🧠 5 Visuals for Your Next Video

Author

Rickie Ho
December 21, 2023

Happy Thursday,

Hope you’re doing well this holiday season! Usually around this time, snow has already started sticking and I spend my mornings shoveling the driveway. This December it’s been pretty dry in terms of snow and it’s the first time in a while that I can remember potentially not having a white Christmas.

I know I have readers from all around the world, many of whom don’t celebrate Christmas, but I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate having you as a reader of the newsletter! These take a decent amount of time to put together and even having just a handful of you reading it makes it all worth it!

If you’re on Twitter/X, be sure to engage with me and let me know your thoughts on the newsletter! You can find me @coldgamerick.

Enjoy today’s edition!

- Rickie

5 Visuals I Loved This Week

1. This Instance of Masking Text

  • This is a really simple text masking effect but what makes this so good is how the shot is framed. The plant and the cactus in the corner on the marble countertop add flavor to the shot which only enhances the SFX.

  • I love how the calories are counting up on the food after it’s been revealed by the lid. These are small details but they add a lot to this scene.

    • Viewers appreciate the extra effort that makes them go “hah. that was cool”

  • Notice the small mask effect on the fork at the end of the shot too.

  • Text masking can be pretty tedious, but it’s usually a good return because when text is on the screen, it’s going to be read.

2. This Title Card

  • Love the small details here in the corners of the screen, as well as the faint elevation map in the background.

  • This is a simple title card animation with the text coming in from the left and the right before a ramping zoom in.

  • I live for good title cards because they help brand a video.

    • This is especially important for tailoring the looks of a video to the topic at hand.

    • The alternative to custom title cards for each video is the Ali Abdaal, full channel branding look where every video looks the same.

      • Nothing wrong with this - I love how Ali’s videos look, but I appreciate a tailored look to a video’s branding.

3. This Chapter Marker Graphic

  • Another really simple, but effective visual that shows you exactly what you need to know and nothing else to confuse you.

  • I like how the other levels are blurred out until we progress into them, as well as the slight pop of color in the arrow for each level.

  • This is a great graphic because it can be so easily applied to any video as long as you have chapter titles and B-roll to go along with it.

4. This Horizontal Bar Chart

  • Vox has become a weekly topic in the newsletter but it’s because they truly are the gold standard when it comes to data visualization on YouTube.

    • They’ve refined their process so much that, while every video is branded to the topic at hand, it still has that Vox-feel to it.

  • Echoing the points from the previous visuals, I love the accents in the corners that help frame the chart.

  • I also like the subtle grid backdropping the bar graph. It’s a small detail but it gives structure to the chart.

  • The choice of colors is also something to note as well since the key data point is clearly the “Hallmark” budget, whereas the other movies are just there for reference.

    • For this reason, Hallmark stands out on its own in green.

5. This Timeline Graphic

  • I’ve only ever visualized time on a left-to-right time because it just makes the most sense but this is a cool variation on the conventional timeline.

  • As long as you have the B-roll to pair along with it, this is a really good graphic to make to show how something changes over time.

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