Motion Graphics Part 2

This week we’ll be moving on to the next stage of motion design, which involves planning out the design elements of your motion graphic to make it as visually exciting and engaging as possible.

In this week’s tutorial and assignment we’ll be talking about creating a mood board, which will help you establish a pleasing and consistent visual theme for your motion graphic.

Mood Boards & Style Frames

Motion Designers use several methods to help design the visual elements of their motion graphics. One of the simplest methods is to create a mood board; a collection of images of your theme which you can use for visual reference throughout the design process.

Style Frames

Slightly different to a mood board is a style frame - a single image that depicts the look and feel of a motion design project, often created as part of a project pitch.

A great style frame can be the difference between winning and losing a job, so style frames are extremely important in design-driven productions. They also guide the production team by providing a visual solution to the needs outlined in the brief, and establishing the boundaries of the project. They should be aesthetically beautiful as well as functional.

The composition of your style frame allows you to communicate your message with clarity, potency, and purpose. You should strive to make the frame a dynamic composition.

A style frame defines your project’s visual pattern, so style choices such as color palette, materials, textures, typography, and cinematic conventions are all visible in the frame. A style emerges when this visual pattern becomes recognizable, creating the feeling or sense that all elements in the viewport belong together.

For your information and inspiration, here’s a selection of great style frames on Pinterest.

Now that you’ve learned about gaining visual inspiration for your project, let’s watch this week’s video lecture from Andrew King, which is all about diving in to Adobe Illustrator to create some simple graphics to use in your motion graphic:

The Illustrator file featured in Andrew’s video can be downloaded here.

Before beginning this assignment, make sure you’ve watched Andrew's video lecture above.

Using Adobe Illustrator’ basic shape tools, create a simple design to start your motion graphic.