymation or motion graphics. These categories are not mutually exclusive. Most motion graphics are done with CGI, but you could theoretically do hand-drawn motion graphics as well. What separates motion graphics from other types of animation (at least in terms of marketing videos) is content. Motion graphics are typically associated with setting abstract objects, text and other graphic design elements in motion. Bringing a graph, infographic or web design to life using movement is broadly speaking “animation,” but more specifically, it’s a type of animation that’s called motion graphics. In contrast, animation as a specific art form focuses more on cinematic effects and storytelling techniques to craft a narrative. Think of it like this: if your video sets graphics in motion to illustrate a point, it would be called motion graphics. If your video features a human character that goes on an emotional journey, it’s more likely to be called “animation.”
When we’re talking about motion graphics and other types of animation, remember: there is a lot of overlap between these and sometimes it can be hard to tell them apart. But no matter which type of animated video you use, you’re on your way to more engaging content for your audience. And we’re here to help you get it right: learn more about video, from the basics of video production and video marketing and what types of video there are, to scaling your video production and creating video for social media.