Mind Kinetic Type Video

2024

A major project exploring how expressive, handwritten typography can visualize mental health themes like anxiety, depression, and vulnerability more directly than polished digital type.

I began with research into the history of handwritten lettering as an expressive design tool, studying how "scrawl" and "scratch" styles have been used across punk graphic design, protest movements, and film title sequences to communicate raw emotion and urgency.

I paired this with literary research into Charles Bukowski's poetry, selecting a poem whose themes of vulnerability and emotional suppression matched the tone I wanted to explore.

For the final piece, I hand-lettered the poem across a series of A3 sheets, scanning and refining the artwork in Photoshop before animating it in After Effects as a kinetic type video.

I built the animation around an original music track, syncing word reveals and ink-splatter transitions to the track's rhythm, and used masking and "linear wipe" techniques to make the lettering appear as though it were being written in real time. The piece closes with a credit sequence signposting mental health support resources.

This project combined typographic research, hand-lettering, and motion design into a single emotionally driven piece, and pushed my skills in translating research and concept into a finished, sound-synced animation.