China Unicom is a Chinese state-owned telecommunications operator. It is the world’s fourth-largest mobile service provider. Their 2018 report makes use of startlingly quick animation and a bold colour palette.
The primary animation conveys a sense of zooming down a glossy, black tunnel while thin golden lines whip past – perhaps an attempt to suggest travelling along a fibre optic cable. The high speed of travel between stopping points (the various thematic sections) is unexpected and for an annual report, exhilarating. The thematic stops seem to hover in the middle of the tunnel and the sense of three-dimensionality is effective and futuristic.
The secondary animation is more subtle: when a reader arrives at a thematic stopping point, various smaller elements continue to judder and shake for a few extra seconds – again, a convincing attempt at replicating motion – like a car coming to a stop and bags in the boot shifting and bumping into each other.
The thematic stopping points have a third layer of animation that allows the reader to ‘turn’ their ‘head’ around the tunnel a little, creating a sense of depth in the tunnel by suggesting that elements in the fore-, mid- and background move independently.
A sharp white and light grey help leaven the intensity of the other colours. Perhaps the type treatments could have done with more thought – the selected sans serif is pedestrian and a more futuristic approach would have elevated the visual elements of the design.
The most noteworthy aspect of this report remains the speed of the primary animation. It is an unusual approach to navigation, with most online reports aiming for smooth, evenly paced animation, but here, it is perfectly suited to a giant telecommunications company.
