To kick off this motion design project, you’ve gotta have your graphics in order. I vectorised everything first, from a poster design made by Dorrit Dekk, which was commissioned in the 1960s for the Post Office. You can view the time-lapse below to see how I created the assets in Illustrator and Photoshop. The font was a fun little problem to solve; after my initial research hit a dead end, I had to use Photoshop to find a close match.
Once my assets were locked in, I started storyboarding the whole piece. This is my game plan for the animation, which I turned into a quick animatic for Sajay Watson, the sound designer, with whom I collaborated on this project. So he can get a rough idea of timing and give inspiration on getting the ball rolling for him while I animate.
Then, we get to the best part: the actual motion design! I rigged up a few of the elements, but when it came to the arm animation, I felt like mixing it up. Instead of using my go-to, Limber plugin, I took Overlord’s path animation for a spin. It’s always fun to experiment with your motion design workflow, but mostly just because I felt like doing it for this character animation (why not, right?).
And now, the moment you’ve been waiting for: the finished motion graphic!
The project took an exciting turn during the final phase, thanks to a fantastic surprise from the sound designer, Sajay. He incorporated a custom voice-over with a vibrant Jamaican twist with the music, which brought an entirely new layer of energy and personality to the animation. It was an unexpected addition that I absolutely love, and a perfect example of how sound design can elevate a project.
