Information Design – Project 2: Good Time

INFORMATION DESIGN - PROJECT 2

GOOD TIME

WANG JIHENG  0378904

Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media

GCD60504 Information Design

Project 2: Kinetic Typography

LIST

• MIB
• LECTURE
• PROJECT 2
• FEEDBACK
• REFLECTION

MIB

LECTURE

11111

PROJECT 2

Song and Concept

I selected Good Time because its beat is upbeat, direct and suitable for energetic typography. My concept was to make the lyrics feel playful and rhythmic. The words do not stay in one position: they enter, move, scale and change emphasis according to the music. This turns the text into the main visual performer.

The project uses the Knewave Regular typeface. Its rounded and expressive shape supports the cheerful mood of the song. I combined it with bright image assets and a strong colour treatment so that the motion remains easy to read while still feeling lively.

Group Workflow and Division

The group divided the song by lyric section so each member could develop one part in After Effects and later combine the sections into a complete video. The group allocation was: Qistina – Verse 1; Chika – Pre-Chorus; Alicia – Chorus; Hu Yao Ping – Intro and Post-Chorus; Wang Jiheng – Verse 2; Shiqing – Bridge; and Ma Xiai – Outro.

This workflow allowed each member to focus on one manageable section while following the shared direction. The group then checked the progress, audio timing, typography style and colour consistency before combining the final parts.

My Role

My assigned part was Verse 2. I was responsible for building its kinetic-typography scenes, including lyric layout, text animation, image placement, timing and the final export of my section. My Verse 2 lyrics contain everyday action phrases, so I used changes in text hierarchy and stronger beat-based movements to make the words feel active while still readable.

Visual Direction

The visual direction is based on bold lyric typography, high energy and fast but readable movement. I used image assets including atm.png, fdj.png, a JPG image and a cut-out PNG, together with the Good Time MP3 track. These files were collected with the After Effects project, so they are the actual source materials used in the work.

I used a gradient-based colour treatment to create depth in the background and text. The text remains the main focus, while the graphic images support the lyric content and add visual changes between phrases. I kept each scene simple enough for the audience to read before the next lyric enters.

After Effects Process

1. Setting up the project and main composition

I imported the audio track and visual assets into After Effects, then built the main composition named 合成 1. The main composition is the final timeline where the lyric sections are arranged in order and matched to the music. I used the audio waveform as a timing reference, so lyric entrances and scene changes happen with the beat rather than at random times.

2. Dividing the lyrics into separate compositions

I did not animate the whole video as one long group. The project contains separate lyric and pre-composition sections, including First sentence, second sentence, third sentence, fourth sentence, pre-composition 1, pre-composition 2, atm and 3. Dividing the work this way made the timeline easier to manage: each lyric phrase could be edited without disturbing the timing of the other scenes.

In the main composition timeline, I placed the lyric pre-compositions one after another and adjusted their in-point and out-point to follow the sound. When one phrase ends, the next pre-composition begins. This is the main structural change that turns separate animated scenes into one continuous kinetic-typography sequence.

Fig. 2: Main composition timeline showing lyric pre-compositions aligned to the audio.

3. Animating the lyric text

Inside each lyric composition, I created text layers and changed their Position, Scale and Opacity over time. The main changes were to make a word enter from a different direction, increase in scale for emphasis, and fade or move out before the next word appears. I adjusted the keyframe timing after listening to the song repeatedly, especially at the beginning and end of each lyric phrase.

I used short movement instead of long animation paths, because the lyric needs to remain readable. Larger words are used for emphasis, while smaller supporting words appear after the main word. This creates hierarchy in the same way that a poster uses different type sizes, but here the hierarchy changes over time.

Fig. 3: Text-layer keyframes used to animate lyric movement and emphasis.

4. Refining colour and graphic effects

The project uses three recorded After Effects effects: Gradient Ramp, Color Range and Liquify. I used Gradient Ramp to develop the colour atmosphere and avoid a flat background. I used Color Range where colour selection or adjustment was needed. I used Liquify to distort selected graphics and create a more playful, flexible movement style that matches the song.

After adding these effects, I checked the contrast between the text and background. I adjusted the visual balance so the typography remains readable and the effects support the words instead of covering them.

5. Audio synchronisation and final adjustments

I used the Good Time MP3 as the final timing guide. The last adjustment stage was to move layers and keyframes slightly so the text changes feel connected to the beat. I checked whether each phrase has enough screen time to read, whether transitions are too fast, and whether the graphic images appear at useful moments. The final work was rendered from the main composition as 合成 1.mp4.

Fig. 5: Final timing check using the audio waveform and lyric layers.

FEEDBACK

After Week 8, I received a further in-class feedback session. The feedback was more specific than the earlier group checking and focused on three areas: clearer lyric grouping, stronger visual hierarchy and movement that responds to the music accent. I recorded the feedback together with screenshots of my actual After Effects compositions, then used it as a checklist for the final refinement.

1. “Again” scene — alignment and impact

For the “Freaked dropped out again” scene, the feedback was that the word AGAIN should not sit separately at the bottom. It needs to align with the upper text and form one organised composition. The animation should enter from above with a stronger drop and a small bounce on the music accent. The colour also needs to remain consistent with the pink typography above; a brighter pink or subtle outline can improve contrast against the yellow background.

Fig. 6: Before refinement — teacher feedback record for the “Again” scene.

Fig. 7: After refinement — aligned “Again” composition and stronger beat accent.

2. “Checked out of my room / Hit the ATM” — visual hierarchy

For this scene, the teacher asked me to make the hierarchy clearer. “CHECKED OUT OF” should become a smaller supporting line centred above “MY ROOM”. “MY ROOM” should be larger and remain highlighted in yellow as the main focus. “HIT THE ATM” should keep a large size at the same level of importance, while the ATM icon should be reduced to the text height and aligned with the baseline. This creates two clearer text groups instead of one crowded composition.

Fig. 8: Before refinement — teacher feedback record for text hierarchy and ATM placement.

Fig. 9: After refinement — clearer text hierarchy and supporting ATM graphic.

3. “Hang / Let’s out / If you’re tonight / Down to get down” — grouping and rhythm

The last feedback focused on grouping the lyric content. “HANG / LET’S OUT / IF YOU’RE TONIGHT” should form the main text group instead of being scattered across several lines. “DOWN TO GET DOWN” should be separated as the visual emphasis. The main group should appear first with a simple fade or slide, then the final yellow “DOWN” should enter from above with a drop and slight bounce on the music beat. The colour treatment also needs to be unified by changing the isolated white “LET’S” to the shared orange/yellow family or applying a consistent outline.

These refinements showed me that kinetic typography is not only about adding motion. I needed to control visual hierarchy, group related words, leave enough reading time and give only the most important word the strongest movement. The teacher feedback helped me make my Verse 2 scenes clearer and closer to the rhythm of Good Time.

Final Submission

The final submission is the rendered video . It is a 1920 × 1080 kinetic-typography video with a duration of approximately 17.72 seconds. The final piece combines the Good Time music track, Knewave Regular typography, graphic assets, lyric pre-compositions and colour effects in one continuous composition.

     

           Fig. 12: Final frame from the Good Time kinetic-typography video.

     

                           Fig. 13: Final frame from the Good Time （group）

REFLECTION

This project taught me that kinetic typography is not only animated text. The timing of each word changes how the audience understands the lyric. Separating the video into individual lyric compositions helped me control the work more clearly, while the main timeline helped me combine the scenes into one rhythmic sequence.

I also learned to use effects carefully. Gradient Ramp, Color Range and Liquify can make the video more expressive, but the lyric must still stay readable. In the future, I would spend more time refining the keyframe easing and transitions so every word movement feels even more connected to the music.