How to Win in 2024 | Thoughts and Tips for Motion Designers 

I am a full stack motion graphics designer, My journey began as a colorist, but quickly took a sharp turn when I was tasked with creating entire explainer videos for our SAAS products. Scriptwriting, storyboarding, illustration, 2D animation, sound design - it was all me, a one-person production line! Truth be told, I wasn't exactly an expert in any of these areas. But faced with a daily deadline and limited resources, I had no choice but to dive headfirst and learn as I went and tackled each new skill, fueled by the pressure to deliver. But still I know am not a creative animator or a designer.

I started my career as a designer, doing everything from packaging to branding to web design etc. Then I joined the motion design world and I was sad that I was not a specialist, struggling to find my style. But, after 10 years, I can confirm that there is a place for people like me who "know a little bit of everything" using their taste, that can put those skills in service of those who need them, pairing with people who know better things than you and maybe guiding them or supporting each other. But bear in mind not to be overwhelmed by the FOMO of not knowing every tool, cause mental health will be reflected for sure in your professional health. Thanks to School of Motion for the constant inspiration and guidance.

Best advice I received years ago from my motion design grad school professor was to learn a game engine. It wasn't so much so I could learn the tool, but to develop a mental model for what it means to be a full stack designer developing interactive applications. Interactivity is a key attribute of digital media today, not just motion.

I always jump on these podcast videos thinking i'll watch for a minute or two... and end up staying through the end. Sign of good material.

Cant wait to increase my output and get laid off anyways

I have been grappling with the idea of just giving up the title of being a motion graphics artist, and I think this video in particular is one of the reasons why I think I will. I just want to be an artist. I want to create animations through after effects that I can share. I thought being a motion graphics artists would do that, but getting out of college a few years ago and then jumping into this field just makes me realize how much I'm going to have stop doing in order to "keep up" with this industry. The comment at 10:53 I believe illustrates what I am feeling. What this guy is saying to do is "know a lot of different disciplines and be more than half way decent at them to even have a remote chance at landing a job." Couple that with AI and the tech layoffs and the ever changing landscape of motion design, and the self-doubt that so many of us fear of spending so much of our early lives trying to learn programs, learn skills, etc ... only to now see that AI is raising the bar even higher? I mean at this point, this industry is forcing people to literally do everything. Animation on its own is ONE JOB. But now we have to be good at animation, graphic design, video editing, prompt scripting, networking, UX/UI, Interactive design, website design, coding, 3D, etc .... Its like how many more jobs are going to be piled on us before we need to just not have lives outside of motion graphics just to sustain the job? Its just not worth it to me joey. Im a father now, and I have maybe 1 - 3 hours sporadically throughout the day to just even have time to myself to get my own life in order, let alone to "do an everyday exercise" to learn a new program. Is this industry really expecting the next generation to kill themselves learning 10 + skills only to be let go because they aren't fast enough at any of them, or that an AI is right around the corner that'll steal their jobs? This just isn't right. Its not just abusive and a clear cut devaluation of artists and this profession, its an atrocious over reach of big corporations that only want to maximize profit, chew us up and spit us out only to then replace us with a bot that is "faster". When did we start this race to the bottom? You literally started this video showing us all that most of the major tech companies are planning MORE layoffs, and its more than likely going to be the people who aren't willing to "wear 20+ hats in the name of efficiency and saving money." I am just going to be a youtube animator. I've had my fun with freelancing and trying to learn 20+ skills in order to be seen but now this just isn't worth it. Its just a race to the bottom where eventually they are literally going to ask us to plan, coordinate, and execute the entire production on our own, from writing the script, to uploading all of the various assets unto all of the social media websites and writing copy for them. We are quite literally turning into "1 Person full stack studios" and that's just egrious to say the least. Good luck to the next generation of people who want to be apart of this.

Amazing. Insightful as always Joey! Thank you for all the rad content and for bringing clarity to a wild and fast-moving industry. Agreed on your points and excited for where the puck is headed next.

That's an extremely useful and helpful episode! Joey thank you very much. You are 100% ON POINT with this topic (as usual) 🙌🏻 Every motion designer should watch and listen to it because the world is more challenging than it ever been nowadays, and learning to be agile and open to new opportunities is essential.

Having multiple skills and tools that strengthen your motion career is def a good idea, but I would also caustion against beign a jack of all trades and a master of none.

Joey thank you for sharing those knowledge! as a new graduate just stepping into the world of motion design, this is priceless info!

Me, seeing the "Rive" and "Spline" icons the dock on my computer and thinking, "Alright, now is the time I actually learn these things." EDIT: And the Cavalry icon.

some super implementable insights for all levels of creators/ designers!

Refreshingly practical and helpful advice, thank you 👍

Thank you for this - great summary of the current situation in the industry!!!

Amazing video as always, I started listening to the podcast on my placement year 5 years ago at university and has always given me great insights and knowledge about the ins and outs of the mograph world! Now Im a Motion Designer at one of my favourite studios (Shout out to Art&Graft) and much of the advice and things ive learned on this channel has to be thanks to this great podcast! Side note - Funny how Sora AI just came out a few days ago only weeks after this video and would definitely make me question more now the usability of text to video ML...

“The Swiss army knife of (motion) graphic design “, that’s what I call myself… 😎 Of course being Swiss helps! 😉

4:52 - This is definity a good focus point. If your product isn't cutting edge, but is still presentable and professional, IT IS OK. I am at a place where I am still learning, and my product is good, but I can do many things. I haven't put all my eggs on one basket. Also look at different outlets - social media content AND designing stuff for Printify AND Upwork, etc..

This is wonderful. Thank you 👍🏾

Thanks so much for this video.

thank you so much Mr. Joey

Great video Joey. Totally agree that the learning curve for these new tools is not as steep as the traditional Adobe Suite. My biggest criticism of AI at the moment is that it is going to take a really long time for it to cross the uncanny valley, particialry when it comes to realism, humans, and real-world physics.

Awesome video dude!

Just wanted to take a moment to express my gratitude: Thank you so much for genuine caring and providing so much valuable information to the community. It's an amazing thing you're doing and I really appreciate it ❤

Good info! Hard to Swallow!

Just came to say: Nice T-shirt. (Deer viewer if you like Tool, you should listen to Wheel)

Took a lot of notes, was definitely a worthwhile listen. And that AI movie was actually a good one :D never thought I would say that.

If I dive into learning extra skills like Spline or Rive, what job titles should I be scoping out? I'm in a city where motion designer roles are like rare Pokémon. 😅 I'm itching to break into this new realm Joey's talking about, but animation is my jam. Any insights on jobs that need mad motion skills but might not scream "motion designer" in the title?

Oh I get it now. So instead of doing what we learned and dedicated years to do and become good at, we now need the skills of 3 to 4 different professional areas at once just for the hope of staying relevant, while the market for creatives reduces more and more. Very depressing. I'm just getting started with motion design, so I'll at least try to not focus on its inevitable downfall (in the sense that it'll be almost impossible to get into the industry in the future, and only a few professionals will remain).

This was really helpful. Thanks for putting this together, Joey. But ugh, I just don't want to do the whole social-media thing. I would rather work as an employee for the rest of my life, knowing I could make more freelancing, than bother with the whole networking/self-marketing social media thing. So your point about keeping yourself hirable reads loud and clear. I'm curious about what you guys think would be a higher priority skill to learn? Design or 3D? I feel like I've hit a ceiling with 2D mograph, in that I've mastered the fundamentals and have a really strong understanding of what's possible with expressions and am no longer intimidated by them. So I'm ready to branch out. Apart of me feels like learning Design would be essential in making me self-sufficient as an animator, but I can't help but feel like I'd be playing catch-up with an industry already saturated with Designers, and wonder if it might suit me more to get into 3D first, instead. Any insight would be really appreciated!

So helpful joey !

Thank you for your work. This was really helpful. 53 year old recently unemployed animator from a large beverage company looking for ideas on my way forward. Appreciate your input and thoughtful information.| Have a safe and successful 2024 Edit: Rive is a piece of software that reminds me of a modern day Macromedia Flash. I'm glad it's around and I'm going to be spending 2024 learning it.

Agreed on all fronts, I’m not happy about AI being a big component of the game but speed and efficiency are crucial. I got into video editing first, then motion design, now I’m trying to learn networking and graphic design to become full stack. Got the Freelance Manifesto for Christmas too, it’s all a bit overwhelming but I’m grinding away so I can find more clients! 💪

Thank you.

Hi, I'm a brazilian motion designer and I'm currently stuck working for a Design as a subscription Service company for around 4 years now. I don't really have connections outside of that. I've been trying to get out for a long time as I see this is not healthy either for my career or for the industry as a whole. I tried upwork but I feel like this is also a race to the bottom competing for price and price only. I am a skilled motion designer and I'm one of the best in the company I work for. Stay working with them it is more profitable than for local Brazilian studios due to the currency. Any tips on how to break out from that cycle? I know that most of you out there are skilled and well positioned in the market, so any tips to help a brother out?

already the first argument is just wrong. They didn't spend too much, but the shareholders didn't get enough share. Like, only 2% instead of 5%. The reason the layoffs happen is rich investors not become richer enough. Plain and simple. Screw them, screw this. We need to unionize.

Do you think that Davinci Resolve Fusion it is a valid alternative to After Effects?

I'm learning on spline 3d after effect s is expensive to use

You're a drummer ?! I didn't realize ! 🤟 What's your electronic drumset ?

I suspect that video editing is not just about learning Adobe Premiere Pro...?

Since Midjourney generates mostly photography/organic drawing clones (also without PNG/Transparent Background)- then how is MJ useful for Motion Design...? Anyone found creative uses for it?

Nice

Can Rive and/or spline can out put to a google site?

Im starting to think our industry focuses too much on social media

this podcast made me depressed

So basically produce more BS and use AI. Sweet.

Enough of the AI evangelism, please. I don't appreciate the opinions of those salivating at the thought of labour redundancy while offering no net social benefit. AI will remain as simple as content aware fill while clients continue to ask for outlandish changes which would have ChatGPT circle into a loop of polite SEO-Corpospeak defeat. Sincerely, a human with intuition.

"The SP500 is a good proxy for the overall health of the US economy." Absolutely not, just look back at 2020 and 2021, when people were living on stimy checks, the SP500 was booming because it was and still is absolutely decorrelated from the real world.

AIs are putting us out of the game 🥲