CSS3 animations often seem overpolished, but the homespun feel of the moving elements in this fire-safety web infographic fits the young audience perfectly. We discover how it was made.
The web infographic is aimed at kids in the UK attending Bonfire Night on Nov 5th
When viewed in a suitable browser, some elements of the infographic will animate. But rather than aiming at supersmooth, in-your-face visual effects, the flickering of the flames and the sparkling of the sparklers is simple, subtle - and, we think, all the more effective for it.
The animated elements are subtle and thus grab the attention more
Inspired by Firefox's homepage Olympic flame over the summer period, the infographic was created using layered graphics and CSS3 to aid in the process of transition of scale, movement and speed, explains Morley.
"The bonfire is made up of several layered 'fire' shapes then playing around with key frames enabled stretching, opacity and by adding a warm glow renders a realistic flame effect.
The blackboard theme is the perfect backdrop for the young audience
"The spark that appears throughout the page was created using a similar technique. Three images were used to pulsate at different rates of scale, similar effect to how we animated the 'fearful cat'. The movement of the eyes on the hot dog was produced by mouse tracking code adding further interest to those who spotted that.
"The styling of the traditional blackboard theme gives the piece the right level and tone for the audience and enabled us to experiment with textures and fonts."
The infographic is best viewed in Firefox 16+, Chrome 22+, Safari 6.0+ or Opera 12.0+.
