Last year, I watched The Hunting Ground for the first time. It’s a full length documentary about sexual assault on college campuses, and it combines testimonies and stories with statistics and facts to provide an in-depth look at the high rates of sexual assault at universities. After watching the documentary, I kept thinking how important the topic was and how useful it would be if everyone watched the documentary. However, I knew it was difficult to convince people to devote an hour and half of their time to something. I wanted to find a way to communicate the same information in a way that was significantly shorter and would reach a wider audience.

I decided that, rather than wishing this short video would magically happen, I should take the initiative and solve this problem myself. I knew I had skills in motion design, talents in writing, and knowledge about the topic of sexual assault. Thus, I decided to use my skills to create a 10-minute motion graphic about sexual assault on college campuses, which you can view below (or here).

One of the biggest challenges when creating this motion graphic was determining how to address such a serious issue using animated graphics. Motion graphics are typically bright and positive, featuring fun animations and cheerful, bouncing graphics. I decided to use dark colors and keep transitions and animations simple in order to best communicate the gravity of the situation I was explaining.

Another challenge was visually expressing the script, especially when discussing rape and sexual assault. You can’t find a simple icon to accurately represent the complexity and horror of rape. I decided that when talking about serious topics, it was best to let the words speak for themselves, so I primarily used animated text for those sections. This would emphasize the staggering facts and statistics while still being visually engaging.

While the dark content of the video meant that imagery needed to be relatively simple, I enjoyed the creativity of finding interesting transitions between scenes. Finding music to communicate the mood of the scene was another creative challenge I enjoyed.

My intention when creating this motion graphic was to design a piece that was less than ten minutes but still explained the complexity of the problem and offered solutions and actions people could take to improve the situation. My goal was to design and visually engaging piece that told a story and was interesting and short enough to be easy to understand and spread to others.

I was very happy with the final result of my motion graphic, as it accomplished the goals I set and provided me with a unique creative challenge. I also enjoyed using my skills in graphic design to address a problem I am passionate about.

To learn more about sexual assault on college campuses and ways you can get involved in ending this epidemic, visit endrapeoncampus.com, seeactstop.org, and notalone.gov. #StudentVoices