Motion designer(motion - “movement”) is engaged in the creation of motion graphics, which is 2D graphics in motion, in other words, the animation design of static images. The profession is suitable for those who are interested in drawing, drafting and computer science (see choosing a profession for interest in school subjects).

Motion graphics combine video, audio and text into a single animated story. Three channels of information transmission are simultaneously used - image, sound, text. In combination, they have a stronger effect on the emotional perception of the viewer: the text attracts attention, and the sound and graphics are imprinted in the memory in a vivid way. The main task of motion graphics is to attract and hold attention, informing users about the product as much as possible.

Motion graphics, unlike a cartoon or video, do not have a complete and complete plot, but briefly express any idea or concept. To convert a static image to a dynamic one, apply different ways animations, video and audio effects, tools graphic design.

Motion designer is a new, demanded and promising profession. Modern television, internet, mobile applications, advertising, games widely use the possibilities of motion graphics. Animation graphics are ideal for presenting ideas to business partners, visualizing business models, illustrating company goals.

Motion design benefits:

1. Conciseness, speed of delivery, and clear content are indispensable factors for business advertising in a time-constrained environment.
2. Large capacity and easy to digest - a short video contains the main idea that defines the concept, large volume information.
3. Instead of boring text - a spectacular and stylish video. The vast majority of users prefer a video picture to text, which is why motion graphics are so in demand.

Features of the profession

To create effective animation, in addition to talent and inspiration, you need to do the following:

• determine the target audience for which motion graphics are created - animated images will be completely different for a training center, for example, and for a large production holding;
• clearly define the goals and style of the project, present the final result of the animation and, in accordance with this, choose technologies, tools and tools for creating motion graphics;
• develop terms of reference, where the requirements for the project are clearly stated: the main idea, information about the product, the duration of the video and intro, deadlines, payment methods, etc.;
• to be productive before starting to animate in Adobe after effects it is necessary to create a sketch in advance, the so-called storyboard of each scene;
• in the process of creating animation, it is necessary to observe the correct organizational structure for layers, photos and other elements;
• not get carried away with the visual capabilities of After Effects, clogging the animation with excessive effects that interfere with the perception of the main idea of ​​the video. Motion graphics are designed to convey key idea and the main concept, and this should be made as clear, simple and understandable as possible.

Pros and cons of the profession

pros

• Demand for the profession
• The lack of competition in the motion design profession on this moment. In 2-3 years the situation will change due to the popularity of the profession.
• High pay
• Creative, interesting work

Minuses

• due to the novelty of the profession, an insufficient number of educational centers;
• possible customer dissatisfaction with the results of the work.

Where to work as a motion designer

Television - creating titles, screensavers, subtitles, designing screensavers for programs.

Cinema — creation of openings, trailers, teasers, titles, screensavers.

Media - creating videos for entertainment, news and educational programs.

Business structures — development of presentations and infographics for conferences, websites, advertising of products and services.

The education system - the possibilities of motion graphics allow you to intelligibly explain the most complex scientific problems to the audience.

entertainment industry.

Important qualities

A motion designer is a highly specialized specialist with a wide range of skills.

Personal qualities:

• Creativity
• Artistic ability
• aesthetic taste
• Sense of style, harmony and symmetry
• Ability to work with information: search, analysis, application
• Ability to work in a team
• Ability to stay on trend
• Commitment to continuous learning of new technologies, programs and tools
• Ability to clearly and simply convey the main idea to the audience
• Analytical mind in terms of analyzing your own work

Professional skills

Knowledge of the basics of graphic design - color (color theory), composition, typography (artistic and expressive text design)

Knowledge of the basics of screenwriting

Fluency graphic programs and video editors:

Programs for working with graphics:

• Adobe Photoshop;
• Adobe Illustrator;
• Adobe Flash.

Video processing software:

• Adobe After Effects;
• Autodesk Combustion;
• Adobe Premiere Pro;
• Nuke;
• Apple Motion.

Programs for the development of 3D graphics and animation:

• Autodesk Maya;
• Autodesk 3ds Max;
• blender;
• Light Wave 3D;
• Cinema 4D.

Motion designer training

Self-education is of great importance for the improvement in the profession.

Motion designer - new profession. There are currently no training programs for this profession in Russian universities. There are training courses on the Russian market:

You will gain practical skills in the main areas of motion design, get acquainted with tools, modeling and animation. After completing the entire program, you will be able to apply for a position motion design era. The course is a combination of theory and practice. You complete your homework, then access to new unique content on the topic opens up. Three to five hours a week is enough.

Salary

Salary as of 01/20/2020

Russia 20000—150000 ₽

Moscow 70000—130000 ₽

According to the portal hh.ru, a novice motion designer can count on a salary of 60 thousand rubles. per month. Specialists of a more advanced level receive many times more, depending on work experience and skills.

Career steps and prospects

Career prospects for a motion designer are associated with advanced training within the profession, as well as in the system of continuous professional education in order to achieve higher qualifications and gain authority from specialists.

The first motion designer is considered to be director and graphic designer Saul Bass, who in the 1960s created motion graphics for movie titles. At that time, the creation of motion graphics was a very expensive and time-consuming process. But with the emergence and development of computers and the Internet, the art of motion design has become simpler, extremely popular and in demand.

Video: What is Motion Design?

Hello everyone! In this article I will talk about such an interesting phenomenon in the design industry as motion design.

So what is motion design?

Many of you have seen animated videos with moving pictures or letters on the Internet or on TV. Such videos are usually used in advertising screensavers. All this movement on the screen is called motion design.

In other words, motion design is the animation of graphics. A static image enters the world of motion design as soon as it starts to move.

You can see a good example of how motion works below. Look first at the image in a stationary state, then press the play button and everything will become clear to you.

In the same way, you can "animate" any graphic objects.

When using motion graphics, you can simply and clearly convey any information to the client. Do you want to tell the client about your company? Instead of boring text and static pictures, create a motion video.

Where did this kind of 2D design come from?

Motion design originated at the origins of cinema and gained significant development in the 50s in the USA, thanks to such designers as Saul Bass, Maurice Binder and Pablo Ferro. At that time, animated titles and logos began to appear on television.

This art form has continued to develop for 50 years, and over the past 15 years, due to the development of digital technology, is experiencing a real boom.

To date, motion graphics is a relevant and popular type of creativity and an interesting hobby.
Developing video clips with 2D motion graphics is a very fascinating process that you can not tear yourself away from.

The promo video made for the film "The Elusive" causes an irrepressible desire to watch this film in its entirety.

Due to the high market demand for motion graphics, your passion for motion videos can grow into a well-paid profession.

Where is motion design applied?

Here are a few examples of areas where motion design is heavily applied:

• advertising
• video clips
• infographics
• Web sites
• corporate video
• cinema (uncredited)
• training (video explanation). Often used in the information business.
• mobile applications

Some might say that motion design is difficult and expensive. That motion is subject only to super specialists with great experience, but I dare to assure you that all this is nothing more than a myth.

How to learn to make motion video?

Everyone can learn how to make high-quality videos with motion graphics. It sounds incredible, of course, but despite the frenzied popularity of motion graphics, there were practically no training courses on this topic on the Internet. But with the advent of the Super Motion course, everything changed.

The authors of the course made the lessons on motion graphics accessible and understandable to everyone. The video course is filled with high-quality and useful content so that it is interesting for both beginners and more advanced users of the After Effects program.

To maximize the effect of the course, all lessons in the course consist only of practical lessons. No boring theory, just practice. After studying each chapter of the course, you will create a finished video.

In support of my words, I will give an overview video of one of the chapters of the motion design course.

Looking at these videos, it may seem that you can’t do something like this, but in fact it is easier than it seems. You can verify this for yourself by visiting the page with the course and reading the reviews of real students.

There is one more thing that I would like to draw your attention to - this is the lack of competition in the motion design market. But in another couple of years, more specialists in this field will appear and the niche of motion design will be occupied.

If you are a creative person and have decided to be the first among those who want to try themselves in a new promising type of design, go ahead. A video course "Super Motion" will help you!

Note! By promo code SUPERMOTION_10EB you will get a discount 15% to purchase a course

P.S. How to apply a promo code read

ASK A QUESTION Take a tour

Duration of training
2 years (4 semesters)

Price
330,000 rubles per year (payment in installments is possible)

Approximate training schedule -
PART TIME: TWO OR THREE EVENINGS ON WEEKDAYS (19:00 - 22:10) AND ONE WEEKEND (11:00 - 18:20)*

*this training schedule may change depending on the schedule

START DATE
OCTOBER 2020

Purpose of the course

Students learn the tools necessary to complete the entire production cycle of graphic projects. Course graduates - future motion / multimedia designers, CG generalists will be able to work in modern production studios.

Education

One of the unique teaching methods in our School is the process of working on a studio brief, and most importantly, the educational process is built in the same way as working on a real project in the studios.

• analysis and study of the client's task, development of a creative idea;
• searching for references, assembling a moodboard, creating styleframes and presentations;
• creation of animatics and previsualization of the video;
• 3d modeling, texturing and lighting of objects;
• rig skill, key animation and procedural animation;
• the skill of photorealistic and stylized rendering, rendering by passes;
• knowledge of the basics of compositing and work with high resolutions.

Students of the program study together with students of the specialization "". The first course is devoted to the basic skills of working with the main tools of Cinema4D, AfterEffects, Houdini, unreal engine, redshift; learning the basics of art direction: composition, modular grids, typography; learning how to work with new media and storytelling. The second year takes a more in-depth study of tools, the use of generative graphics, work with multimedia technologies and space. And also, in the second year of study, students prepare real projects based on live briefs and create graduation projects based on them.
More information about the program can be found in the "" section.

Portfolio

During their studies, students perform the most different tasks according to current guidelines. Finished projects- advertising and music videos, projection installations on a realtime engine, content for shows and multimedia installations are included in the graduate's professional portfolio and become his passport to the industry.

Who is the program for?

For successful admission, the applicant must submit their work in various areas of graphic design and photography: printing works, illustrations, freehand drawings, collages, posters, billboards, corporate identity, logos, etc. A big plus will be the presence of video works: presentations, clips, promotional videos, animation or advertising projects.

12 Classic Motion Design Styles - Ultimate Guide

Our production director Anton Posokhin has compiled a guide to classic and at the same time, always relevant motion design styles. Study to understand which motion videos will definitely shoot!

1. Flat design (flat)

Flat design became especially popular in 2013 when Apple released iOS 7. Its main characteristic is minimalism, the deliberate simplification of objects. Flat design does not use texture effects, shadows, light, 3D elements. At the same time, the flat design color scheme includes a variety of bright, rich colors and shades.

As a result, such a motion design looks stylish and expensive, while not overloading the viewer's perception with unnecessary details. Not surprisingly, flat design is often used in explainer videos and pre-rolls on YouTube, where you need to quickly convey a large amount of information to the audience.

For the same reasons, flat design videos are so loved by innovative IT-related companies. Who doesn't want to be like Apple?!

2. Line style (line art)

Another variation on the theme of minimalism in motion design, but with completely different accents. In inline style, all objects are drawn as thin or thick lines with no fill. This makes the picture as concise as possible. Sometimes line art is considered a type of flat design. The main goal is still the same - not to distract the viewer from the main elements of the frame and the speaker's important theses.

Here we use the classic inline style:

And here is an interesting variant of combining lineart with 3D graphics:

3. Isometric

Isometric  is a view with three visible sides of a figure/object, and all lines are at an angle parallel to 30° and there are no perspective cuts.
The camera seems to be looking out upper corner room and clearly fixed at one point. Remember the classic RPG video games? Many of them are classic examples of isometric projection.

Initially, this style was used in technical and engineering drawings, and then it was chosen by motion designers.

The main advantage of the isometric style is versatility. It is suitable for both explainer video and company presentation video.

Image video of the company "COLUMBIA TECH" in isometry:

And here is our work, an explainer for the MilkCoin ICO project:

4. Low-poly style (low-poly)

It is a bit symbolic that one of the most fashionable, expensive and sought-after styles in modern motion design appeared because of the need to save money. In the early days of 3D modeling, low poly models were used to conserve machine resources. Today, in the era of high-performance processors, low-poly models are no longer a necessity, but an element of a special retro chic.

This is what the classic low poly style looks like:

5. Pixel graphics (8-16-bit)

Another style from the “well-forgotten old” series. Why is Dendy and Sega style motion design so popular in 2019? Perhaps the point is that the generation of the 90s grew up and became the most solvent audience. And their nostalgia for youth has not gone away. See what full halls all these “Superdiscotheques of the 90s” collect!

In addition, pixel art is ideal for industry events like game festivals, technology conferences, etc. And the eight-bit style is also used in advertising pre-rolls for social networks and video hosting.

Our case is a motion video for the Stuka Festival of Large-Scale Hobbies:

6. Comic style (comics)

As you might guess, this style came to motion design from comics. The animation here is usually simple. The emphasis is not on complexity, but on originality. It captures the attention of the audience from the first seconds. If minimalism ruled in the previous styles, then highly artistic illustrations with drawing the smallest details come into play. Therefore, there is no special motion animation - the emphasis is on graphics.

Comic style is great for company blogs. Often comics become an element of the company's corporate culture and are closely watched by hundreds of employees and thousands of potential customers and partners.

Like the previous style, the comic style is great for entertaining and educational formats, short advertisements on TV, social networks.

Here is our comic video for the New Year promotion of the brand "CANYON":

And here is an example of informative, educational content in the style of "comics":

7. Calligraphy and the appearance of ink in the frame

Motion design style, coolly mixed with an artistic component. Paint ink appears in the frame, which successfully complements the hand-drawn illustrations. For the first time such a solution was used by the creators of the film "Sherlock Holmes" by Guy Ritchie. The credits used a mixture of photography, ink textures, illustrations and calligraphy:

The new trend was immediately picked up by the design community. In our experience, this style is more often used in the non-profit sector.

For example, here is our case on creating a series of videos for the Belgorod State Museum of Folk Culture:

8. Frame-by-frame animation

One of the most complex and painstaking styles precisely in terms of production. In fact, this is not so much a motion design style as a separate genre - classic animation. Each frame is drawn by hand! It is not surprising that such a video costs a lot of money.

The more frames per second, the smoother and more realistic the animation looks - usually 24 frames per second. Sometimes the number of shots is deliberately reduced to achieve a “cartoonish” effect and to get a unique style of video that will be remembered.

Example with 10-15 fps:

Stop-motion animation is often used when creating projects with a humorous component involving characters. The scope of application is TV advertising or pre-rolls, and also social videos.

As a separate style of frame-by-frame animation, stop motion can be distinguished, when the video sequence consists of a quick change of static photographic images.

9. Pop-up animation (pop-up)

The first association with the word pop-up is pop-up ads in the Internet browser. Later, the term went offline as well. For example, seasonal shops that appear literally out of the blue for a few weeks, and then also rapidly disappear, are called the Pop-up Store. Often pop-up style is used in advertising of consumer goods:

And here is our case, motion animation in pop-up style for the editors of the periodical "President":

10. “Liquid” design (liquid motion)

One of the main motion design trends of recent years, which will not slow down in the near future. Liquid motion is an animation style that deviates from the realistic movement of objects and characters in a frame. Instead of lines and geometric shapes to transition from one movement to another, “flows” are used with characteristic splashes and drops.

Liquid motion is often “played” with rich colors, which makes the picture even more attractive. Viewers of liquid motion videos can develop a psychedelic effect due to unexpected, quick changes, bright colors and morphing!

One of the most interesting world cases in the style of liquid motion:

11. Television design (broadcast design)

This is a whole layer of motion design that came from television broadcasts. All the intros of TV shows, news releases and branded interruptions that you see on TV are broadcast design:

Classic broadcast design is a dynamic camera, metal, glass, stunning 3D graphics with a bunch of small graphic elements (shureshek). But sometimes teledesign happens like this:

In Europe, viewers gravitate towards minimalism and simplicity rather than heavy, detail-laden 3D graphics, unlike us Russians and Arabs.

Now the principles of visualization from the broadcast are smoothly flowing into the commercial sector. In a similar style, companies order image videos and animated logos for themselves.

The three main criteria for good TV design are camera, composition, and color scheme. We have a lot to be proud of in this area. Screensaver for the international exhibition-forum "ECOTECH-2017":

And this is a splash screen for PJSC SIBUR Holding:

Often, full-fledged video presentations are made in the style of television design. The Swiss company "GFU SA" last year turned to us just for motion design:

12. Hybrid 2D and 3D (2D/3D hybrid)

After the resounding success of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), the 2D/3D animation craze has become the next big thing in motion design. Sometimes it's not so easy to choose between cartoonishness and a sense of wonder, like in childhood, which gives 2D animation and a bright realistic 3D picture. Well, you don't have to choose anymore.

The combination of 2D and 3D will break out of big cinema into video advertising in the very near future. All industry experts agree on this.

Instead of a conclusion

The motion design industry is dynamic and always looking for fresh ideas! We do not exclude that already this year, after the release of the next blockbuster, a new trend will appear in video design that will blow up the market. But, at the same time, really successful solutions here come for a long time or take on a new look over time.

For example, the wildly popular doodle video style in 2014, although it has ceased to be the peak of fashion, is successfully used to this day in suitable areas.

Or remember at least low-poly, which was originally introduced due to production needs, and today it has migrated to the category of art.

The 12 listed styles will be considered good form in video design in the next 3-5 years and will bring a noticeable response to Customers.

And what styles do you think we have not taken into account? Write in the comments!

Love motion design with us! And follow us 😉

If you asked me when is it easier to learn motion design, now or 5-10 years ago? I would not be able to answer with certainty.

Previously (5-10 years ago), in order to find information, it was necessary to dig well on the Internet. And then there were only 2-3 sites that published tutorials. Today there is so much information that it is difficult to find the really necessary and important. There are a lot of lessons, a lot of tutorials, so where to start?

After Effects is not Motion Design yet

For many, motion design is associated with Adobe program after effects. And this is not surprising, because it is one of the most popular and convenient programs to create animation. To tell the truth, it does not matter what program you will work in, Flash, Photoshop, After Effects or others, what matters is how harmoniously and tasty you can create animation. Software is just a tool with which the artist's idea is realized.

Learn the basics of design

The first thing I recommend is to learn the basics of graphic design, to lay the foundation upon which a strong understanding and taste in motion design will be built. To learn the software, you need to spend several months or even weeks, but to cultivate a taste and learn the theory - this can already take much more time. Of course, it is important to study everything in parallel. But pay special attention to the laws and bases in design.

When I started studying motion, I started with mastering After Effects, and to tell the truth, it could not be called motion design, it was more like moving objects in chaos :-). But by studying the work of graphic designers and professional motion designers, I began to understand what works and how.
What design theory do I need to know.

1. Color

It is important to understand how to choose and combine colors correctly. A common mistake beginners make is the lack of a single color palette in a project, which results in disharmony in the frame. You need to understand and know the psychology of color, what is the difference between warm and cold colors, how a certain color affects a person.

2. Composition

This is the foundation of foundations in motion design. Knowledge of composition will help you make each frame interesting and harmonious, you will learn to distinguish the main from the secondary. You need to know what the golden ratio is, perspectives, what types of perspectives exist, how to properly position objects. In the study of composition, the analysis of paintings by artists, the analysis of the work of graphic designers will greatly help.

Additionally, it is important to know

In addition to the three basics, it is important to know other important things. I recommend learning the 12 Principles of Animation. This will help you create more dynamic and memorable videos:

It is also important to know, since motion design is as close as possible to video and cinema, and you need to know what parts the story is built from and how to influence the viewer. I recommend several books:

Mitt "Cinema Between Hell and Heaven"
Million Dollar Story

In addition, knowing the basics of photography and filming will be a big plus for you. Knowledge of aperture, focal length, shutter speed. What is the difference between a long lens and a wide angle lens. All this will give you a strong foundation and will serve as an excellent support when creating animation.

Do not forget to visit exhibitions, galleries. Watch and see what and how works in art.
I hope this article will be useful to you and will become a starting point into the mysterious world of motion. Next, I will tell you what software you need to know for motion design and where to start, but already in practice.

Analyze work:

If you're serious about getting into motion design, this skill will help you solidify what you've learned. Every time you see work that inspires or hooks you, ask yourself questions like:

– How harmonious the image looks in terms of composition

– What fonts were used, how they fit together

What methods does he use

Get an inspiration library

It is very important to collect useful and inspiring materials in one place. It can be a separate folder on your computer, an album on pinterest, or a notebook on evernote. The advantage of the latter option is the smart sorting of files - you can create notebooks, separate notes and assign them certain tags. And all this can be viewed from your phone, browser or laptop.

Proper sorting of the found information will help you easily find the videos, photos or illustrations you need. In this way, you will cultivate your taste and understand what you like and what is beautiful and cool in motion design for you.

Get into the habit of finding 1-2 inspirational videos or images every day and adding them to your library. In 30 days you will have 30-60 cool works that will serve as a source of inspiration.

Also, write in the comments what topics you would be interested in learning about motion design, and perhaps in the near future you will receive answers to them.