Last week, we talked about Information Design. I had intended to cover Animating Information Design in one post, but I need more space to do the subject justice. Therefore, this week we will cover built in chart animations in Keynote and Powerpoint, next week we will discuss animating individual elements of charts, and the week after we will cover animating information design without charts. If you’re new to animating with presentation programs, part 3 should be especially interesting to you, as we will go over animating a variety of different kinds of graphics. I will also be covering the basics of how animation works in these programs in that post. For now, we will simply go over how to animate the charts that come with both programs.
I’m assuming a basic level of proficiency with Keynote and Powerpoint here, but I will try to make the instructions simple enough for beginners. If you find you’re having trouble with any part, please email me. I’m happy to talk to you directly and/or create some more beginner-level posts.
Keynote:
Helpful tip: If you’re using Keynote on your iPhone, try mirroring to a smart tv to get a bigger monitor.
To animate charts in Keynote, first insert a chart and edit its data. Do this by either choosing chart on the menu bar (if chart is not in your menu bar, you can add it; the menu bar is fully customizable) or by going to insert -> Chart. Use the format panel to make any changes to color, etc. Click on Edit Chart Data to customize the information.
To animate, first make sure your chart is selected (if nothing is selected, keynote brings up the menu for transitions between slides). In the animate panel, your options will change based on what kind of chart you’ve selected. In Keynote, the animate panel will always have options for build in, action, and build out. Build in controls how things appear, action controls what they do once they are on screen, and build out controls how they leave.
For 2D charts (like basic bar charts), you will have the same build in effects that are available for any object (things like appear, dissolve, flip, scale, and special effects like sparkle, drop, and blinds). From the build in menu, you will be able to choose the direction and duration of the effect, and control whether it starts when you click or on transition. In the delivery menu, you will be able to control whether the chart appears all at once, by set, or by individual element. Your build out menu will have the same options. The action menu is where you add animations between build in and build out. These are basic controls for position (movement), scale (size), opacity (how much you can see through something), and rotation (how something is turned).
If you choose to insert a 3D chart, you have even more build options. These will automatically appear in the menu when your chart is selected. These are effects like 3D crane, and 3D Z-axis. You will have a great deal of control over how these effects are rendered; experiment with different directions, deliveries, and durations of effects.
If you choose to insert an interactive chart, your options will be much more limited. Interactive charts only use a build called Magic Chart. This effect changes the individual elements in the chart. For example, if you have a bar chart and the first value is 3 and the second value is 6, you will see the bar itself become twice as long as the slide plays. There are 4 different kinds of interactive charts, and a good many ways to customize them. The second post of this series will be devoted to controlling the movement of individual chart elements, but if one of these pre-made options works for your needs, this is an easy and visually pleasing solution.
Powerpoint:
In Powerpoint animation, the categories Entrance, Exit, and Emphasis take the place of Build In, Build Out, and Action in Keynote. These are basically the same thing. Start by inserting a chart and editing its data, then use the pre-made effects from the animation panel. As in Keynote, you can control the speed, duration, and path of your animations. Choose effect options to adjust the delivery (by set, all at once, etc.) and add sounds. There are no additional options based on chart type in Powerpoint, and there is no equivalent to Magic Chart. However, next week we will go over how to animate elements separately and control the exact look of your information design.
Substance and Style 