Brainy Quote
2023
The challenge is to bring a quote to life through animation. Enhance and expand the understanding of the original quote.
Through this project, I found it was interesting to tell a story with words and how to design smartly in a minimalism style.
Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is enlightenment.
Research
This quote is from a Chinese philosopher， Lao Tzu. I studied a lot of his quotes in primary school. As I grew up, I finally understood the meaning of this quote. Rather than understanding others, understanding oneself is the true enlightenment.
To visualize the words “wisdom” and “enlightenment”, I got inspiration from Go, doors, and nature.
Go is an abstract strategy board game for two players.
In Chinese culture, nature is the place where many philosophers achieved enlightenment.
I chose the Go idea because it can show the contrast between lights and shadows.
Concept
White pieces represent “others”, and black pieces represents “yourself”. The animation of these pieces symbolizes the mind game between the two players.
first pass
The first pass’s challenge is to have a clear and logical story. The designs for these style frames are not smart enough. The lack of white pieces makes the whole story not like a Go game.
Notes: Animations and designs are not consistent. Simplify the animation to make it more like a game. Also, the white background does not look like a real board for Go, so change the background color to make white pieces pop out.
Second pass
Make the word “wisdom” with black and white pieces. White pieces are getting less, which means “yourself” is more important.
Notes: For “wisdom”, make sure the spacing between each letter is consistent. Get rid of some pieces at the corner to make the edges smoother. Work on the eye flow and add transitions between “is” and “enlighenment” shots.
Third pass
Make the word “enlightenment” with white pieces because the word “wisdom” is made of black pieces. White pieces also show the light coming from the back.
I changed the font to a modern San serif font because the previous version was too old-fashioned.
