5 Tips I Wish I Knew Before I Started Motion Design

today we're talking about five things that i wish i knew before i started learning motion design and animation we'll go over universal tips principles and resources for anyone that's looking to get into motion design or improve if they're learning currently starting off with number one is that the rules of graphic design also apply to animation so i started my career doing motion design first learning graphic design at a university later and in doing that i realized i'd basically done the entire learning process backwards i learned so many rules and principles of design at university which i later applied to motion design and i immediately saw improvements in my work the reason why this felt backwards is because graphic design often works with static imagery whereas with animation you're creating hundreds or even thousands of frames at a time the problem here is if you don't learn how to design one frame properly it's going to be very difficult for you to automatically know how to make multiple frames work together this is something i say to anyone that asks me when they're looking for advice to learn motion design master the basic principles of graphic design first rhythm contrast hierarchy and when you feel comfortable with those things it will be much easier for you to transition into motion design number two is the importance of context in creating themes in your animation the idea of building a visual theme in your animation helps create a consistent experience that immerses the viewer in what you're creating for example an animation that's themed around the idea of grittiness can use a lower frame rate textures choppier movements so that they feel more imperfect or handmade whereas an animation themed around tech can be smoother calculated almost as if it were generated purely by an ai or computer this technically means that there's no wrong answer when it comes to how you style your animation and the effects you use as long as it fits within the context of your theme a good practice is to come up with a few keywords that will define the style of your piece and call back to those words when you start adding effects or movement in your animation number three is learning to lead the viewer's eyes with your animation one of the most difficult skills to master in graphic design is hierarchy where you use sizing placement and color to direct your viewers eyes throughout your composition the added benefit of motion design is that you can use movement to your advantage to literally force a viewer's eyes in a certain direction something you should constantly keep in mind while animating is how you plan to direct the viewer's attention in this simple example i start by focusing the animation towards the center and redirect the movement to the left where the figure is standing this way by the time the second screen appears the viewer already knows where they should be looking this allows them to digest information one piece at a time rather than experiencing everything at once and potentially becoming overwhelmed tip number four and one of my personal favorites is that not everything needs to move this was one of my first mistakes when i started making match graphics was that i felt the need to animate every single layer without thinking about how it affects the design when you make something move it causes the viewer to focus on that object for example if you have a small piece of information that's at the bottom of your hierarchy or the least important as soon as you animate it it suddenly becomes the most important piece of information at that moment before animating you need to establish which pieces the viewer needs to focus on and work your way down from there that way you avoid animating objects that can potentially distract the viewer and disrupt your hierarchy the last tip i wanted to share with you all are some resources that i've found helpful throughout my career aescripts.com is basically a shopping mall for finding cheap plugins to after effects that can either be very convenient or solve very specific tasks for education two great resources to learn from are school of motion and motion design school both of which have paid courses but also offer free design tutorials on their youtube channels fx console is a free plugin created by video copilot that was specifically designed to save you time and speed up your workflow it offers a ton of features including exporting screenshots with a single click and fast searching effects it doesn't cost any money so there's really no downside to having it installed let me know if you have some ideas for future videos in the comments thank you for watching and subscribe for more design tips [Music] you

Channel: Nowack Design

Views: 534,086

Keywords: after effects, animation course, school of motion, motion design school, fx console after effects, Nowack Design, motion design, motion design tutorial, how to after effects, after effects beginner, after effects tutorial, after effects tips, motion design tips, animation tips, animation tips for beginners, animation tips and tricks, esports animation, esports design, how to esports design, esports designer, esports animator

Id: 9DhC0QYij5I

Length: 4min 18sec (258 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 04 2022