37 must-see examples of kinetic typography

Rss Bot · February 2, 2018

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!

01. Kick-ass

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 British 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 procrastination, 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 humorous 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 gigs back in 2012, 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.

Next page: more incredible kinetic typography...

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 quickly became one of the most popular kinetic typography videos on Vimeo when it was released. 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.

28. Elbow Grease - Habitat Promo

Motion design craftsman Joe Dunlap created this insightful promo for the NGO Habitat for Humanity. 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 Guy Ritchie's British action thriller movie 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 Norwegian 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, this 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 nine-year-old Robby Novak (aka Kid President)'s motivational speeches.

34. The Alphabet (in typefaces)

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 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.

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