Viz student honored for project illustrating Kid President’s words

The uplifting words of viral video star [Kid President] (http://kidpresident.com/) literally leap across the screen in an award-winning [video] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKICbqO_-Qo&feature=youtu.be) created by Texas A&M [undergraduate visualization] (http://viz.arch.tamu.edu/undergraduate/) student Rachel Mayor.

Mayor illustrates what Kid President, a.k.a Robby Novak, age 10, says in rapid-fire delivery about the importance of history, learning and leadership by using a technique called “kinetic type” — an animation technique mixing motion and text.

Created as an assignment in a class led by Sherman Finch, assistant professor of visualization, the video won first-place honors in the video division of the University Writing Center’s [Aggie Voices Contest] (http://writingcenter.tamu.edu/2014/news/aggie-voices-contest-winners-announced-for-2014/) , which recognizes excellence in undergraduate communication by honoring outstanding writing and videos.

“The assignment was to create a kinetic typography piece that was between one and two minutes,” said Mayor. “I chose to do a piece using Kid President because his voice is so unique, plus his message is always positive and encouraging.”

It was challenging, she said, to edit the content from the original Kid President video into a project she would be able to complete in a few weeks, as well as link his sentences visually with effective transitions.

Mayor and her fellow video and writing winners each won a $100 Amazon.com gift card in the contest.