Types of Motion Graphics: Which 4 Win Customers

James Crawford

Published September 18, 202612 min readUpdated September 18, 2026

You went looking for a list of animated video styles and got a vocabulary lesson. Holograms. The metaverse. Augmented reality. None of that helps you decide what to order for your plumbing company.

Here is the honest part about the types of motion graphics: only a few of them will ever put money in your bank account. The rest are polish.

So this guide sorts them. You get the four types that win customers, the five that quietly support your website, and the ones you can ignore. You also get real 2026 prices, run times, and a five-step brief you can hand to whoever makes your video.

Motion graphics is animated graphic design: text, shapes, icons and charts that move. Small businesses buy four types, which are kinetic typography, motion graphics explainer videos, animated ads and logo animation. The rest, such as interface animation, animated titles, infographics, transitions and looping backgrounds, support a page rather than sell on their own.

What are the different types of motion graphics?

Nine types cover almost everything a small business will meet: kinetic typography, explainer videos, animated ads, logo animation, interface animation, animated titles and lower thirds, animated infographics, transitions and looping backgrounds. Each one moves designed shapes rather than drawn characters.

That last point is the line that changes the price. Character animation moves a drawn person through a story, and every pose has to be built. Motion graphics moves words, icons and charts, so a small team can finish one in days. Our plain-English guide to motion graphics vs animation covers that split in more detail.

Type	What it shows	Best run time	Where it goes	Voiceover
Kinetic typography	Words moving in time with audio	15-30 seconds	Social feeds, reels	Optional
Explainer video	How your service works, step by step	30-90 seconds	Homepage, service pages	Yes
Animated ad	One offer, one action	15-30 seconds	Facebook, Instagram, YouTube	Optional
Logo animation	Your logo arriving with movement	3-6 seconds	Start or end of other videos	No
Interface animation	Buttons and forms reacting to a click	Under 1 second	Your website or app	No
Animated titles and lower thirds	Names, prices and captions on screen	3-5 seconds	Inside other videos	No
Animated infographic	Numbers and results as moving charts	20-60 seconds	Reports, posts, presentations	Optional
Transition	The animated join between two scenes	Under 1 second	Inside other videos	No
Looping background	A slow repeating pattern behind text	5-15 second loop	Website hero, waiting-room screen	No

Those run times are not guesses. Yum Yum Videos' 2026 guide to video length puts 30 to 45 seconds with awareness campaigns and ads, and 60 to 90 seconds with website and sales use.

Three categories show up on most lists and belong nowhere near your budget: augmented reality, hologram displays and game overlays. They are real work for phone makers and stadiums. They will not fill your diary next month.

Need an explainer video? Get a 30-second explainer for $297 → We write the script, record the voiceover and animate it, delivered in 7 days.

Which types of motion graphics bring in customers?

Four types win customers: kinetic typography, motion graphics explainer videos, animated ads and logo animation. Each one carries a message and asks for an action, which is what turns a viewer into a caller.

Explainer videos are the most common choice by a wide margin. According to Levitate Media's 2026 round-up of Wyzowl research, 73% of marketers have produced one, and 82% of video marketers report a positive return on video.

Kinetic typography

Kinetic typography is animated text: your words appear, move and land in time with a voice or a beat. It is the cheapest sales video to make, because there is nothing to draw.

Run it for 15 to 30 seconds where sound is usually off. A gym can put a joining offer and an end date on screen in eight words.

Motion graphics explainer videos

A motion graphics explainer video shows how your service works, using icons, simple scenes and a voiceover. It is the one video most small businesses should own before anything else.

Give it 30 to 60 seconds and put it on your homepage and your main service page. A dentist can walk a nervous patient through a first visit before that patient ever picks up the phone.

Animated ads

An animated ad is a short motion graphics video built around one offer and one action. It skips the backstory and goes straight to the thing you want booked.

Fifteen to 30 seconds is plenty. Ask for captions burned into the file, because most feeds play silently. Our motion graphics examples you can copy for your ads shows seven formats that fit this slot.

Logo animation

A logo animation is your logo arriving with movement and a short sound, usually in three to six seconds. It goes on the front or the end of everything else you make.

Buy it once and reuse it for years. On its own it sells nothing, so it should never be your first purchase.

Which motion graphics types live inside your website?

Five types support a page instead of selling on their own: interface animation, animated titles and lower thirds, animated infographics, transitions and looping backgrounds. They make a site feel finished, and none of them will bring in a phone call by itself.

Interface animation

Interface animation is the small movement a site makes when someone acts, such as a button pressing in, a tick appearing after a form is sent, or a spinner while a page loads. It tells a visitor that something worked.

Most website builders include this already. Pay a designer for more only after your sales video is live.

Animated titles and lower thirds

A lower third is the name and job title that slides in at the bottom of the screen while someone talks. Animated titles do the same job for prices, phone numbers and section breaks.

They cost little and they make filmed footage look edited instead of raw.

Animated infographics

An animated infographic turns numbers into moving charts, counters and maps. Use one when a result is the whole point: jobs finished, response times, money saved.

Keep it to 20 to 60 seconds. An accountant or a law firm gets far more out of this type than a gym ever will.

Transitions

A transition is the animated join between two scenes, such as a wipe, a growing shape or a colour sweep. It stops a cut from feeling abrupt.

Never buy transitions on their own. They come inside the video you order, and a good animator picks them for you.

Looping backgrounds

A looping background is a slow, repeating animation that sits behind text on a page or a screen. It adds movement without asking anyone to sit and watch.

Ask for a version with no text baked in. Then the same file works on your website hero and on the screen in your waiting room.

What does each type cost to have made in 2026?

Short pieces like a logo animation, a transition pack or a single text card sit at the bottom of the market, and a full explainer with script, voiceover and custom scenes sits at the top. Published 2026 prices for animated video run from about $99 to $50,000.

Yum Yum Videos' 2026 cost guide puts that full spread at roughly $99 for do-it-yourself tools up to $50,000 or more for enterprise brand films. Vidico's 2026 explainer video cost guide prices a 60-second custom animated explainer from a North American studio at $5,000 to $10,000, with premium 3D or character work above that.

Two more numbers are worth knowing. Creamy Animation's 2026 pricing guide says AI-assisted explainer videos from studios typically start around $1,500 to $4,000. Squideo's 2026 survey of 45 agencies found an average explainer video price of £2,960.

Route	What you get	Typical 2026 price	Best for
Do-it-yourself tool	Templates, stock icons, an AI voice, your own hours	From about $99	Logo stings, looping backgrounds, simple text clips
AI-assisted studio	A studio using AI tools for part of the work	$1,500 to $4,000	A first explainer with a human checking it
Fixed-price package	Script, human voiceover, animation, set delivery date	Our 30-second explainer is $297 (normally $497), 60 seconds is $497	A sales video on a known budget
Custom animation studio	Original artwork, storyboards, art direction	$5,000 to $10,000, more for 3D	Brand films and product launches

Be fair to the top of that table. A studio at $5,000 buys artwork drawn for your brand, a storyboard you approve scene by scene, and time for several rounds of art direction.

If your video has to look unlike anyone else's, that is where the money goes. If it only has to explain a service and book a job, it does not. Our comparison of explainer video types by budget lays the tiers out side by side.

Which types can you make yourself, and which need a studio?

You can make logo animations, looping backgrounds, transitions and simple text clips yourself with a template tool. Explainer videos, ads that have to sell, and infographics built on your own numbers are worth handing to someone else.

Some types of motion graphics are low risk to try. A logo sting is six seconds long and nobody judges your business by it. A looping background is wallpaper. If the first attempt is ugly, you lost an evening.

The dividing line is the script. A template can move your words around the screen. It cannot decide which 90 words earn your 30 seconds, and that decision is most of the result.

Style matters too. Pexo's 2026 guide to explainer video types calls whiteboard animation the budget-friendly workhorse for step-by-step teaching and professional services, 2D motion graphics the all-round style, and live action the choice when you need a real face or product on screen.

If you want something built from scratch, our custom work starts with a free 30-minute call and a fixed quote within 24 hours.

How do you brief the type you picked?

A good brief names the job, the words, the must-see moments, two colours and one font, plus the file list. Five steps get you there in under an hour.

Step 1: Name the one job the video has to do

Write one sentence covering who watches, where they see it, and what they should do next. A video built for two jobs usually does neither.

Step 2: Write the words before you think about pictures

Script first, pictures second. Plan about 150 spoken words per minute, so a 60-second script lands at roughly 140 to 160 words, according to Breadnbeyond's guide to 60-second scripts. Keep the four parts in Biteable's script template: hook, problem, solution, call to action (the line that asks for the booking).

Step 3: List the moments the viewer has to see

Name the three or four things that must appear on screen: your van, your price, a map of your area, the booking button. Everything else is the animator's call.

Step 4: Lock two colours and one font

Send your logo file, two colour codes and one font name. Fewer choices make the first draft land closer to right, which saves a revision round.

Step 5: Set the file list and the deadline

Ask for widescreen, vertical and square versions, plus one with captions burned in. Agree the delivery date in writing before you pay anything.

Want something bigger? Book a free 30-minute video call → We plan your custom video with you and send a fixed quote within 24 hours.

What would a plumber, a dentist and a gym owner order?

A plumber orders a 20-second animated ad, a dentist orders a 60-second explainer, and a gym owner orders a 15-second kinetic typography clip. Each choice follows the job, not the style.

The plumber sells speed. A 20-second animated ad shows a burst pipe, a phone, a van moving across a map, and whatever promise you can actually keep. It runs on Facebook with captions on.

The dentist sells calm. A 60-second explainer walks through the first visit: the call, the chair, the numbing, the talk about price. It sits on the homepage, which is the use Yum Yum Videos ties to the 60 to 90 second band.

The gym sells a deadline. A 15-second text clip puts the joining offer and the closing date on screen over a beat. It runs as an ad, where the shorter band belongs.

Which mistakes lead small businesses to buy the wrong type?

The most common mistake is shopping by style instead of by job. Decide what you need the viewer to do next, then let the animator choose the look that gets it done.

Buying a long video for an ad slot. A 90-second story dies in a feed. Order the short cut at the same time as the long one, from the same script.

Paying for interface animation first. Buttons that bounce do not book jobs. Get the sales video live, then polish the site.

Approving a quote with no script. Without a script nobody knows how many scenes exist, so the number is a guess and the change requests are billable.

Choosing 3D because it looks expensive. 3D costs more and takes longer. Most local businesses sell better with flat shapes, clear words and a human voice.

Frequently asked questions

Is motion graphics the same as animation?

Motion graphics is one branch of animation. Animation covers everything that moves frame by frame, including drawn characters. Motion graphics moves designed elements like text, icons and charts, which is quicker and cheaper to produce.

How long should a motion graphics video run?

Between 15 and 90 seconds, depending on where it runs. Social ads do their work in 15 to 30 seconds. A homepage explainer can take 60 to 90 seconds, because that viewer chose to watch. Logo animations and transitions run under six seconds.

Does a motion graphics video need a voiceover?

An explainer video needs one, because a spoken sentence carries more than a text card. Kinetic typography, animated ads and looping backgrounds work fine with music and on-screen words. Feeds play silently, so add captions either way.

Can one motion graphics video be cut into several types?

Yes. One 60-second explainer usually yields a 15-second ad cut, a square social version and several still frames. Ask for those cuts when you order, because editing later means paying for a second job.

Which file formats should you ask for?

Ask for MP4 files in widescreen, vertical and square, plus one captioned version. MP4 is the video format every website and social app accepts. Keep the project file too, in case a price on screen changes next year.

The short version

Most lists of the types of motion graphics are a vocabulary test. Here is the part that pays.

Four kinds win customers: kinetic typography, explainer videos, animated ads and logo animation. Five kinds support a page: interface animation, animated titles, animated infographics, transitions and looping backgrounds. Holograms and augmented reality are somebody else's problem.

Pick by job, not by look. A plumber needs a short ad. A dentist needs an explainer. A gym needs a text clip with a date on it.

Published 2026 prices run from about $99 for a template tool to $50,000 for a brand film, so decide what the video has to do before you read a single quote.

Then write the script, lock two colours, and set a delivery date. One clear video beats five pretty ones.

Ready to get your own video made? Order a 30-second explainer for $297 and have it in 7 days, or book a free call if you want a custom video from $1,299.

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