Making A Move With Motion Graphics

Let’s find out a bit more about our graphic designers and what their specialities are. To kick start the rollout of our graphic design blogs, is our motion graphics expert, Aisling Murphy. Aisling studied Creative Digital Media at MTU where she fell in love with multimedia. Today, Aisling is going to take us through all things motion graphics, so sit back and enjoy.

To put it simply, motion graphics is a collection of animated or digital assets which come together with sound and movement to tell a story. Everywhere you look you can see motion graphics, TV ads and content marketing is just a couple of examples as to where they’re often used. Originally known as ‘broadcast design’ There has always been a strong awareness of the commercial value of the discipline, despite its roots in abstract film.

There have been HUGE developments in computer-generated graphics over the years, which has led to a big increase in the popularity of motion graphics, allowing it to flourish as its own career path as a form of animation separate from the traditional frame by frame animation.

Although nowadays the line between traditional animation and motion graphics are considerably more blurred. Even in the short time I’ve been working in motion graphics new plugins and software extensions have made it possible to make content that would be impossible to create with any other technology.

What I love about motion graphics is it carries the unique ability to combine sound, illustration and movement harmoniously. The combination of these elements allows you to create impactful, intricate and unique content.  There’s also a focus on text animation which makes it an incredibly useful tool for communicating complicated information, reflecting the content through movement as well as sound and image. As a visual learner, I think it’s a very useful way to communicate a full overall experience of any subject matter. The versatility of motion graphics has always been an incredible tool to convey emotion and tone in a superior way to text and still images alone. The popularity of Motion Design has only increased over the years with “The School of Motion,” an online motion graphics learning tool, boasting over ten thousand alumni since it was founded in 2013.

 Today the demand for consistent high-quality content is through the roof and almost all companies with an online presence employ the use of motion graphics in some capacity. Representing a brand through eye-catching motion and illustration is a sure-fire way to grab the attention of potential customers. Like a lot of people I often find myself endlessly scrolling without really engaging with the content I’m seeing, a dynamic piece of motion animation can provide a snapshot of your companies mission and values and potentially be the difference between a dismissive swipe and real engagement. Even when used subtly in micro-interactions, motion graphics can provide a tiny unique user experience that can come together to form a positive overall perception of your brand or business. In my opinion, you can’t overstate the value of motion graphics in terms of engagement and usability, although I may be a little bit biased.

Motion Graphics continue to grow and change as new technology emerges and the availability of high-quality software becomes more widespread. With the careers of Motion Graphic designers predicted to grow by 3 per cent by 2028 it’s safe to say demand is strong and luckily motion graphics are here to stay. In the words of Ed Cheetham, who set up one of the first motion graphics degree courses in the early nineties, “Motion designers are visual communicators, and using visuals to effectively reach an audience is not going away.”

As you can probably tell motion graphics is my passion and I am so lucky to practice it every day as my job. Make sure to check out our website and Instagram to see some of the creative motion graphics the team and I have created over the past year.