“Motion design” is a relatively new term being thrown around, largely in the upper echelons of the professional creative scene. In a way, people like me use the fact that a lot of people aren’t savvy to its meaning on purpose — trying to narrow down and attract clients that are more “in the know.”

But, you know, itd be nice if 99% of people I encounter in the wild didn’t hear “motion design” and be all like:

Let’s cut right to it:

Motion design is motion graphics, or what some oily hipsters might call “mograph.” It’s not “like” motion graphics, or “related” to it. It’s literally a movement among artists towards renaming the field. This might seem silly, since there’s already an established and functional name for a line of work, until you think on some common obstacles mograph artists face:

We’re often approached with an assumption that we can single-handedly tackle projects that ask for a lot of custom 2D artwork. But that’s not really our job - it’s the job of graphic designers.
We’re often approached to create some elaborate & detailed 3D model. But that’s not really our job - it’s the job of 3D modelers & 3D sculpture artists.

Starting to get the picture? We’re consistently approached with an assumption that we can do things that either isn’t within our preference of work, or we can’t do at all. Granted, a lot of these things are at least related to the work, and most of us develop skills to be able to provide related work to varying degrees. I can do 3D modeling to an extent (I can likely model that product you want to make a 3D animation of), but I’m nowhere near ready to model a fully-detailed car from scratch, and can’t even begin to do a character sculpture. I can whip up quick, minimalistic designs in After Effects, and know my way around Photoshop more than you might expect. But the main beast in graphic design - Illustrator? Nope.

The specialty here is taking all of these things and making them move. The thing that’s really on display here is a particular sense of timing, of “weight” and momentum. There are elements of 2D & 3D design at play — there needs to be a sense of these if we’re handling someone else’s work and staying true to their vision — but the beating heart of it all is how it moves, with really cool effects and sh**.

This is where some people came to wonder if having “graphics” in the term “motion graphics” did more harm than good. I mean, it’s already hard enough getting work as it is. The word that should stand out is “motion,” but people seem to consistently dwell on “graphics.” Maybe the name needs a redesign. Maybe we should ditch “graphics” altogether.

Henceforth, “Motion Design.”

What is "motion design," anyway?