When working with motion design the animator generally follows a few simple steps, and depending on the type of animation, some of these will have more importance than others. The steps to create motion design are as follows:
- Concept creation
- Assets development
- Definition of how each element should be animated based on concept
- Preparation of assets and layers to be animated in after effects
- Animate!
Let’s take as an example a logo animation. In this case the concept creation is the step where the idea for a logo is developed. It can be based on either a name that was provided by a client, a specific product, etc.
The next step is where the logo itself is created, based on the ideas that emerged from the last step. At this point a graphic design software will be used (could be something like Photoshop or Illustrator).
In most cases an animator won’t need to create a logo, or any of the graphic elements that will be used in an animation since this is the role of the graphic designer. For the purpose of this course we will focus on the animation steps of motion design, and either utilize existing graphic elements or create very simple graphics to be used in the exercises.
This is generally where the animator comes in. After the logo is finalized, it is time to think about how each element of this logo will be animated. Some animators like to create a storyboard at this point, to have a better idea of how each animation will flow into the next, and how the transitions will work between the animated elements. This step is very important, and it is an opportunity to take the concepts and ideas from the first step and really emphasize them with the use of animation. This is where you add personality and dynamism to the logo. As you define how the logo will be animated, you need to organize your elements to make them easier to animate. This is a very simple rule, but a lot of animators and designer forget: Every element that will be animated needs to be in a separate layer. This is necessary because once you open your file in After Effects, these layers will be separated in elements that are easily animated.
Here is a quick step by step video on how to manage your layers in Illustrator and Photoshop, and how you import these graphics in After Effects.
video
The last step is self explanatory, and if you followed every other step correctly this is where you can have fun with the process. You can test different speeds of animation, and see what “feels” right. In case you have an audio track for your logo animation, this is where you will sync both and create the rhythm of your animation. We will look into audio syncing and timing in the next lesson.