Some motion designers start out as traditional graphic designers and later incorporate motion into their skillsets, while others have come from filmmaking, editing, or animation backgrounds, as these fields share a number of overlapping skills.[3]
Technology
Technological advancements during the 20th and 21st centuries have greatly impacted the field; chief among these are improvements in modern computing technology, as computer programs for the film and video industries became more powerful and more widely available during this period. Modern motion graphic design typically involves any of several computerized tools and processes.
Adobe After Effects is one of the leading computer programs used by modern motion graphic designers.[2] It allows users to create and modify graphics over time.[4]
3D software such as Cinema 4D and Blender are part of many modern motion designers' toolkits.[2]
Adobe Animate, formerly known as Flash, is a tool for 2D motion graphic design. Prior to the rise of HTML5, it was the primary tool for web animation.[5] It has also been used for creating video animations, such as the web seriesHomestar Runner.[6] It is still used by some motion designers, particularly for frame-by-frame, or "cel" animation.[4][7]
Adobe Premiere Pro is often used with After Effects when combining video footage with motion graphics.[2][8]
Motion graphic design is often used in the film industry. Openings to movies, television shows, and news programs often use photography, typography and motion graphics to create visually appealing imagery. Motion graphic design has also achieved widespread use in content marketing and advertising.
In 2018, Cisco projected that 82% of all web traffic would be video by 2022.[11] Marketers and advertisers have focused much of their efforts on the production of high-quality branded video and motion graphic content.[citation needed]
In addition to its myriad of uses in advertising, marketing, and branding, motion graphics are used in software, UI design, video game development, and other fields. Although motion design and animation share many commonalities, the difference between them lies in the fact that animation as a specific art form focuses more on cinematic effects and storytelling techniques to craft a narrative, whereas motion design is typically associated with setting abstract objects, text and other graphic design elements in motion. Bringing a graph, infographic or web design to life using movement is broadly speaking "animation", but more specifically, it’s a type of animation that’s called motion graphics.[citation needed]
Motion graphics take a variety of forms. While some are entirely animated, others incorporate live-action video and/or photography. The latter may include animation overlay, such as data visualizations, icons, illustrations, and explanatory text used to complement and enhance audiences' understanding of the content.[citation needed]
In content marketing contexts, there are three primary types of motion graphics which marketers choose to use depending on the goals they wish to achieve with the motion graphic. Explainer motion graphics seek to elucidate a product, process, or concept. Emotive motion graphics, meanwhile, aim to inspire a particular emotional response in audiences.[citation needed] And finally, promotional motion graphics are used to raise awareness about a service, product, or initiative. Because so many motion graphics are designed with particular goals in mind, it is often essential to partner with a designer or organization specializing in visual communication design[citation needed] to achieve a final product that conveys information in both an accurate and compelling way.[12][irrelevant citation]
UX and motion design
User experience designer sketching out new design for a phone app
UX, also known as user experience, works hand in hand with motion design. For example, when designing a phone app, motion design is used to improve user experience.[13]
Motion design improves the user experience tremendously and effectively by adding animations to any screen. Motion design is not only used in phone apps; it is used in computers, tablets, smartphones, televisions, and lots more. UX designers use motion design to create their prototyping, and experience with it to determine whether it is easy to use for an average person, or if it needs enhancing.[14]
In the United States, the average motion designer income was $87,900 (USD) per year in 2019.[16]
Motion design skills
Skills in typography are critical to motion designers, as videos, cartoons and advertisements often include text. A good motion designer knows how to use type styles, sizes, and timing to use text to attract audiences.
Knowledge of color theory is also very important for motion designers. They must have a good understanding of the color circle, complementary colors, and color saturations. The use of color is extremely helpful in communicating moods, effects and emotions.
Other important motion-design skills are attention to detail; and good timing sense, for things such as matching video to audio.[17]
History
Motion design began as early as the 1800s, when early animation devices such as flip-books were invented.
There were no official founders of this art form, however, Saul Bass, Pablo Ferro, and John Whitney are some of the earliest well-known motion designers.
John Whitney was one of the pioneers of computer-generated motion design. In 1960, he coined the term "motion graphics" with the foundation of his company, Motion Graphics Incorporated. He invented his own mechanical analog computer to design motion graphics for television commercials and movie title sequences.
Whitney collaborated with Saul Bass to animate one of his most famous pieces, the title sequence for Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 film Vertigo, which featured swirling graphics increasing in size.[18]
Professional education
A degree in motion design can help an aspiring designer build a foundation for a career, by developing their skills in design, animation and conceptual thinking.[19] In the United States, college-level bachelor's degree programs can cost around $200,000.[1][20]
Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdisciplinary branch of design and of the fine arts. Its practice involves creativity, innovation and lateral thinking using manual or digital tools, where it is usual to use text and graphics to communicate visually.
Adobe Flash is a discontinued multimedia software platform used for production of animations, rich internet applications, desktop applications, mobile apps, mobile games, and embedded web browser video players.
Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe for Windows and macOS. It was originally created in 1987 by Thomas and John Knoll. Since then, the software has become the most used tool for professional digital art, especially in raster graphics editing. Owing to its fame, the program's name has become genericised as a verb although Adobe disapproves of such use.
A vector graphic editor is a computer program that enables its users to create, compose and edit images with the use of mathematical and geometrical commands rather than individual pixels. This software is used in creating high-definition vector graphic images that can be scaled indefinitely without losing their quality. The output is saved in vector graphic formats, such as EPS, ODG, or SVG.
Adobe Illustrator is a vector graphics editor and design software developed and marketed by Adobe. Originally designed for the Apple Macintosh, development of Adobe Illustrator began in 1985. Along with Creative Cloud, Illustrator CC was released. The latest version, Illustrator 2024, was released on October 10, 2023, and is the 28th generation in the product line. Adobe Illustrator was reviewed as the best vector graphics editing program in 2021 by hpMagazine.
A game programmer is a software engineer, programmer, or computer scientist who primarily develops codebases for video games or related software, such as game development tools. Game programming has many specialized disciplines, all of which fall under the umbrella term of "game programmer". A game programmer should not be confused with a game designer, who works on game design.
Graphics are visual images or designs on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, screen, paper, or stone, to inform, illustrate, or entertain. In contemporary usage, it includes a pictorial representation of data, as in design and manufacture, in typesetting and the graphic arts, and in educational and recreational software. Images that are generated by a computer are called computer graphics.
A category of fine art, graphic art covers a broad range of visual artistic expression, typically two-dimensional, i.e. produced on a flat surface. The term usually refers to the arts that rely more on line, color or tone, especially drawing and the various forms of engraving; it is sometimes understood to refer specifically to printmaking processes, such as line engraving, aquatint, drypoint, etching, mezzotint, monotype, lithography, and screen printing. Graphic art mostly includes calligraphy, photography, painting, typography, computer graphics, and bindery. It also encompasses drawn plans and layouts for interior and architectural designs.
In computer graphics, graphics software refers to a program or collection of programs that enable a person to manipulate images or models visually on a computer.
A number of vector graphics editors exist for various platforms. Potential users of these editors will make a comparison of vector graphics editors based on factors such as the availability for the user's platform, the software license, the feature set, the merits of the user interface (UI) and the focus of the program. Some programs are more suitable for artistic work while others are better for technical drawings. Another important factor is the application's support of various vector and bitmap image formats for import and export.
Graphic art software is a subclass of application software used for graphic design, multimedia development, stylized image development, technical illustration, general image editing, or simply to access graphic files. Art software uses either raster or vector graphic reading and editing methods to create, edit, and view art.
Motion graphics are pieces of animation or digital footage that create the illusion of motion or rotation, and are usually combined with audio for use in multimedia projects. Motion graphics are usually displayed via electronic media technology, but may also be displayed via manual powered technology. The term distinguishes static graphics from those with a transforming appearance over time, without over-specifying the form. While any form of experimental or abstract animation can be called motion graphics, the term typically more explicitly refers to the commercial application of animation and effects to video, film, TV, and interactive applications.
3D computer graphics, sometimes called CGI, 3-D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics, are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering digital images, usually 2D images but sometimes 3D images. The resulting images may be stored for viewing later or displayed in real time.
In fields employing interface design skills, slicing is the process of dividing a single 2D user interface composition layout (comp) into multiple image files of the graphical user interface (GUI) for one or more electronic pages. It is typically part of the client side development process of creating a web page and/or web site, but is also used in the user interface design process of software development and game development.
Computer graphics deals with generating images and art with the aid of computers. Today, computer graphics is a core technology in digital photography, film, video games, digital art, cell phone and computer displays, and many specialized applications. A great deal of specialized hardware and software has been developed, with the displays of most devices being driven by computer graphics hardware. It is a vast and recently developed area of computer science. The phrase was coined in 1960 by computer graphics researchers Verne Hudson and William Fetter of Boeing. It is often abbreviated as CG, or typically in the context of film as computer generated imagery (CGI). The non-artistic aspects of computer graphics are the subject of computer science research.
Adobe XD is a vector design tool for web and mobile applications, developed and published by Adobe Inc. It is available for macOS and Windows, and there are versions for iOS and Android to help preview the result of work directly on mobile devices. Adobe XD enables website wireframing and creating click-through prototypes.
Live2D is an animation technique used to animate static images—usually anime-style characters—that involves separating an image into parts and animating each part accordingly, without the need of frame-by-frame animation or a 3D model. This enables characters to move using 2.5D movement while maintaining the original illustration.
School of Motion is an online learning platform for motion designers. Founded by Joey Korenman in 2013, School of Motion grew from a series of After Effects tutorials by Korenman, to his course Animation Bootcamp, to over 20 in-depth courses taught by industry professionals.
References
[25] Willenskomer, Issara. “Motion Design in Digital Products: a White Paper.” Medium, UX in Motion, 20 June 2019
[26] Richard Williams, The Animator's Survival Kit, a manual of methods, principles and formulas.
[27] “The History of Motion Graphics - Triplet 3D: Blog.” Triplet 3D, 3 July 2015, www.triplet3d.com/the-history-of-motion-graphics.
[28] Norman, Donald A. The Design of Everyday Things. Basic Books, 2013.
Blauvelt, Andrew, et al. Graphic Design : Now in Production. 1st ed., Walker Art Center, 2011.
Krasner, Jon S. Motion Graphic Design : Applied History and Aesthetics. 2nd ed., Focal Press, 2008, https://doi.org/10.4324/9780080887326.
↑ Williams, Richard (7 January 2002). The Animator's Survival Kit: A Manual of Methods, Principles and Formulas for Classical, Computer, Games, Stop Motion and Internet Animators. ISBN0571202284.
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