Motion Graphics Industry Series: Internet
The world of Motion Graphics is huge. There are numerous ways you can apply your expertise and plenty of places who need an animator professional. In this series, I’d like to talk more deeply on each of the industries that are constantly hiring Motion Graphics artists. The content you’ll see here is based on personal experiences, discussions with other professionals, and some researches I have done throughout my years as a Motion Designer.
Internet Boom and an Online Life
Motion Graphics works side by side with the technology innovation. As I mentioned before, it started with Cinema, TV, and evolved as new medias appeared. With the internet, it wasn’t different.
We live in a day where everyone and everything is on the internet. It’s now not only restricted to a computer anymore, but it’s present in almost every item we have, like smartphones, tablets, watches, video games, etc. As technology grows, the field of work for Motion Graphics grow as well — good news for us!
Like it is for TV, where every animated graphic showed on screen has the work of a Motion Designer, the same applies to the internet. But not only graphic elements, full contents are being made just for this medium, as it becomes more and more present in our routines.
Websites UI and the UX Motion Design
Nowadays, when you think of the internet, a lot of people imagine Social Media, but not so long ago, the internet was equal a web page (what in fact, is what a social media is). Some more complex websites have animated elements as part of their interface.
It can be an animated icon to explain a certain aspect, their logo in animation from time to time, or even a full animated website. Some will argue that those are made by Web designers and not animators. It’s not totally wrong. Now, web designers have tools that allow them to apply animation on their work. However, the thinking of the movement behind those elements is part of the Motion Designer job.
There are different ways to apply Motion to websites, the most common is to make it by coding, what is not the most attractive thing for many Motion Designers. But even if you don’t want to adventure yourself in the coding world there are ways to do this. Some recent After Effect extensions allow you to export animation in a way they can be inserted as a code from a web designer. But even less than that, GIFs are also a way to apply animation as well.
Take a look at our Animation Process page. At the moment, all the animated elements there are GIFs. We have plans to update them to a code based animation with the same feeling, but it doesn’t mean we cannot make it work with GIFs. They work pretty well for most of the cases.
Explainer Videos
Explainer videos are the cherry on the top of most StartUp and tech companies that have a product or service to sell. Besides their structured website, an Explainer Video is the way those companies use to explain their services, send their message and retain customers to their website.
It’s a kind of video that is made entirely for the internet since it requires a longer time (usually around 1:00–1:30 minute) that is not viable for a TV commercial. Also, they are used as ways to promote a product through different channels like blogs, social media, and even internet ads (Like Facebook and YouTube ads).
This kind of project is one of the most requested from us nowadays. We’ve built a portfolio based on projects of Explainer Videos. There’s plenty of room for animators who want to enter in this field and work with companies in projects like this. Every day a new product is launching, and every day they are looking to attract customers to their business.
Content Marketing
This one is a little different from the Explainer Video I mentioned above. Explainer Videos are usually unique, or a little series that have a limited quantity of videos. When talking about content marketing, especially video content marketing, we need to think of it as something made in a consistency base.
Content Marketing is the new approach companies are taking to establish trust and a relationship with their audience. They do this through their platform and on Social Media. In social media, they are competing not only with other companies but also with friends and family members (like your mother posting embarrassing pictures of you when you were a child).
To retain attention in a crowded world that is Social Media, companies are investing more and more in video and animation.
That’s because it’s the most engaging media available for content marketing. Also, movements attract more than static images or even texts.
Animations made for content marketing are usually simpler in terms of complexity but has a high demand for production. It’s not something “crazy” like the ad industry can be but it requires a consistent output. Since it’s a work made always for the same brand on a regular basis, it’s easier to develop a design and animation structure for the first ones and work on that for the following pieces.
How to work in this industry?
The internet is a sea of opportunity (ok, that was a little cliché). If you want to apply animation to Websites you can look for web design studios and partnership with them on a project. Having a little understanding of coding can be helpful since it helps you to communicate better with the programmer who will be importing your animations there.
For Explainer Videos and Content Marketing, the key is to make yourself visible. Companies are all the time searching for Studios and Designers to produce those kinds of content for them.
Be more present on the internet, on social media, do good work and share them consistently.
Also, many animation studios receive requests from clients and they are always looking for motion designers to hire for a specific project. At Mowe, it’s not different. From time to time we receive projects from clients where we may need an extra hand. So, if you are a good motion designer or illustrator, we will be more than happy to know more about you. Just get in touch and we will keep you mind for a next project ;)
Originally published at mowestudio.com on August 11, 2017.
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