28 must-see examples of kinetic typography

Kinetic typography can come in all shapes and forms. Whether it's a homage to a famous movie speech or song or an exploration of the typography itself, these creations are a feast for the eyes. Here, we've picked 28 of our favourite kinetic typography animations including music videos, movie tributes and more...

01. Coldplay: Atlas

Set to feature on the Hunger Games: Catching Fire soundtrack, this video for Coldplay's latest single 'Atlas'. was created by New York-based agency Blind Pig - sister company to Absolute Post - 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.

02. The Dead Words

The Dead Words project was begun by Karen To 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.

03. 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.

04. 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. Fan of the band, typography, design and heavily inspired by motion graphics studio MK12, the duo used After Effects to time the song's lyrics to the brilliant typography and graphics.  

05. 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 proscratination, which'll have you nodding in agreement and smiling all the way through.

06. The Edge

Hunter S Thompson has influenced a generation of film-makers, writers and designers and this homage to the author by Piotr Kabat combines an array of design disciplines to showcase some of his finest words.

07. 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.

08. 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.

09. Shop Vac

Artist Jarrett Heather made this kinetic typography music video for Jonathan Coulton's Shop Vac. The humourous 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.

10. Rolling Stones - Doom and Gloom

Celebrating their 50th anniversary with a series of comeback gigs last year, 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 typography artistry.