INFORMING WITH ANIMATION The raise of the new language of 'informanimation'.

Among the many innovations that have recently affected the world of animation, over the last few years we have witnessed a new trend, that we have called ‘informanimation’, that exploits the versatility and communicative potential of the moving image language to deliver contents that are mainly informative. This article, by presenting the unfolding scenario, aims at highlighting the foundational nature of the hybrid language that is taking shape around this new trend, underlining how the original combination of elements coming from different fields: animation, graphic design and visual communication, typography, infographics and motion graphics, is today offering us an extraordinary communicative palette. In order to do so, the article discusses specific aspects of this new area of study that make it unique and worthy of further investigation. The article discusses the theme through a short historical perspective and the analysis of a selected group of case studies. Finally, by focusing on some possible future developments of this new ‘genre’ we introduce potential synergy opportunities with the new scenario resulting from the expanding communication space defined by social networking.