The 20th century has seen major advancements in the ways people consume and communicate messages. Marshall McLuhan, in his book The Medium Is the Massage, has referred to the evolution of visual communication using images, words, and text towards “electric circuitry.” Take for example the ways radio, film and television are able to captivate the audience, communicate through a combination of human senses and achieve a more immersive and stimulating engagement and behavior. Digital and connected technologies of the 21st century have introduced richer interactions and immersive media, challenging designers to reimagine ways of presenting and consuming messages.
Justin Cone: The Future of Motion Design
Motion & Graphics
Motion graphics design is built on the foundation of many creative fields. It is a discipline that combines fields of graphic design, illustration, photography, painting, storytelling and animation. You can find examples of "Motion Graphics" dating back to the 1800’s in early experiments of animation devices such as zoetropes, phenakistoscopes and flipbooks.
One pioneer of motion graphics, alongside Pablo Ferro and John Whitney, is Saul bass, responsible for many defining designs for Alfred Hitchcock or Otto Preminger films. He was well-know for translating his bold poster designs into groundbreaking animated title sequences beginning in the 1950s.
Motion media is time-based, creating the illusion of motion by altering the visuals over time, which can be intervals of frames, seconds, minutes, hours, or even days. A deep understanding of time, rhythm and space are all really important to create interesting designs in motion and gives designers the opportunity to play with the craft and apply it to different mediums and platforms (film, tv, web, VR, AR, etc.)
Art & Design
As is the case with any visual communication medium, there are two ends of the spectrum for motion design: art and commercial. While we might be more used to the application of motion graphics nowadays in advertising, explainer videos and movie titles, we should know that its beginning was paved by experimental art pieces by Marcel Duchamp, Walter Ruttman, and Fernand Lager.
Usually, motion in fine art is more abstract, mysterious and open to interpretation from the viewer, while motion in a commercial setting aims to communicate certain messages more clearly. Of course, there are works that are hybrid, combining both, which makes it appealing to artists, designers and a wide range of audiences.
Design + Technology
Motion Design or Motion Graphics is considered a relatively new discipline. Up until the 1990s, motion and graphics were quite separated or very experimental due to specialized skills and expensive equipment. In the following decades, personal computing has provided a powerful tool to a new generation of designers and mobile computing has brought media to our fingertips. Due to technological advancements, the boundary between graphic design and media arts are rapidly dissolving.