Unleash the Bus Animated Infographic
Animation, Information
Brief
Increase awareness of how simple public transportation reform can improve urban life. Summarize the contents of the technical and strategic Better Buses, Better Cities by Steven Higashide for a more general audience in a digestible format.
Public decision-makers, philanthropists, activists, and public agency leaders and their constituents.
Solution
Concept
Unleash the Bus distills the complexities of a niche text on public transit to its most important parts. It presents the problems with current infrastructure, proposes the value of a well-run bus system, and calls for action with simple prompts for further investigation. By doing so, it condenses the 200-page technical book into a 60-second video anyone can understand.
The animation keeps the audience focused on the information being delivered by using a clean, flat illustration style. Simplicity makes it easier to recognize cues in the infographics such as the number of buses compared to cars and the downward movement of ridership
Process
This project began by combing through Better Buses, Better Cities to construct a very clear and concise narrative for the animation’s audience. I made note of convincing statistics and sketched ways these numbers would relate to each other with a common graphic language. These bits of information were categorized into three main categories:
- Transportation is a problem
- Meet the bus
- Why we don’t use it
- How to build effective transit
Once the narrative was edited down, only the most important supporting statistics were kept for supporting evidence.
The voiceover script became the next important component to construct because it would determine the length of the animation and what visuals were needed to reinforce the message. Copywriting was refined for brevity and clarity.
Sketches made during the literature review phase were useful during the storyboarding process. The script was kept close by for reference of scene transitions and moments where animation could reinforce specific vocabulary being used.
The storyboard provided a clear inventory of what graphics needed to be made and how they would have to animate. All that was left was to refine the visual style and put the pieces together.
