Exploring Animation: Choosing the Style for Your Brand

Whether it’s sleek motion graphics, quirky 2D characters, or mind-blowing 3D visuals, animation has become a game-changer in video production, especially for businesses looking to stand out in the crowd. In this article, we’re exploring animation— including different animation types and styles, how they are applicable, and how they can boost your brand. So, if you’re just considering animation or you're a seasoned pro looking for fresh ideas, we’ve got something for you.

Why Choose Animation?

1. It Lets Your Creativity Fly

Animated videos give you the freedom to entertain in ways live action just can't. Whether it's telling funny stories about your brand or creating impossible scenarios, animation removes the "real world" limits. Unlike live-action, where you’re stuck with physics, animation lets you go wild with colors, characters, and fantastical settings that wow your audience. With the right tools and imagination, you can craft scenes that are literally out of this world (ok, not literally... but close)!

2. It Perfectly Reflects Your Brand

One of the fantastic perks of animation is how easily you can infuse your brand's personality into it—something that's harder to pull off with other formats. You can play with your company’s color palette, style, and logo, making the animation feel uniquely yours. Want to create a character that’s memorable and tied to your business? Go for it! Animation lets you bring your brand to life in a way that’s both creative and personalized, making it stand out from the crowd.

3. It Easily Explains the Complex

Got a product that’s tough to explain with just a camera? Animation is your secret weapon. Whether 2D or 3D, it can simplify abstract ideas, making them easy for your audience to understand. Think about all those cool kinetic typography videos or animated explainers that break down complex concepts into fun, digestible bites. This is animation’s superpower, which, by the way, helps boost conversion rates!

4. It Is Affordable and Flexible

Live-action can be a budget-buster with location fees, actors, and props. Animation? Way simpler. You only need creative input and good software (or an awesome video production team). Plus, you can easily tweak characters, settings, or storylines without needing to re-shoot. Your vision comes to life without breaking the bank.

5. It Works Everywhere

Animation is a marketing all-star. Unlike live-action videos that might need extra editing for different platforms, animated videos perform like a champ on TV, websites, social media, and more. Whether you're going for a casual vibe or a more polished, professional tone, animation can fit any channel.

2D Animation

2D animation is a classic that never goes out of style. It’s been around for centuries, and believe it or not, some of the techniques we use today have been around for over 100 years! Whether it’s heartwarming stories or rotating text, 2D animation has always been a powerful way to bring stories to life and connect with people emotionally. It’s timeless, and it’s still one of the best tools for animated storytelling!

2D Motion Graphics

• Simplified, flat illustrations
• Ideal for tight timelines and budgets
• Great for social media, product demos, and ads
• Often priced based on the usage of characters, text, and complex processes/software

All motion graphics are animation, but not all animation is motion graphics. That isn’t a riddle- I promise! Think of motion graphics as a unique subset of animation that’s designed with a specific purpose in mind: advertising and promotional content. While traditional animation (like charming hand-drawn cels) is often used for longer stories and narratives, motion graphics are all about delivering messages quickly and effectively. In a fast-paced environment where budgets can be tight and deadlines even tighter, motion graphics provide a way to create eye-catching visuals without the extensive time investment that more complex animation styles might require.

1. 2D Kinetic Typography

• Animated text
• Fast and cost-effective
• Useful for video titles, labels/overlays, and full-motion graphics

Kinetic (moving) typography is when text comes to life! Instead of just sitting there on the screen, fonts and letters become part of the action, moving and transforming to tell a story. It’s like giving words a personality—whether it’s dramatic swoops or subtle fades, animated text can set the mood, highlight important details, and add flair. You can use it in short snippets or even to carry a whole narrative. But it’s not just about reading; it’s about adding a touch of emotion to your visual storytelling. And the best part? It’s the easiest, cheapest, and fastest style of animation to produce!

2. 2D Mixed Media

• Collage-style animation that combines 2D with other visual components
• Offers creative flexibility in short timelines
• Can incorporate complex animation like 3D or cel for longer, higher budget projects

Mixed media seamlessly blends the charm of traditional 2D animation with stock footage, static artwork, photos, text, or even 3D components! It’s like a visual buffet where you can pick and choose elements that complement your story. This creative flexibility makes it perfect for quick yet captivating videos that grab attention and leave a lasting impression! Whether you’re crunched for time or looking to create something unique and eye-catching, this style allows you to experiment without breaking the bank.

3. 2D Character Animation

• Puppetry-like animation
• Mimics lifelike movements
• Popular for its efficiency

2D Character Animation is all about bringing your characters to life with “rigging,” which connects and moves them like a puppet. The process involves building the character in layers, with control points that work like a skeleton to enable lifelike motion. While this rigging can limit some of the graceful movement you’d see with hand-drawn animation, it’s super fast and easy to reproduce. That’s why it’s a go-to for motion graphic videos—especially when you’re working within timelines and budgets.

Hand-Drawn/Cel Animation

• Detailed and naturally moving characters hand-drawn by artists
• More time-consuming and expensive than other 2D animation
• Good for premium or full-length projects that require rich detail and artistic control

Traditional Cel animation is a classic and beloved 2D style that involves drawing each frame by hand. Artists layer these hand-drawn and hand-painted frames on transparent sheets or “cels”. They then photograph the cels and string the photos together to bring scenes to life. This time-consuming process creates smooth, expressive movement and incredible artistic detail. Before the advent of computer animation, Disney’s cel animation brought us iconic films like Snow White (1937), The Jungle Book (1967), and The Little Mermaid (1989). Because of the immense skill, effort, and time required, it tends to be more costly than motion graphics. However, this beautiful and artistic method is a cornerstone in animation and has a timeless charm that digital animation often tries to mimic. These days, though some people still create hand-drawn animation, the drawing and painting are typically done on a digital device like a tablet or computer.

Rotoscope Animation

• Tracing over live-action footage, frame by frame
• Extremely detailed but somewhat tedious
• Commonly used for stylized projects, action scenes, and blending with real-world footage

Rotoscoping is a technique where animators trace over live-action footage frame by frame. Instead of drawing everything from scratch like in traditional cel animation, they use actual footage as a guide. This can either be done to create realistic character movement, or it can highlight cool moments in live-action scenes. It’s definitely a bit of a tedious process, but the good news is that since it’s tracing- animators of any skill level can do it!

3D Animation

3D animation creates characters and objects in three dimensions that look like we see them in the real world. It’s similar to live-action, where things like lighting, camera angles, and set design come into play, but with a digital twist. Animators use 3D models, rig them for movement, and add special effects to make them appear almost real. Sometimes, techniques like Motion Capture (Mo-Cap) help capture realistic movements, too. What’s awesome about 3D is that it lets you see things from angles and perspectives that 2D and live-action just can’t do—like rotating a product to see every detail or diving into its internal mechanics. Basically, 3D animation takes storytelling to a whole new level!

3D Motion Graphics

• Adds depth and realism that captivates viewers
• Easily combines with live-action footage or other media
• Often priced based on the complexity of the models, animations, and software
• Perfect for a wide range of projects, including commercials and educational content

3D motion graphics are a lot like their 2D cousins but with an extra dimension and some different tools behind the scenes. The simplest versions use basic 3D shapes and text to tell a story, while more advanced ones can feature detailed models and simulations. You’ll often see 3D motion graphics in commercial content, like product ads for sneakers, smartphones, or drinks.

1. 3D Kinetic Typography

• Moving text similar to 2D, but more dynamic
• Combines text with 3D elements for artistic emphasis
• More for flair than readable information

3D typography is a unique part of 3D motion graphics, but it’s not your typical readable text. Instead of being something you’d glance at for info (like 2D typography), 3D typography is usually used as an artistic accent to add flair to a bigger video. It’s a visually stunning way to make a scene pop—whether it’s swirling letters, bold shapes, or sleek, metallic fonts. It’s there to grab your attention and add visual impact rather than convey a lot of detail. You’ll often see it in commercials, intros, or anywhere a little extra "wow" factor is needed!

2. 3D Mixed Media

• Combines 2D and 3D animation with other visual components
• Uses 3D software to create effects that are impossible in 2D alone

3D mixed media is like a mashup of the best animation styles out there! It blends the smoothness and depth of 3D with the charm and simplicity of 2D, giving you videos that are visually stunning and packed with creative flair. You get the flexibility of 3D tools—like awesome camera moves and complex scenes—while still keeping that cool 2D vibe. It’s perfect for projects where you want the best of both worlds and adds a whole new layer of depth to your storytelling! This technique makes creating polished videos easier and more efficient without losing the charm of traditional animation.

3D Character Animation

• Involves rigging and animating 3D models
• Creates hyperrealistic or stylized characters
• Characters feel more relatable and engaging for viewers

This hi-tech animation style uses several steps to create realistic or stylized characters. It starts with modeling, where animators craft the character's face, body, and even their outfits. Next up is texturing, where they add details to the skin and clothing to make everything feel more realistic. Then, they rig the characters to create movement. This is when they build a ‘skeleton’ to get the characters moving in a realistic way. Finally, during animation, animators keyframe the character’s movements and add fun simulations for their hair and clothes. It’s a complicated process, but it turns concepts into living, breathing characters!

3D Product Demos

• Precise and realistic animations
• Used to visualize complex processes or products & the inner-workings of products
• Popular in industries like healthcare, technology, and manufacturing

Clients love using 3D animation to visualize complex or hypothetical products and processes that are tough to see otherwise. Think of things like cutting-edge equipment or intricate medical procedures. These videos are perfect for seeing the inner workings of a product or educating users on how to perform certain tasks. Product demos often use simple, step-by-step scripts that break things down in clear, straightforward language and then throw in 2D text overlays and graphics to highlight key features and details. However, to really capture the 3D elements of the product, artists need to create hyperrealistic and detailed representations of the item. This often requires specialists like industrial designers or certified medical animators.

That’s a Wrap!

We’ve explored the colorful world of animation. Whether it’s the classic charm of 2D or the mind-blowing possibilities of 3D, there’s an animation style for every story and brand. If you want to tell a story, promote a product, or simply add some pizzazz to your content, animation is an incredible tool to make your ideas come to life. And with help from a professional video production team like Levitate Media, you can get started today! Contact us for more information.