Video Design

Video provides designers with the opportunity to showcase a variety of visual design principles. Static media (such as single-frame digital images, painting, photography etc.) also allows designers to couple images with design principles, but the dynamic, multi-frame nature of video allows the principles to be combined in a variety of unique combinations throughout a single work.

This post will explore the design principles present in the "The Hoaxer's Door" video, which is embedded below:




My first impression of the video is tied to the typography and background, which nicely complements the theme of the video. The theme centers around a secretive hoaxer, who repeatedly reports phony emergencies to 999 (England's 911 equivalent). The calls are placed purely for entertainment value, as the hoaxer delights in covertly watching police, firemen and ambulance crews respond to his phantom emergencies. The hoaxer's anonymity is a critical aspect of the video's theme. The typography, texture and background color of the video reflect this anonymous, secretive theme. The mismatched/random font style and size, along with the stark white background and black vertical margins, bear a striking similarity to the stereotypical ransom notes that appear in movies (e.g. each character in the letter is individually cut from a magazine source and pasted onto a piece of paper to form a letter from an anonymous, untraceable author).

Despite the mismatched font sizes, which typically result in text that is difficult to read, the content is surprisingly readable. I attribute this to the rhythm of the video. As the video runs, some of the text appears one letter at a time while other text appears simultaneously as entire blocks of content. However, the intervals between frame changes and lack of background noise (e.g. the focal point of the video is always the text) creates an agreeable rhythm that allows the reader's eye to quickly scan and process the text.

The video uses words (and only words) to tell a story; text is the primary vehicle of the video, so the video is not cluttered with unnecessary images that would draw the viewers eye away from the text. Also, the color scheme is consistent. Color is used to enhance readability rather than distract from it. Black text on a white background is used throughout the video, but the use of color behind certain letters provides a nice aesthetic contrast.

The video is unified by a simple design, with text at the foreground and judicious use of white space providing a simple background in each frame. Again, this nicely complements the text-based focal point of the video.