Motion Graphics vs 2D Animation vs 3D Animation – Which is best for your business?

So you’ve decided to tell your business’ story in animation – awesome! So what’s the first choice when it comes to your soon-to-be masterpiece? Unless you want to do something really out there with stop motion video (be our guest), then chances are you’ll have to make a decision between motion graphics, 2D or 3D format for your project.

But which one is the most suitable for you? Don’t panic – at Fudge we’ve been ‘round the block a few times and when it comes to choosing a style of video and we know our stuff. This week, we’ll help you find out what these different types of animation are, where they’re used and where they excel.

Explaining, Training, Selling and Telling

First off: what are you trying to achieve with your video? Chances are, if you’ve decided to go with animation for your business, you have one or more of these four objectives. These are what you are claiming the purpose of your animation will be and what response you want out of your viewers. By having a clearly defined goal in mind, you will be able to better place and produce your video.

Explaining

No prizes for guessing that I’m on about animated explainer videos here! These are highly versatile videos with the purpose of making a complex idea, company or product simple and understandable before inspiring action in the viewer.

Training

Animation smashes it as a teaching tool. It inspires information retention and enhanced recall incredibly well. With the challenge of getting your training seen by sometimes thousands of staff and on a tight budget, conventional training methods struggle to keep up. With animated video, Fudge has created stories out of uninspiring topics which are memorable, relatable and encourage viewers to share their knowledge and passion.

Selling

In a time when there are so many electronic devices vying for users’ attention, animated adverts succeed in making their mark by doing what they do best – they entertain, catch your attention and are very memorable. You could be selling a new product with an animated product launch or perhaps building interest with a demonstration. Add animated characters or logos and your brand’s recognition can be huge!

Telling

Think company profile video, internal communications, safety demonstrations on an aircraft etc. Animation works excellently for this purpose because you can present your message with clarity and make it memorable. Creating characters which your audience can relate to is an immensely powerful way of getting favourable actions out of your viewers too.

Now that you have a clearer idea of what you’d like to get done with your video, let’s get to the actual formats themselves. All three are already very versatile; here’s what they are, how they excel and where they perform best.

Motion Graphics

Motion graphics are one of those things you don’t realize is so hard to describe until you’re staring at your keyboard, willing your fingers to type something… Essentially they’re sequences of animation (or live action) where images, symbols and text are given motion in order to present information. It’s a genre of animation that’s right at the cusp of graphic design, often having voice over narrating what the visuals are representing.

It’s a great way of keeping viewers engaged, giving them something to read at the same time as they’re watching the visuals, and listening to the voice over. It’s likely this concentrated multi sensory information load that makes motion graphics such an effective method of information conveyance.

Rather than explain, it’s much easier to just show you, so here’s our video for VTSL. You can see why motion graphics are often called animated infographics. They are a great way to present information in a simple way and their ability to keep viewer interest is second to none. It’s all to do with the fluid, dynamic movement between imagery and text which keeps you engaged.

Motion graphics work very well in a corporate environment when you’re trying to deliver statistics, data or training which is quite dry to choke down by conventional means. No one wants to stare at a spreadsheet or a bar graph, but when you can bring those figures to life by taking your viewers on an animated journey that explains where they came from and why they’re important, you’ll have a much stronger response.

This type of slick, information-driven animated content fits well into presentations, pitches, and classrooms. Museum-goers will also find this style of motion infographic familiar as it is cropping up more and more to replace the intimidating plaques of text next to exhibits. These are typically set on loop but the more cutting-edge museums offer interactive elements where various animated options are available through touchscreens, buttons or voice controls.

2D Animation

Okay, everyone knows what 2D animation is surely! We’ve all watched cartoons (some of us more than others), but modern 2D animation is far from being childish. With this format of animation, you can really build your brand visually and push your imaginative boundaries.

Character creation is one of our services at Fudge and it’s a great way to inspire an emotional response in your audience with 2D animation. You want to tell a story with your character, and ideally you want as many of your viewers as possible to relate to them in order for your message (and thus your brand) to resonate.

2D animation is highly customizable as well. It’s a real chameleon of a tool that can be adapted to a number of working styles and tones. Yes, sometimes your company or particular campaign calls for something a little cartoony in order to convey a more approachable or humorous tone but this is in no way the only option when it comes to 2D animation. Check out our Local Care Record animated work for the NHS for a more stylized example. 

3D Animation

Most of what I’ve said above can also apply to 3D animation so where does it differ? Well 3D animation tends to be a little more resource intensive to produce, so as a result, a 3D animation says that your company sees value in whatever you choose to represent in 3D animation.

It’s still seen as quite a cutting edge format so you’ll also position yourself as a progressive, forwards-facing company. Part of this is down to developments in 3D animation and modeling techniques in recent years with software that’s getting easier and easier to use. This means it’s still seen as something of a trendy video style.

3D can be the only logical option sometimes: Say you’d like to show off animated plans and architectural designs, you can’t very well replicate a fly-through in 2D can you? Sticking with the architectural theme, a 3D animated video showing off interior and exterior speculations for a project could be the exciting element that ensures you win funding, or get your build green-lit.

Remember on Time Team where they’d take the geophys imagery and build a 3D representation of the archaeological site? That was one of the best bits of my Sunday afternoons! And it could only be done with 3D.

What about VR?

Virtual reality and augmented reality is hotter than the surface of the sun right now and if you want to get involved and show off how progressive and exciting your company is, you’re going to have to do it with 3D. This is still a developing medium so the true value most likely is still to be realized. The true creatives amongst you might want to consider something really cutting-edge like a VR experience to take to conferences and events. One established and effective VR solution is situation-based training for the military and other professions exposed to danger.

I hope that’s de-mystified these three animation types for you – they don’t have to be separate, motion graphics and 2D animation often work amazingly together in an explainer video format so keep that in mind when you’re considering your options.

10 Instagram Video Marketing Statistics You Need to Know Going Into 2019

As the third biggest social network out there – active-user wise, – and an entirely distinctive visual approach to content, Instagram is one of the most important platforms to include in any business’ social marketing strategy.

It serves as the perfect stage for companies to showcase who they are to potential customers, as well as to shape perceptions, and nurture brand personality.

The main idea behind the platform is to share visual content (videos and images) that help companies build credibility, familiarity, and set the overall tone and feel of your branding image.

However, as the user base continues to expand and becomes more set on the kinds of content it wants, and how they want it, it’s essential to keep a finger on the pulse of certain video marketing statistics. Ensuring you are taking advantage of the full potential Instagram can bring to bear on any advertisement and branding effort your company is undertaking.

So, as 2019 stands around the corner, I wanted to take a quick look at those video marketing statistics I feel every digital marketer and business owners should be aware of to get the most out of their marketing efforts in 2019.

A billion people are actively using Instagram

I want to start with this one, just to give you a clear view of the immense potential Instagram puts at your hands. Raising from its previous record of 800 million active users back in September 2017, the platform has continued its upward trend of amassing an ever-increasing pool of users that reached the staggering billion by July of this year, a tendency that doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon.

This makes Instagram one of the most popular social networks around, and a fertile ground to seize opportunities for effective marketing campaigns.

It has a pretty balanced gender distribution

With an estimated distribution of 39% women and 30% men when it comes to adult users in the U.S., Instagram offers a fairly balanced demographic. While the scale remains tipped toward the woman’s side, the spread has been closing every year over the past few.

This means that whatever your target demo is, you are sure to find plenty using this platform.

The majority of Instagram users are under 30 years old

Even more markedly than with other social media platforms, Instagram user base tips slightly to the younger side.  With roughly 59% of internet-using adults between 18 and 29 using Instagram, almost doubling the share taken by adults between 30 and 49 years old (33%).

This makes Instagram the perfect environment to capture a younger audience. Another important tidbit is that almost seventy percent of its user base have post-secondary education, a number that’s probably relevant to most marketing campaigns.

It has an above-average active user base

Some social networks boast big numbers when it comes to accounts, even though these might be inactive. Instagram, on the other hand, has the active numbers to back their claims.

In a recent study made by the Pew Research Center, they revealed that 25% of smartphone owners use the platform, 22% of its users log into Instagram at least once a day, and 38% check Instagram multiple times a day.

Instagram and Marketing go hand-in-hand

A frankly surprising number of Instagram users (72% to be precise) have stated that they have purchased a product they saw on the app, and over the past few years, Instagram also became the spot for luxury shoppers.

Combine that with the platform’s shoppable post – a terrific tool for brands and marketers – and you have in your hands a primed system with every tool you need to display your products, and lead potential customers to make the purchase, all within the same environment.

Users like to follow companies on the platform

Unlike other social networks where it can be challenging to build a decent enough follower base, users on Instagram are relatively open to follow business accounts on a regular basis. Around 80% of users on Instagram follow at least one business, and 60% of users discover products on the site.

Add to that the 75% of the user base that takes actions – like looking further into a brand’s post or visiting a website – and you’d be hard pressed to find another social network that creates such a healthy user-brand environment.

A big part of the platform’s ads come as videos

As much as 25% of Instagram ads are single videos. Granted, taking the trajectory of the app (which began as a sharing platform for photos) images remain the type of content that tends to receive more engagement when it comes to ads, users seem to respond better to video, edging out photos for higher engagement rates.

Video is quickly becoming the preferred type of content on the platform

With user-time spent watching videos up more than 80% year over year, and a fantastic increase in the volume of videos being uploaded to the platform per day (four times as many from last year,) it’s fairly evident that the demand for video content on Instagram is huge. This paints a rather clear picture on where to allocate those marketing resources when it comes to making high-quality content for the social network.

Instagram videos are a huge asset from a marketing standpoint

One of the most relevant video marketing statistics is revealed in this amazing infographic put together by the folks at Animoto. 53.4% of marketers see Instagram video as important to their strategies.

Due to average response rates and complementary features, Instagram videos are ideal and fit in perfectly as a complement to other elements of your campaign.

Instagram stories are here to stay and should be taken advantage of.

Around 70% of Instagram users watch video content in the form of Stories on a daily basis. Of this number, there seems to be a marked preference (roughly 50%) towards those videos that make them laugh.

Even more important than that, about one in four Gen Z and Millennials actively seek stories of products, services, and brands they are considering buying. 

As the new year approaches and you begin to chart out your upcoming plans for video marketing content on Instagram, keep an eye on these insights and try to make the most use out of them.

These numbers represent clear trends on user preferences for the types of content users look for on the app, so they provide an ideal starting point to start developing content that will get you to your goal.

10 Ways to Market Your Small Business on a Shoestring Budget

When budgets are tight, marketing might be the first expense you look to cut. Let me stop you right there. While traditional advertising methods are costly and hard to measure, small businesses have never had greater access to cost-effective, trackable marketing tools.

But with so many digital tools available, how do you know where to start?

Email marketing is the tried and true digital marketing channel with an average return of $38 for every $1 spent. Small business marketing services are just the start. Here are ten marketing strategies that can help you market your small business on a shoestring budget.

1. Craft an elevator pitch

You should be marketing all the time — wherever you are. Therefore, you need a compelling elevator pitch.

Research shows the average attention span of an adult is about six to eight seconds. That’s all the time you have to grab someone’s attention.

If you successfully engage them, then you only have a little over a minute to really sell them on your product or service. Invest the time to craft a killer elevator pitch. The return on your investment will pay huge dividends in terms of creating business opportunities.

2. Leverage your community

You don’t have to think big when it comes to your marketing efforts. Think locally. What’s going on in your community?

Sponsor a Little League team or a 5k charity walk/run. Print bookmarks and leave them at the local library. Get to know your ideal customer and think about how and where they spend their time.

Then search for opportunities to get in front of your customer with your marketing message.

3. Collaborate

Put together a group of synergistic, non-competitive businesses in your area and agree to cross-promote.

You can use coupons, fliers, reciprocal website links, bundled promotions or social media platforms. By collaborating with each other, you can expand your customer base because you’ll be reaching new people.

4. Network

I’m a huge fan of networking. I don’t think there is any better way to build a business than to get out there, shake some hands, and get to know people.

Networking requires a time commitment and it doesn’t provide instant gratification, but a strong network is one of the greatest assets any business person can have.

5. Give a speech

A lot of people hate public speaking. However, there are many organizations looking for qualified, subject-matter experts who can present to their groups.

Take a deep breath and volunteer. You don’t have to be a pro as long as the information you share is helpful to the audience. And the upside — the more you do it the easier it gets. Plus, it positions you as a credible authority in your field.

6. Create buzz

I started my corporate career in the field of public relations and the business has changed significantly because of technology.

Today, a small business owner can accomplish a lot without hiring a professional firm. Subscribe to Help a Reporter Out. You can respond to reporters’ queries that are looking for story ideas and resources. Some are small media opportunities, but others are major media outlets that use this service too.

7. Ask for referrals

Don’t be shy about asking for customer referrals. The majority of people say they are willing to provide a referral if asked, but very few take the initiative to do it on their own.

Referrals make it easier to get in the door with new customers. If you aren’t asking for them, you are missing opportunities.

8. Build relationships

It is a lot less expensive to keep a customer than it is to get a new one. That’s why establishing strong relationships with your customer base is crucial. One of the ways you can do that is by keeping in touch with people through email marketing.

Ask customers for their email address when they visit your store or website. Then, make your communications informative, helpful and professional — something your customers will look forward to receiving.

9. Offer coupons

Coupons are a good way for many businesses to attract new customers. Research shows that people will go out of their way to use a coupon, proving that this method is successful in expanding your customer base.

Coupons can also generate return visits. For example, if you give a customer a coupon for a discount to use on future business, there’s a high probability they’ll be back.

10. Give it away

If someone has the opportunity to experience your product or service, chances are they will want to purchase more.

Don’t be afraid to give someone a free trial or a sample. In today’s economy, people are more comfortable purchasing something they have been able to experience first.

These ten, inexpensive marketing strategies will help you engage customers, build relationships, and ultimately keep your brand top-of-mind. It’s not always about the money you have to spend on marketing, it’s about the time and effort you put into it and above all, the relevance it has for your customers.

This article was published by Susan Solovic 

Susan Solovic is THE Small Business Expert -- An award-winning entrepreneur, keynote speaker, New York Times bestselling author, media...

5 Pieces of Advice for Anyone New to After Effects

Being new to After Effects doesn’t have to be scary. Here are five pieces of advice for aspiring motion designers.

There is an infinite amount of information that can be learned about After Effects. From animation fundamentals to 3D integration, you could spend a lifetime learning new tricks. As a result, After Effects can be quite overwhelming for anyone new to the program. So instead of trying to figure out where to start on your own, here are five pieces of advice for aspiring After Effects motion designers.

1. Jump Right In

If you pick up a 500 page book to learn After Effects in its entirety, you probably won’t become proficient in AE. Not because the book won’t teach you anything, but because you’ll probably fall asleep by page 10.

Learn motion graphics by jumping into the deep end. Watch tutorials on creating awesome, complex animations. Learn how to composite explosions or create a lightsaber effect. These tutorials are impractical (unless you’re packing your bags for ILM) but they make learning fun and provide a gateway to the nitty gritty fundamentals.

2. Start with keyframing

Writing complex expressions or scripts will save you a ton of time while animating, but the investment of learning these methods up front is arduous. Nearly everything created via expressions and scripts can also be manually created with keyframes.

As a beginner, key framing everything will take you longer, but you’ll be exploring a more straightforward and manageable approach to animating. You can always take on expressions and scripting later.

3. Take Advantage of Effects Presets

In the Effects and Presets panel, there are a bunch of great presets for text animation, backgrounds, and more. A seasoned motion graphics artist would probably steer clear of these, but as a beginner, these presets are your best friend. Create a text layer and go through every text animation preset on the list – one by one. Press ‘U’ on the keyboard after applying a preset and look at the keyframes. Start tinkering with the preset settings and see what happens. You can learn a great deal from these presets.

4. Copy Awesome Motion Graphics

While I don’t advocate copying other designers’ animation for paid projects, I do think it’s a great place to start for beginners. Don’t just get inspired by good motion graphics, literally copy it. After you have a basic working knowledge of After Effects, search for an animated video you really like. Download the video and start analyzing it frame by frame. Make it your job to recreate this exact animation in After Effects.

Don’t just think about how the artist created it — figure out how you are going to recreate it. It may have taken the original artist five hours to create, using a variety of complex techniques. As a beginner, it may take you four days to recreate it using simple techniques and basic effects. But the goal is to sharpen your problem solving skills and experience creating beautiful design. Creating a replica of an existing animation is great for those new to After Effects, because it removes the strenuous effort of ‘what’ and lets them concentrate on ‘how’.

5. Google Everything

Tutorials are great for learning how to produce a finished product. But the best way to learn After Effects is to start tinkering with things and google while you play. You could literally open After Effects for the first time, knowing nothing about AE, and start googling along the way: “how do I create a sequence” or “how do I key frame” or “how do I create new layers.” By learning tidbits and functions through google, you’ll see a lot of progress in a short amount of time.

Want to learn even more about After Effects? Check out our blog here on RocketStock. Our entire blog is dedicated to helping you become a better motion designer. Here are a few more resources for folks new to After Effects.

10 Reasons To Use An Explainer Video To Pitch Your Services

It’s no secret that video marketing is a major trend.  User engagement with video material is higher than other forms of content, video is more accessible than ever before (thanks to mobile devices and faster Internet), and it’s easier to produce than it has been in previous generations.

According to Dan Patterson, “Humans are incredibly visual and powerful, moving images help us find meaning… [and] video helps capture and contextualize the world around us.” But how can you best use video for your brand?

One of the best ways to start is with an explainer video, which is designed to give new users a run-down of what your products or services are, and how they work, in the span of a few minutes. Check out this example by J&C Aero below:

The Practicality of Video

Why aren’t more businesses using explainer videos and other types of video marketing? Part of the problem is a perceived impracticality of video; because a video has historically been expensive and time-consuming to produce, businesses would rather stay toward more straightforward, cheaper methods. However, video production is growing more affordable as technological resources become more sophisticated and more available.

You can contract with a video marketing agency fairly inexpensively.  According to Eddie Nuvakhov, CEO of LNC Productions, a company that specializes in explainer videos, “Video technology has advanced to the point where it’s cost effective for almost any business to utilize. There’s really no excuse not to use it.”

Why Explainer Videos Are So Effective

So why are explainer videos so effective?

1. They’re concise. First off, explainer videos are concise. In the words of Robert Weiss, “Business decision makers LOVE online video because it gives them the most amount of information in the shortest amount of time.” They’re generally only a few minutes long, which means your customers won’t have an easy excuse to bail early. Writing for such a concise format can be difficult, but the end result is a message that’s short enough to really hit home with your audience.

2. They show a problem and a solution. Video progresses linearly with time, which means you can show a chain of causality from problem to solution. Illustrating how your products or services solve a customer need is incredibly valuable for securing more conversions. You can accomplish this through written content, but it doesn’t have the same effect.

3. You can get creative. The best explainer videos are ones that aren’t afraid to creatively experiment. You can write jokes into your script or play with innovative animation features. You can even include some interesting music in the background; this is your chance to give your audience a memorable video watching experience. According to David Levy, Nuvakhov’s business partner and COO of LNC Productions, “a video that surprises people, or otherwise delights them, will stick with them indefinitely. It’s a chance to get inside your customer’s mind and stay there if you have the right creative team to make it happen.”

4. They can be used anywhere. Once you make an explainer video, you can use it in a number of different contexts. You can keep it on YouTube, you can embed it into the homepage of your site, you can use it as a feature of your landing page, or even incorporate it into slideshow presentations. They’re short and universal enough to transfer easily.

5. They’re an approachable medium. Though there’s a slight learning curve, explainer videos are an approachable and learnable medium for marketers. You don’t need to spend years studying them or thousands of dollars to make one. That’s probably why 65 percent of marketers are planning to increase their video marketing budgets.

6. They’re useful for new and old customers alike. Even though the primary function of an explainer video is to reach new audiences, they can be useful for established customers as well. This is especially true if there’s a learning curve with your products and services; the explainer video can serve as a kind of tutorial. As Savannah Stewart explains, “many of us have become more comfortable learning visually. Delivering information on a product, service or company through video can help to keep your audience’s attention longer and make what you have to say more easily understood.”

7. They’re adaptable. Because they’re short and relatively easy to edit, you can switch things around quite easily. For example, if you launch a new feature, you can add a few extra seconds at the end of the video to promote it, or if you want to experiment with different music or a different narrative, you can.

8. You can show your brand personality. You can let your brand’s personality shine throughout the video; you can write it in the tone of your script, include visual styles that reflect your character, and even choose a narrator that best represents your brand “voice.” In fact, more than a third of all video marketing budgets are now directed toward branded videos.

9. You can show off the benefits first-hand. Thanks to the visual and running nature of video, you can show off the benefits of your product or service first-hand, such as with a brief product demonstration or a walkthrough of your software. This helps people see what they’re buying and will put many of their doubts to rest.

10. You have a chance to prove your worth. Explainer videos also give you a chance to prove your value as a brand with visually represented statistics, video testimonials, or the mention of some big brands you’ve worked with.

If you want to make an explainer video for your brand but don’t know where to start, begin by taking a look at explainer videos some of your competitors have done. This should help you find inspiration and direction for your own video so you can start jotting down ideas.

Then, you’ll need to find a means of video production, whether that’s scouting for an agency or trying your own hand at the task.

3 Ways to Grow Your Small Business with Video in 2019

Don’t let another year without video pass you by. Learn how you can start growing your small business today!

Well folks, we’ve closed the chapter on 2018. And you know what that means … another year in the books for your small business. While you were out chasing your company’s quarterly goals, you may have noticed more and more businesses started making and sharing videos online. According to digital marketing agency, Blue Corona, “In the past 30 days, more online video content has been uploaded to the web than the past 30 years of TV content.” If you’re looking for some other video marketing stats that will leave your head spinning, check out this compilation from the folks at Biteable.

So, dare we ask — did you create video content in 2018? If the answer’s yes, kudos to you! We hope you continue incorporating video into your marketing efforts in the new year. And if the answer is no, fret not. There are plenty of other small businesses who are in the same boat. Being short on budget, short on time, or just plain unsure of what types of videos to make are all common challenges that can easily shake your confidence, but rest assured you’re not alone.

Whether you answered yes or no to the question above, you better believe the future of video is bright! That’s why we’re excited to share tips for growing your small business with video this year on social media and on your website. From expanding your reach to driving site visits, don’t let another year pass you by without video. Keep reading to find out how you can help your small business grow!

Expand your reach by sharing videos on social media

Nowadays, people are carrying around search engines right inside their pockets, giving them the opportunity to look up things like “Best pet portrait businesses near me” with results forming in just seconds. That’s why presenting your product or service online as the solution to people’s problems is super important.

And your social media presence is a great place to start! Think about all the daily scrolling you do on social media and how many new products, services, or businesses you stumble upon. It happens all the time. With that being said, your small business can expand its reach and keep up with those big brands out there by sharing compelling videos on social media. According to Wordstream, social video alone generates 1200% more shares than text and image content combined. And it makes sense — videos allow you to share your brand story while entertaining your audience in a more immediate and engaging way than written content alone.

“According to Wordstream, social video alone generates 1200% more shares than text and image content combined.”

Moving images attract the eye in a sea of text, and if a user engages with your content and likes it, they may even share it on their own feeds or with a friend. This gives you the opportunity to paint a positive first impression of your brand and potentially reach new customers, especially when your content is being shared by someone whose opinion the viewer trusts. And as a bonus, putting some marketing spend toward promoting your content on social media doesn’t hurt either. Most social media channels have targeting built into their ad platforms, so you can easily reach the right audience with your videos with a little bit of cash!

Easy videos to create and share on social media

Now, you may be wondering what type of content your small business should make for social media if you’re short on budget, time, or both. Say no more — we have some ideas that can help you get started!

• Promote a local event on LinkedIn with a webcam video: LinkedIn is a space where people are searching for new networking opportunities and focusing on professional development, but that doesn’t mean you can’t add some fun flair to people’s news feeds using video content strategically! Promoting an event with video can be an engaging way to show people what your business has to offer and encourage others to learn more about your organization.

• Recap a popular blog post for Facebook: If you aren’t seeing the engagement you want with your written posts, despite the witty copy you craft, simply recapping a popular blog post in a video can entice Facebook users to consume your content. It’s a low-barrier video anyone can create and share in minutes. And, the script practically writes itself!

• Show off your company culture on Instagram: There’s no better place to get your feet wet with video than Instagram. Many businesses use Instagram to highlight their culture and feature people who work there and make it so special. In this space, it’s easy to combine both curated and candid content for your audience to get a feel for what your business is all about! The bar is low for super-produced content, so this is a great channel for experimentation.

• Reply to a support-related question on Twitter: Take your customer support to another level by replying to support-related questions with video on Twitter. Forget the fancy gear, too. Yeah — you heard us! You can shoot any of these videos with only an iPhone and your own creativity.

• Record a special announcement video: Sometimes the written word just doesn’t do a special announcement justice. Which is why video is the perfect medium for capturing your genuine excitement about any big news. Generate hype in a more human way around your business’ big sale or product reveal. Your authenticity will truly shine through and others will be able to feel it, too.

• Answer FAQ in a video: Turn the way you normally answer FAQs from drab to fab! Using video to answer questions regarding when your business is open, holiday schedule, and other useful information can be a great way to inform your audience about any important happenings. You can even show off your brand personality at the same time.

Alternatively, you can aim to shoot a more highly-produced video for your business that can be repurposed for multiple marketing channels in the new year (even on a shoestring budget!). Read our post, "Common Marketing Challenges (And How to Solve Them with Video)," and learn how you can overcome production and budget barriers.

By creating and promoting quality content on social media, you’re giving your content the opportunity to be seen by many. Who knows — your video just might land in front of someone who could turn into a loyal advocate of your brand!

Collect leads from your videos

How else can video help grow your small business? Well, hold onto your hats, because videos can be used to collect leads. That’s right, we’re talking about growing that coveted email list!

Creating videos you’re proud to share is the first step, but to add another log to the fire, you should think about how you can engage your viewers further once they’re on your site. Don’t let those leads slip away without a say! Now, you’re probably wondering which videos you should put a lead capture form on — great question, we’re glad you asked.

• Top-of-funnel videos: These types of videos are intended to grab your viewer’s attention and make people aware that your brand exists. While people are getting to know you at this stage of the funnel, it’s the perfect time to capitalize on interactions by capturing leads. You can reach out to prospects in the future and possibly foster long-lasting relationships with your brand after collecting their email address. After all, consumer interest is fleeting. Keep in mind, this will likely get you the highest quantity of leads, but not necessarily the highest quality.

• Bottom-of-funnel videos: For people who already have an idea of what your business is about and are located deeper in the buying process, “decision” or “bottom-of-funnel” videos are your best bet for converting those high quality leads. Focusing on answering people’s product or purchase-related questions with explainer videos can help you convert more qualified leads. And, if you place these videos on your product or purchase pages, you can be confident your content will get in front of interested prospects’ eyes.

Hook leads with the right tools

On most social networks or video platforms, you can include a CTA to direct people to your website, encourage them to click a link, or even subscribe to your YouTube channel all about your deep love of Swedish Fish. Quite frankly, the possibilities are endless. However, actually collecting leads from these videos becomes a bit trickier. When you host your videos on your own website, however, you have more control over the overall experience (and your ability to collect those precious email addresses!).

If you’re a Wistia user, you can easily add our nifty Turnstile feature to any video in your library and start collecting leads in no time. When you place your video on a landing page or blog post customized with Turnstile, you have a few options to choose from to get your prospect to complete a form. You can make your Turnstile appear at any point throughout your video, or you can have the overlay display "on hover." With this new setting, you have the ability to collect leads without interrupting the viewer experience, making the form appear whenever a viewer moves their mouse over the player on desktop, or taps the video on mobile. Pretty neat, right?

When it comes to social media, however, collecting leads with your video is a different story. When you share videos natively across different social platforms, Wistia features like Turnstile won’t be included in your post. That’s why it’s important to share videos on social media and your website, as they serve different goals and purposes on both channels. If you’re looking to drive more people to a video on your landing page, you can simply share a short clip and then add a link to your page so they can watch it in full!

“That’s why it’s important to share videos on social media and your website, as they serve different goals and purposes on both channels.”

Drive site visits with an SEO boost from video

Some small businesses out there experience growing pains when it comes to increasing visits to their site. If this sounds like you, video content can give you just the right SEO boost your site may be missing to start ranking higher in search engines ( … ahhh yes, that’s the stuff).

Ranking in search engines is a mysterious puzzle to wrap your head around — especially if you don’t consider yourself super tech-savvy. In the past, everyone preached that written content was king, but then Google began recognizing pages differently as the popularity of video marketing took off.

Web pages with quality videos are now considered rich with content compared to those with traditional text-only blog posts filled with keywords. But hey, don’t sweat it if this is news to you — it’s hard to keep track of all of these changes! Fortunately, we’ve learned a thing or two from this shift. Creating quality video content that’s valuable to your audience has a handful of positive effects on SEO.

Creating optimal videos for your site

With a little help from our friends over at Marketo, we know how Google ranks as well as tricks and tips for optimizing videos to get found. But remember, the most important thing is to make sure your video is actually valuable to your audience. These optimization tips won’t help you if your content isn’t engaging in and of itself.

As we mentioned before, videos are considered rich content on your web pages (which ranks well with Google). When people visit your site, seeing a video can influence them to linger around a little longer, which decreases your bounce rate, and gets Google to acknowledge people’s interest in the content you have to offer. And, if people love your video content, the likelihood that they’ll share it on social or in their own blog posts is much greater.

“When people visit your site, seeing a video can influence them to linger around a little longer, which decreases your bounce rate, and gets Google to acknowledge people’s interest in the content you have to offer.”

Here are some tips for how you can increase your video’s SEO-power today:

• Add transcriptions or captions to all of your videos: At Wistia, our Interactive Captions feature can help boost engagement, give viewers more control, and make your videos more discoverable in search engines via keyword strategy. For instance, if you are trying to target people searching for productivity software, you can work relevant key terms into your video’s script such as “job performance,” “time management,” and “social media.” Besides boosting SEO, hear more about all the reasons why your videos should have captions in this post.

• Make sure your video file has metadata: Like blog post metadata, these are the titles and descriptions that Google pulls to display in search results. According to Marketo, optimizing your titles and descriptions to include keywords that match user intent can encourage click-throughs. Customizing a captivating thumbnail also contributes to whether or not a prospect will perceive your content as valuable (and declare you the chosen one!).

• Use a speedy video player: If you’re a Wistia user, luckily for you our Standard embed code takes the pressure off when it comes to slow page load times so you can focus on improving the quality and authority of your website! The Standard embed code works with asynchronous JavaScript, which means the video player and all of the SEO metadata is loaded in the background, without holding up the rest of the elements on the page.

Worrying about optimization might be the last thing on your small business’s mind. But, with the help of some handy tools and a video player that does all the dirty work for you, your company can focus on creating engaging content that will drive up your site visits in 2019!

New year, new ways to grow with video

We’re giving you and your small business a free pass this time around for not having a video marketing strategy in 2018. But, among your own new year’s resolutions, making videos to help grow your small business should be at the top of your list. There’s no better time to start expanding your reach on social media, collecting leads, and driving site visits with video than the present!

Whether you’re going to create snackable videos with your iPhone for Instagram, or collect leads to start establishing new relationships with consumers. Investing in video can finally help move the needle when it comes to your business’s growth in the new year. 2019 is your year to use video to grow your business. Now, go get your slice of the pie!

This article was originally published by Wistia

What You Really Need To Know About Explainer Videos

You may have read that the average online attention span of your audience is falling. In 2015, TIME magazine summed up the problem in an article aptly titled, “You Now Have a Shorter Attention Span Than a Goldfish.” Statistically, 17% of you are about to click away from this article, as you’ve already read for 4 seconds. However, if this were a video instead of a text post, you would stay longer. That’s key information for marketers competing in a landscape where engagement is the currency. This is affirmed by Aberdeen’s latest report, which found that “marketers who are using video are seeing (on average) 49% faster growth in revenue.”

Video marketing expert Rohan Kale, founder of the animation video company rkale.com, knows how useful prospecting via storytelling is. “It’s the best way to attract and engage your audience and can provide as much as an 80% boost in conversion rates.” Even small increases in conversion rates can make a big difference to profitability. Kale points out that Dropbox was able to increase their conversions by 10% simply by adding an explainer video. This translated into 10 million additional users for the file hosting service.

Whether you are marketing a simple product, or a complex piece of software, an explainer video can do a better job of telling your story. Explainer videos far out-pull blog posts or traditional webpages in terms of user engagement. The following is my interview with Kale to help startups navigate the use of such videos successfully.

Harrison: What exactly is an explainer video — and how do you sell the idea to new businesses?

Kale: Most people are too lazy to read the entire text on your website or landing page. A short video can hook your prospects and help them understand your value proposition. As a result, your sales cycle reduces — due to the educational effect of the video — and you generate more qualified leads. Including a video on a landing page can increase conversion by 80%. In addition, Google and other search engines rank pages with video higher than pages without video. A good explainer video frees your sales team to work on closing high quality prospects rather than repeating the same pitch over and over again to potential clients.

Harrison: Are there different ways to use explainer videos?

Kale: There are five different types of explainer videos that I commonly make for clients:

1. Benefits video – These work well on the cover of your website or landing page to get a higher level of information over about your product/service right away.

2.  “How To” videos – These work well explaining specific topics in details.

3. Testimonial videos – These live videos are good for credibility and trust building.

4. Demo videos – These videos explain the finer details about products/services.

5. FAQ videos – These videos answer all common questions and save time — and they can be updated as new inquiries are received.

Harrison: Which types of explainer videos work best in different industries?

Kale: An ideal video strategy should combine live as well as animation videos. A personal brand or product business can benefit most from live videos. The best example is Dollar Shave Club businesses that sell something intangible, like service companies, can benefit most from animation explainer videos, like this one from Blue Triangle Tech. Remember, the primary goal is to engage the audience. If you do that, your video will be a success!

Harrison: What are some components of a high converting explainer video?

Kale: The best explainer videos include all of these aspects:

1. Script – The script is the heart of the video. The ideal script is approximately 90 seconds. It should focus on the “pain points” of the customer, while detailing the benefits of working with your solution. It should show your customer as a hero with your product/service as the guide who can take them to their best destination.

2. Graphics – The graphics must consider your target audience and should reflect the daily things they encounter in their personal and professional life. It needs to be age appropriate and culturally accessible.

3. Voice over – The voice you choose should reflect your brand well and should replicate your brand’s “tone” as established on your website/landing page.

4. Music – Just like voice, music plays an important role in reflecting your brand. It needs to be keyed to bring out the right emotions from your audience.

5. Animation style – The animation style should be free flowing and easy to grasp. It can be motion graphics if you are a serious business in, for example, the financial industry, or it can be cartoon if you are a light-hearted brand, like an app company. In some businesses like construction or architecture, 3D videos can be useful. In the end, how your video looks, feels and works depends on your brand and budget.

6. Subtitles – Up to 85% of Facebook videos are watched without sound according to research by Digiday. So if you are advertising using Social media, subtitles are essential.

Harrison: Can marketers use an iPhone and just shoot something themselves?

Kale: In general, as in many things, I think you get what you pay for. I believe that choosing the right video partner is crucial for video marketing success

@kate_l_harrison is a branding and marketing consultant specializing in nonprofits and sustainable businesses (katelharrison.com).

The 7 Things You Need to Make Successful Motion Graphics

Motion graphics are a fantastic visual communication tool, but they take more work and expertise to make than static content. To make the best motion graphics possible, you need the right elements—aka creators and skills. We’ve made plenty of motion graphics (and a few mistakes along the way), so we’ve learned a lot about the crucial things that will make or break both your final product and the process along the way.

7 Elements of Great Motion Graphics

To help you avoid those mistakes, we’re sharing the 7 things you need to make a really successful motion graphic, from start to finish. Some are roles, some are skills, and some are useful tips. No matter your team size, these are helpful reminders to make sure you have all aspects of production covered.  

#1 An Organized Project Manager

Motion graphics require a lot. There are many stages, lots of moving parts, and strict timelines. If someone drops the ball, that’s time and money down the drain. You need a project manager or producer to wrangle it all and guide the ship. They craft the brief, manage the production schedule, maintain deadlines, get content creators the resources they need, coordinate teams, get stakeholder feedback, and do whatever needs to be done to make sure things go smoothly. Most importantly, they ensure that all work is in service of the project goal.

#2 A Great Script

Good motion graphics tell a compelling story, and that usually starts with a strong script. Even if you’re producing a 30-second spot, you still need a wordsmith to craft the story. Different rules apply when writing for motion graphics. That includes things like story structure, word count, pacing, and word choice, so make sure your scriptwriter understands these requirements. 

#3 A Clean Copyedit

No matter how simple your motion graphic, you need someone to give the script an edit pass—the final motion graphic, too. (We learned this early on.) This is especially important if you’ll be animating kinetic text or other elements that might risk a typo. A missing word, misspelled name, or incorrect tagline is time-consuming and expensive to correct. Save yourself the headache.

#4 A+ Art Direction

Motion graphics are exciting because they give designers an opportunity to really flex their skills. But you need to establish parameters for design to experiment within. Visuals need to track with the story, style, brand, and, most importantly, the project goal. This generally requires an AD with a skillful eye, someone who can shape the overall look and feel of the work, including animation and design.

#5 Great Design

Motion graphics are their own monster, so design decisions (like motion scripts) are influenced by the medium. Great design communicates the story, emotionally engages the viewer, and delivers the right message. Designers should be well-versed in the ins and outs of visual communication, data visualization, and motion design.

#6 Seamless Animation

Motion graphics are all about movement—duh. But there’s nothing that screams “amateur” more than choppy animation. (Translation: This is not the time to have a noob try to “figure it out.”) Always go with a pro who knows what they’re doing.

#7 A Distribution Strategy

Motion graphics take a lot of work, so they deserve to be seen. Before you even start storyboarding, you should know your distribution plan, especially since this can influence design decisions (e.g., your motion graphic might be tailored to a Facebook audience or the length of an Instagram video).

3 Tips to Collaborate with Your Motion Graphics Team

When you have a lot of moving parts, there’s a lot to manage. Keep these tips in mind to make sure your creative team makes the best motion graphic possible—together.

• Brief everyone. Even if someone is coming in to help with a specific aspect—say, storyboards—they still need to know what the project goal is. This will influence how they approach their work and might even result in some better suggestions.

• Get sign-off at every stage. To make sure things go as smoothly as possible, have stakeholders sign-off on creative at every stage. That way there are no big surprises when they see the final product.

• Share ideas early and often. Great creative collaboration is a beautiful thing. You all share the same goal: to make great creative work. Therefore, everyone should be invested in the creative process. You certainly don’t want to step on toes, but we find that a healthy conversation—even debate—often results in better work.

7 Best Techniques to Promote Your Website for Free

You can have the best product in the world, but without effective advertising, no one will know about it. Just because you have launched your website on the Internet doesn’t mean that everyone will come flocking to it. In fact, nobody will know it exists if you do not get out there and promote it. There are several services available to help you get the word out there, but they cost money. However, there are several ways to get the word out for free. Here are seven website promotion tips you need to follow to get your page up to the top of the search engines.

1. Focus on Website SEO

Before you begin working on your website content, you need to know the SEO tools that will go into it. Use the Google keyword tool planner to help you find the best keywords for your niche market. Remember to focus on long-tailed keywords versus short keywords as you can struggle to rank for a broad keyword. Focus on the keywords that have low competition and high search frequency to help you create blog posts that are compelling, and will get noticed. Using the right SEO strategy will help you as you focus on promoting your site. The keywords you select must be added to the title, headings, content, and Meta description. If you add images, remember to include the keyword in the picture title tag and the alt tag. Promoting your website by using traditional SEO is one of the best ways to gain natural traffic and a higher ranking.

2. Social Media Marketing

The world of social media has completely changed online marketing. Creating a social media account, and interacting with the customers often is the best way to promote a website. You will be able to create connections with the customers, and you can gain instant results as a result of your communication with them. Different social media accounts provide businesses with an excellent platform to advertise their business to the right audience. The promotion of websites on social media accounts can have branded imagery. Consider running contests and giveaways with unique landing pages to gain new “likes” and customer contact information. Facebook and Twitter remain the dominant forces of social media, but Pinterest and Instagram are starting to catch on with businesses as other ways to promote a website.

3. Search Engine Listing

A simple way to start getting traffic to your website is by using the search engines. Submit new content to the search engine directories like Google, Yahoo!, Bing etc, so it can be indexed. The major search engines offer this free service, and you can acquire it with smaller search engine directories as well. This is one of the first things you need to do to promote a website if you are adding fresh content weekly.

4. Signature Branding

Your brand image is how people will recognize your company. Spend some time working on making your brand easy to recognize, and compelling enough to get people’s attention. Create a signature for your email account, text messages, and forums that include your website URL. This is a great way to get people to recognize your brand, and it will get people to click on the URL. It is vital to have a mobile-friendly website if you choose to add your URL to text messaging and other mobile advertising options. If you want to learn more about how to promote a website using mobile services, consider working with Outbrain. They have unique mobile marketing strategies to help your business gain more exposure.

5. Reciprocal Linking

One way to show the search engines your website is trusted is by having other websites link to your site. If you want a promotion, website options include; guest blogging, forum posting, link exchange, and news articles. Do not start linking your site to a number of low-ranking, low-quality sites. The search engines want to reward you with a higher website ranking when they see your website is linked to higher ranking, authority sites. Focus on creating links that are relevant to the readers, and use quality keywords or phrases to gain a link. Inbound links are an important part of the SEO world, but you must be careful in the way you create them. If you do too many at once, your website can be banned from the search engines. Slow and steady is the best way to go when you are working on quality inbound links to your website.

6. Focus on Quality Content

Out of all the website promotion ideas, you will read about online, the best one is to focus on quality. Why are you writing blog posts for the readers? Are you giving them the information they want, or are you only focused on getting something “fresh” on your website? Creating quality content is vital to your website, and to your overall ranking. Write the kind of content that other people want to read and promote on their own blogs/websites and on social media. When you create a company blog, use Google Authorship to help you gain visibility. This will link all your articles together, and it will rank higher in Google. Send out new social media messages each time you upload a new article to the blog. Monitor the blog to find out what is working, and what you can ditch if it’s not moving traffic up.

7. Use Google Local Business

To gain a local audience, submit your site to Google Local Business. Not only will Google provide website promotion ideas, they will allow every business to register their information for free. You can add pictures, include promotional offers, and even submit mobile ads. The great part of the Google Local Business page is how the information is displayed. It will show up right above the rest of the normal search result information, giving your business a larger online presence. Google even provides directions to your location, and they allow customers to call right from their mobile device.

If you are still asking how to promote my website after using these seven tips, it is a good idea to contact online marketing agencies for help. These seven website promotion tips make it easy for anyone to focus on improving their website and promoting it through the right channels. While it can take time to learn how to promote a website, it is important to focus on being patient. It can take a few weeks, or months before you notice a significant increase in traffic and your online ranking. For additional information on how to promote a website, contact Outbrain today!

Why You Need An Animated Explainer Video For Your Business

Animated explainer videos are a perfect tool for attracting visitors to your site and telling them about the key benefits and features of your product.

According to Nielsen Research, Training and Consulting Group, the average user spends about 10-20 seconds on a site if there is no compelling reason to stay longer.

And the first ten seconds are critical for giving the user this reason to stay by clearly setting out your value proposition.

Having such a short period of time, you cannot rely only on text and graphic ways to attract their attention.

If you do differ from your competitors, have a distinct advantage, or offer a unique service/product, you have to SHOW this to the users, who often have neither time, nor desire to investigate why they should take YOUR offer.

Why does video work better?

Let’s delve into the realm of psychology. Only 20% of people remember the information they read and only 10% remember what they heard.

Eye-tracking studies show internet readers pay close attention to information-carrying images. In fact, when the images are relevant, readers spend more time looking at the images than they do reading text on the page.

At the same time, we get to know that visual information is processed 60,000 times faster than text.

Based on these stats, we should accept that text and audio is less effective compared to non-verbal communication, ​​and can influence a rather small percentage of your audience.

Animated explainer videos are able to clearly articulate your service or product in less than a minute or two. And since video allows people to acquire more information in less time compared to reading, you get a great chance to win these critical 10 seconds and capture the users’ attention.

Plus, animated explainer videos involve both visual communication and audio that significantly enhance the perception.

Do these little psychological theories work when applied to online marketing? Recent facts show that they really do.

The latest video trends

Cisco in its VNI Global IP Traffic and Service Adoption Forecasts for 2014-2019, states that by 2019 video will make up to 80% of all traffic compared to 67% in 2014.

So, according to “The Top 7 SEO Trends That Will Dominate 2016” by Forbes, it’s time to stop taking video and multimedia as an additional tool of online marketing, which only supplements textual information. Forbes predicts that B2C companies will try and use more video due to its higher reach, engagement, effectiveness and overall ROI compared to text content. It looks like B2B brands will follow the trend in the near future.

These predictions are based on statistics proving that both customers and businesses love video.

According to Wyzowl’s video marketing statistics 2018, which were gathered by surveying 570 unique respondents in December 2017, we can identify the following patterns:

• 99% of businesses who use video say they will continue to do so in 2018

• 85% of businesses regard video as an important part of their marketing strategy. (up from 82% in 2017)

• 82% of businesses plan to spend more on video marketing in 2018. (the same percentage as last year)

• 78% of marketers say video gives them a good ROI. (down from 83% in 2017)

A video effectiveness for business development:

• 97% of marketers say video has helped increase user understanding of their product or service.

• 76% say it helped them increase sales.

• 47% say it helped them reduce support queries.

• 76% say it helped them increase traffic.

• 80% of marketers say video has increased dwell time on their website.

The bottom line is that out of the 19% of businesses aren’t using video and 65% of businesses who don’t currently use video say they intend to start using it in 2018. (up from 34% in 2017)

But why animation?

Yes, animated explainer videos are just one way of visualization, and there is no one big reason for you to choose exactly this type of video content for every occasion.

In some cases, staged video with real actors and props is more effective and reasonable.

Still, there are a few important advantages animated explainer video has over other visuals:

• Animation explainer video is perfect for those areas of business where it is difficult to present and to sell a product through other types of video or promotional methods. For example, you develop websites or you’re engaged in contextual advertising. Your explainer video should include information on target customers’ problems, benefits of the company and its workflow, several cases with figures and so on. You have to admit that it’s rather difficult to show traffic growth in video unless it’s animated. Virtually any information can be visualized with the help of animated explainer videos – and this is its main advantage over real video.

• Lively animated characters along with eye-catching cartoons, trigger strong emotions and create a very special atmosphere that engages an audience and captures their attention. This adds an emotional component to rational arguments, enhancing the desired effect. It’s easier and more interesting for the audience to keep up with a storyline, when positive feelings are involved and the information presented in the video is more likely to stick in the memory. Plus, animated explainer videos are associated to a marketing tool in a less degree than staged video – and that’s why it doesn’t come off as irritating or obtrusive advertising.

• Animated explainer video is not limited to scripts. The characters can fly, dance, sing and wear any costumes, while the action may take place at any historical period and in any geographical location. This makes it possible to create an inventive storyline for better presentation of a product.

Summing up, by using animated explainer video it’s easy to communicate about complicated things, create memorable images and appeal to an audience’s emotions. However, animated explainer videos can successfully solve real-world problems, improve search engines results and provide an increase in leads, conversions and sales!

Tried-and-true

One of the most striking case stories illustrating rapid success made by a startup using animated explainer video is Dropbox.

Founded in 2010 Dropbox grew from zero to 100 million users in 5 years, using an effective viral campaign and the simplest web design – their landing page had only an animated explainer video and a download button.

The video campaign had its effect, increasing conversions by 10%. Considering the fact that it was viewed about 750,000 times in a month, it converted nearly 1 million of the visitors into registered users yearly.

Want more examples?

Desk.com owned by Salesforce and representing a gamification solution for human resource management, placed an animated explainer video on its home page and got increased conversions by 20%!

About 30% of the visitors watched the video page and half of them watched it till the end.

Reasons to take animated video on board

So, what goals can you reach using an animated video?

• Increased conversions

• More sales

• Increased click-through

• Higher rankings in search engines

• Easy-to-remember marketing messages

• Customers’ engagement

• Reducing the number of consultations

An animated explainer video makes complex things simple by both explaining your product features to customers, and boosting your business in multiple ways.

Guest Author: Alex Taganchin is the Founder and CEO at Hound Studio. He loves animation, startups and traveling. You can find more articles on his corporate blog or follow him on Facebook or LinkedIn.

The Difference between Motion Graphics and Visual Effects

Motion Graphics is animated graphic design, whereas Visual Effects combines existing footage with computer generated imagery to create realistic scenes.

The world of digital motion media can be a scary place. Like most industries it’s filled with jargon that can be both intimidating and confusing. When working with post houses it’s important to have a general understanding of the differences between some key areas so you can effectively communicate your vision to the team before the project gets going. Phrases you commonly hear are VFX or visual effects and motion graphics. So what is the difference between the two, and how can they both be used during post production?

Here’s the short description for the two:

Motion Graphics equals animated graphic design. Common uses include title sequences, lower third graphics for interviews and informational art cards. Motion graphics are usually combined with audio, which makes them closer to films than static infographics. Perhaps “multimedia” might also be appropriate, but again, we’re getting into semantics where there are a lot of overlaps. Motion Graphics comes from the idea of Graphics (or Designs) in movement. Motion Graphics pieces contain design elements like shapes, typography, composition, etc. Especially on its origins, you can think about that as how to translate a print or any other static visual design work, and add movements to it.

Some examples of Motion Graphics work includes:

• Gates Foundation – G20 Summit

• Is That A Fish In Your Ear? – David Bellos

Visual Effects: Visual Effects is the procedure where Animation is inserted into a real to life scene, i.e. something which is captured utilizing a camera, a genuine area and performing artists. It is then handled utilizing VFX Techniques, and different effects in the shot are composited into the view. Visual Effects combines existing footage with computer generated imagery to create realistic scenes. Common uses include sky replacements, logo removal and including environmental effects, such as snow, fire, smoke and lightning.

Some examples of this type of work include:

• VOLKSWAGEN Hedgehog

• Justin van der Lek - VFX Showreel

Definition – Although animation and motion graphics are terms that are in the same ballpark, they do not have similar definitions. This is especially important to students in entertainment or media industry who may often use the terms interchangeably. An animation is the controlling of images in order to make them appear as lively pictures in a changing medium. In visual effects, an animation is embedded into a scene in order to create a footage that is not static but altering constantly.

Importance – We have been exposed to animation ever since our childhood. The numerous cartoon shows that we used to enjoy and the countless ads we see around us, all of them use animation in order to become a reality. Motion graphics and visual effects are considerably more important in movies or television where the limits of designing are being pushed every day.

Procedure – Both of these include complex steps that can take years to master. Animation nowadays is mostly done through computers but in the past, the hand-made animation was the norm. Even now, Japanese studios use hand-made animation. Motion graphics require specific software that can add life to the video or animation that is being edited. The advancement of technology has caused such software to become more and more sophisticated with time.

Professional – An animator is an artist who uses his creativity to make a still image seem dynamic. A visual effects specialist, on the other hand, uses software and techniques to enhance the visual footage.

Types – Both animation and motion graphics have been divided into several types. An animation can be divided into traditional animations types such as full animation and rotoscope. It is also divided into Stop-motion animation, Computer animation and mechanical animation. The types of motion graphics or visual effects include 2D character animation, 3D animation, stop motion, live action, whiteboard animation, Matte paintings etc.

Scope – The scope of motion graphics is far more than that of animation. Motion graphics include also those scenes which specifically do not have a driven meaning or are story based. They can be crafted to fit a specific video that is abstract in its meaning. Abstract shapes, textures and symbols can also be made out of motion graphics.

Why Making a Motion Graphic Product Video is The Best Option For Your Business

For a business marketing their products is an integral part of operations. Every business aims to sell the products that they produce, and the way to do that is by getting their name out to the public.

You need to let people know about their product in order for them to look for it and purchase it. Hence, your sales pitch needs to be exceptionally good to turn people’s heads towards you and your products. The best way for you to do that is with product videos.

What are Product Videos?

Product videos are a form of advertisement that helps viewers associate with your product. It details the specifications of your products and relays their importance to the people watching. It’s a sales pitch for your product that shows its salient points and its best details in order to make the viewer interested in it. Not only are they meant to show off your product, but they are also supposed to seal the deal when it comes to your customer deciding to buy them.

Thus, you need to make your product videos as attractive as possible. The way to do that is with the use of motion graphics.

How Motion Graphics Help

When it comes to making attractive product videos, motion graphics help you bring the following to your videos:

Attractive Design

The things you can create with motion graphics are only limited by your imagination and nothing else. It’s something that you can bend into any shape or form depending on what you want to do with it.

Large Amount of Design Options

You can use motion graphics to create a wide number of videos with different styles to them. From comic book style videos to ones that combine live action footage with motion graphics, you can experiment with a number of different visual styles at the same time. This allows you to not just interest your customers but also hook them to what they’re watching.

Short Production Time

Motion graphics videos take a very small time for production. Typically, these videos take 2-4 weeks to be produced, at the end of which you will find your product ready to blow minds wherever it’s displayed.

Great Prices

If you think motion graphics are expensive, you are mistaken. It comes at great prices and marries fantastic quality with those low prices. It’s the best deal to give your video the level of quality that it deserves.

If you’re looking to add motion graphics to your videos, look no further! Our team at Vdeesign is built up of professionals with years of experience in designing and animating. Collectively, our team has worked on hundreds of projects, giving them a firm grasp over any task that may be handed to them. When it comes to motion graphics, Vdeesign is your best bet.

8 Essential Tips for Creating Great Motion Graphics

Motion graphics is an ever-increasing industry. Just as the software it’s created with is getting cheaper and more accessible, so is the eagerness of artists to create even greater pieces of work. From TV commercials to the introduction of a new movie, great motion graphics can be seen just about anywhere. If you're a beginner that's ready to jump into the world of motion graphics, here are some nuggets of helpful information to have you creating your best work yet.

#1 Know What the Client Wants 

While this tip may be more focused toward freelancers and professionals, if you’re just starting out this is something you still need to keep in mind. Clients may not always be the easiest people to work with, and many times they won’t really know or care what goes into creating great motion graphics work. After all, if they did they could be doing it themselves. But they still have a vision or an idea for what they want displayed to the world. It’s up to you to bring their idea to life in the best possible way. Knowing exactly what the client wants will ensure you won’t have to do any revisions, and you can get the project done in the shortest amount of time. So you need to have that interview with the client. What ideas do they have? How much creative freedom are they allowing you? It’s important to keep in mind that while clients know what they want, it doesn’t always translate well to motion graphics. That’s why it’s up to you, the artist, to suggest ideas you know would work better with this unique medium. The client won’t always take your advice, but it’s important that you present your own ideas. 

#2 Plan Out Your Work

Before you ever jump into After Effects, CINEMA 4D or any other application you use to create motion graphics, you need to have a plan of attack. This could mean brainstorming by storyboarding or sketching. Come up with different ideas beforehand so you can quickly determine what will work and what won’t. As you probably know, creating great motion graphics is a lot of work. If you don’t know exactly what you plan on creating, it can turn in to a lot of trial and error in the application. This can become very time consuming. It’s a lot easier to toss one of your ideas if it’s a simple sketch on paper than it would be if you worked on it for hours in After Effects. That’s why it’s crucial to have that trial and error time during your planning phase than it is to do it in an application. So next time you’re about to open up your software, take a step back and make sure you know exactly what you plan on creating. 

#3 Make It Flow 

Having good flow for your project, whether it’s a simple title piece or a complex project that tells a story,  is critical for the viewer to understand what's going on.  Don’t just throw in a flashy effect because it looks cool. Instead, think about how each new cut transitions into the next, how you're guiding the viewer's attention, and if the viewer will be able to follow along.  The last thing you want is to make the viewer feeling lost and confused. 

#4 Have a Good Naming Structure 

No matter what application you’re working with you should have a naming structure that you stick with. As your motion graphics piece starts to get more complex, with layers upon layers making up the final shot, it can be very easy to get lost. Without a proper naming convention, you could be skimming through a sea of layers until you find the one you're looking for. Instead of just creating new nameless layers to save time in the short term, take the time to name each one appropriately to its purpose in the composition. This will not only make it easier for you in the future, but if you need to pass your work to someone else in the pipeline they will appreciate your organization. 

#5 Use 2D Effects to Save Time 

3D has become an integral part of motion graphics, but that doesn’t mean you will need to incorporate it into every project you work on. Sure, you can create some amazing effects with the powerful dynamic systems most 3D applications include, but this can take a significant amount of time to create and render. If you’re on a tight schedule try to find places where you can exclude these flashy 3D effects, a visual effects (VFX) application like After Effects can very easily create convincing 2D effects that can look just as good, and be completed in a much shorter amount of time. Of course, that’s not to say you shouldn’t ever use 3D effects. In fact, they can be vital for the success of a shot, but they aren’t always needed for every project. 

#6 Decide on a Style 

Having a consistent style throughout the entire project is important for keeping the viewer engaged. You don’t want to have a different color pallet for each cut or a completely different font style for the next set of text. This will make your shot feel disjointed and difficult to understand. Talk with your client about the style you want to create for the project or decide for yourself. In many cases, it's beneficial to bring a few examples to your client beforehand to help them visualize the styles you’d like to create. Oftentimes, these examples don’t need to be more than quick sketches with some color where appropriate, but they can go a long way to show your client the ideas you have inside your head for each shot. 

#7 Make It Clear 

This tip is closely related to the previous one. When you have your style set, you need to make sure what you're presenting to the viewer is perfectly clear. No matter the project, even if it’s a simple logo animation or a complex story that's being told through motion graphics, you need to maintain clarity. Clarity in your work is much more important than flashy effects. If what you’re presenting to the viewer isn’t clear, then no amount of interesting effects can fix it. In fact, simplicity in your work is often the best route to take. Sure, applications like After Effects can create amazing VFX, but that doesn’t mean they need to be implemented into every project. A motion graphics piece that is simple and clear to the viewer will leave a lasting impression. 

#8 Take a Break 

Have you ever come back to a project the next day and noticed a whole list of things that need to be fixed? You were able to see them because you had fresh eyes; it was almost like you were looking at it for the first time. Creating a finished motion graphics piece isn't something typically done in just a few hours. As mentioned previously, there should be a planning phase where you allow yourself plenty of time to prepare your shot. As you spend countless hours focused on your project, you can start to get tunnel vision. Things that didn’t look very good suddenly aren’t looking so bad. Keeping this laser focus for hours can result in a skewed take on your work, which can often result in shots that work well individually but hurt the overall flow of your project. As schedules start to get tighter, you may not have the luxury of coming back to it the next day but you still should take a short break. Take a step outside or grab a cup of coffee. Getting away from the screen for even just fifteen minutes can help you  see areas that need to be fixed or things you may not have noticed before once you get back.   Motion graphics is an exciting and challenging art form, and the demand for skilled artists is high. While each project will always present challenges of its own, try incorporating some of these tips into your next motion graphics project to see how they help you create better work. To learn more, check out these great After Effects tutorials for motion graphics on an Introduction to After Effects for Motion Designers and Creating a Vector Car Animation in After Effects.

7 Laws for Perfect Video Content

Today, video content rules the Internet. It is extremely versatile and engaging. Besides, it’s also the best way of storytelling, which has proven to be a very effective marketing strategy.

Statistics show that video content consumption rates will continue rising, as videos have proven to be the most effective way to engage a customer. Forbes reports with the reference to SmallBizTrends that by 2019, global consumer Internet video traffic will reach 80% of the general consumer Internet traffic.

Moreover, the same source claims that only Facebook generates 8 billion video views a day and YouTube video consumption increases by 100% each year.

With such a dynamic rise, many companies started to invest in video marketing. With each month, there are more and more new YouTube influencers trying to reach huge audiences and monetize their videos. However, the laws of video content are strict and if you don’t follow them, you risk not being noticed at all.

Viewers prefer valuable content. According to the survey by Clear Voice, 60% of millennialsreport watching videos to keep up with the news and 47% claim they regularly watch videos to learn something.

So it’s not just about having fun and creating a random video, you cannot expect great feedback by just relying on these factors. Creating a video requires following certain rules, which we’re going to discuss in this article.

Here are 7 laws for perfect video content you must follow by all means. It doesn’t matter if you’re creating a marketing video or trying to build your own YouTube empire, these laws are universal and work for everyone the same.

Your Audience Controls Your Content

Of course, you can try and create videos that will target everyone. However, it’s not the best idea. Your videos will get the necessary attention but will be forgotten soon after you’ve posted them. Even if you decide to create cooking tutorials, you’ll still have a major focus group and the rest of your audience who will watch your videos for their own purposes.

Identifying your target audience is crucial. Without having someone to target, your videos will look sloppy and not put together. Having a target audience will help you create a focus for your videos, which, of course, needs to be addressed in every video you create.

“Before you even start the video production process”, says Martin Gates, a marketing specialist at MyAssignmentWriting, “it’s crucial to conduct the full research and thoroughly study your audience.” He gives the following tips on how you can do this to make your videos more engaging:

#1 Study the generations. As you know, there exist several generations of people with different characteristic features and consumer habits:

#2 After determining which generations you want to target in your videos, create an audience persona. You can do this by asking the following questions:

• What is their age and gender?

• Where do they live? (in some cases a specific location is required)

• What are their needs?

• What is their occupation?

These are basic questions that will help you understand your target viewer. They will also help you determine a suitable time to post videos.

3) Study your social media channels. There, you can ask your existing audience what they prefer to watch. Based on this information you can put together a consistent analysis, which will help you identify the type of video content you will create.

Type of Video Content = Your Expertise

Speaking about the type of video content, it should reflect the level of your expertise. Yes, you understood it right: filming videos on the topic you know nothing about is absolutely out of the discussion.

Today, you don’t have to invent anything new, you can use already existing types of video content to deliver your message to wide audiences. The most popular types of video content include:

• A vlog – this is a type of video blog where you basically film a random event. According to Social Chain, vlogs gain popularity because of a specific trait in human characters that crave a little peak in someone else’s life. If you’re ready to share your life with millions of strangers, then this format is for you.

• A tutorial – another popular format of video content. You’ve probably heard about makeup tutorials that help makeup gurus earn a lot of money. This format is always in demand. According to BBC, in 2018 people throughout the world have watched on average 1 million beauty tutorials each day.

A podcast – a great way to show your expertise on a certain subject. Don’t underestimate podcasts: according to Entrepreneur, one in four Americans listen to podcasts every daywhile on their commute or cooking dinner for the family. It’s a great format to invest your time and creativity into.

Don’t know how to choose the format that suits your creative needs? Martha Jefferson from AussieWritings recommends starting from choosing a category. YouTube, for example, has over 15 video categories, including Family Entertainment, Comedy, Education and Beauty & Fashion. From that, it will be easier for you to understand, which format of the video content will fit your category best.

The Success of Video Content is Determined by its Length

According to this HubSpot’s report, each platform has a different “perfect” time for the video content:

• Instagram – 30 seconds. According to the report, videos with an average length of 26 seconds got the most comments.

• Twitter – 45 seconds. Reportedly, Twitter’s videos of the day regularly averaged 43 seconds.

• Facebook – 1 minute. Apparently, Facebook users love watching snappy, quick videos, while scrolling down the news feed.

• YouTube – 2 minutes. This is an average length for YouTube videos that don’t bring substantial value (like videos with cats and dogs that are so popular on this platform). Nevertheless, YouTube is still a great platform for long videos as long as they bring a certain value.

Choosing a perfect length for your video also depends on the format of video content. For sure, the perfect combination of these two factors will have college students procrastinate and skip on writing their college papers, as they will want to binge-watch all your videos.

Not Every Platform Works Well for Video Content

As you can see from the HubSpot’s report mentioned above, each platform has its own requirements when it comes to the perfect length of videos. However, this goes for the specific formats of video content too.

According to this report by Veed.me, the most popular social media platforms have the following requirements:

• Facebook users go for the videos that are short and informative or have an element of fun to them. These videos should also work without sound, but the message should still be clear.

• Instagram allows more creative formats like visually-pleasing teasers, behind-the-scenes and loop videos.

• Twitter is also perfect for teasers and short informative videos, but you can also attach full-length video content.

• YouTube is the only platform that is perfect for any format of video content.

Of course, you can choose multiple platforms to post your videos. However, specialists warn that one and the same video will not always deliver the same result on two different platforms. “If you decided to post your videos on Instagram and YouTube, tailor them according to the requirements of each platform”, says Harry Durant, a researcher at ProEssayWriting.

You can post full-length videos on YouTube and short clips from them on Instagram to tease your followers.

Video Scripts Should Not Be Ignored

Despite your desire to be creative and spontaneous, it’s not the best idea, if you’re serious about creating video content. That’s why you need a script which will serve as a blueprint for your video production process.

As we’ve already figured out the key components for the script (audience, format, and length of the video), it’s also necessary to point out some tricks that will help you create killer video content. Animaker lists 3 following core elements of the video script:

• The hook – something that will grab a viewer’s attention from the first second.

• The patty – the story that serves as the foundation for your video.

• Call to action – your final words inviting a viewer to subscribe to your channel or follow you on social media.

However, you need to be careful with the last element. “CTAs have gotten so cliché and boring that people just mentally block them”, says Clara Richardson, the head of marketing at A-writer. “Instead of using clichés, invite your viewers to put your recommendations to the test and let you know in the comments about their experience.” Indeed, be more creative with your CTA, and you’ll see the difference right away.

Viewers Always Look for a Story

The story engages a viewer from the very beginning of a video. That’s why it has become one of the most powerful strategies in marketing. According to Medium, large amounts of information get more digestible in a narrative.

Effective video storytelling must include the following components:

• Get a behind-the-scenes speaker to narrate your story. Don’t write it like in a PowerPoint presentation. Put it into your viewers’ ears, not just their eyes.

• Start from catching your viewer’s attention. Go straight to the subject and keep up with it till the end while emphasizing the idea behind it.

• Appeal to a certain emotion from the very beginning. Make your viewers feel a certain way and intensify the emotion as the video goes on.

Good storytelling always wins attention. When I was a student, I came across P&G’s “Thank you, mom” campaign that had me watch all the videos they created during the previous years. The videos were so touching that I spent the whole night watching them and didn’t even do my homework and write my essays on time. A good story always awakes the right emotions and makes a viewer watch from the beginning till the very end.

Consistency Keeps Audiences Engaged

And lastly, consistency is one of the crucial factors for keeping your audience engaged. The consistency of a video itself depends on how well you create a script for it. It’s absolutely important to make sure that events in your video follow each other consistently.

However, consistency also means planning your video content and posting it on a regular basis. Rebecca Stephenson, a customer support representative from BestEssayTips, says that viewers often positively respond to the content if it’s posted regularly and on time.

How often should you post your video content? Robin Kamen from Newscred Insights says that it depends on how long you work with content. If you’re a beginner, it’s enough to post two videos a week, and as you develop your video production skills, you can post more often. However, it also depends on the length of your content. But no matter how much content you want to post, you need to keep it coming according to the schedule.

The Bottom Line

Perfect video content is all about effort and your desire to improve. Keep following these 7 laws of perfect video content and you’ll definitely catch the attention of online audiences.

Author bio: Tom Jager is a professional blogger based in London. He covers topics related to digital marketing, blogging, social media and business in general. He is always seeking to discover new ways for professional and personal growth.

Video Tutorial: Create a Callout Text Graphic in Adobe After Effects

Need to point out a specific part of your image with custom callout graphics? Check out these step-by-step instructions for your next project.

In this tutorial, we’re going to create a callout graphic to help illustrate the height of one of the towers of the famous Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. First, we’ll set up the four main visual elements of the graphic: a circle, a path, text, and a basic background for the text. Then we’ll bring the graphic to life via keyframing and tracking. Let’s get started.

Create

First, for the circle, I’ll create a small ellipse using the Ellipse shape tool. Holding the Shift key will constrain the proportions. Next, I’ll add text reading 227ft, and then use the Rectangle shape tool to create a simple white rectangle background for the text. I’ll grab both the text and rectangle and perfectly place them using the Align panel. Once in place, I’ll parent the rectangle to the text layer to make sure that the background follows.

For the path, I’ll go to Layer > New > Solid and then add the Beam effect via Effect > Generate > Beam. The Beam effect gives me tight control over the start and end points of a path, which is the real key to making a good callout graphic work. For the attributes, I’ll set Length to 100%, change both the Inside and Outside colors to white, and put the softness at 0. Now I’m ready to connect these elements.

Connect

To make the callout animation work effectively, I need to connect the elements in a specific order. I want one end of the path to attach to the circle element and the other end to attach to the text. This is quite easy, as the Beam effect has keyframable start and end points. I’ll use the starting point for the circle and the ending point for the text.

To view the Beam effect on the timeline I’ll first select my path layer and press keyboard shortcut E. Next, I’ll grab both the text and circle layers and press P to bring up Position. To connect these attributes, you can simply use the property pick whip of the start/end point of the Beam effect. If you’re using an older version of AE, you’ll need to first add an expression by Alt-clicking the stopwatch icon next to the attribute to view the property pick whip.

Finally, I’ll connect the start point of the Beam effect to the circle’s position attribute, and the endpoint to the text’s position attribute. Now when I move either text or the circle layer, the path will follow. With everything connected, this graphic is ready for animation.

Animate

The first element to animate is the circle, so I’ll start there. For the circle, it’s as easy as animating the scale from 0. To create a small blip effect, I can duplicate the circle element within the shape layer and then change the scale and opacity to create a small radar-style look. For the path, I’ll need to reopen the Beam effect attributes of my path layer. To bring the path to life, keyframe the Time attribute from 0 to 50%.

Next, I’ll animate the text background rectangle by keyframing the X scale attribute of the shape element from 0 to 100. Then I’ll duplicate the rectangle, move it just above the text, and change the Track Matte of my text layer to Luma Matte. Now when the background layer animates on, it reveals the text at the same time.

Track

My graphic is now animating on screen, but it’s still lacking something — movement. The callout is referencing the height of the tower of the cathedral, so I want the graphic to point there. Since this is a moving handheld shot, I’ll ideally want the point of the graphic to move along with the camera. I can achieve this via a single-point track.

First I’ll select my cathedral video layer and then go to Window > Tracker. I’ll bring my playhead to the beginning and then select Track Motion in the Tracker panel. This will bring me into the Layer panel, where I can track the movement via my track point. After finding a good track point, I’ll go to Edit Target and select the Circle layer. Now I’ll analyze and apply the track. Once applied, tracking keyframes will apply to the Position attribute of the circle layer. For more versatility, I could track the motion to a Null layer instead.

Voilà! We now have a functional callout graphic.

This article was originally published by JASON BOONE

7 Motion Design Lessons Learned the Hard Way

Contrary to what every 30-minute YouTube tutorial might insinuate, motion design is a lot of hard work. It takes dedication and practice to become a motion-graphics master, but the trick to succeeding in this incredibly difficult profession is to stick with it and have the right perspective. To help you along your way, I’ve put together a list of 7 important lessons that I had to learn the hard way.
 

1. You’re going to suck in the beginning

Every profession has a number of things you must master in order to be successful, but in the motion-design world, the list of things you need to know can be overwhelming. Here are a few of the principles that you need to know as a motion designer in order to succeed:

• Graphic Design

• Principles of Animation

• Color Theory

• Compositing

• Sound Mixing

• Typography

• Storytelling

• Video Editing

• Color Grading

• 2D & 3D Workflows

• Texturing

• Lighting

• Rendering

• Distribution Strategies

The list could seriously go on to at least 50 more items. All of this is to say that becoming a great motion designer takes a lot of time. If you’re an aspiring motion designer, you probably have great taste for knowing good design from bad, but having good taste and being able to create great work are two very different things.

Know that, in the beginning, your stuff won’t be great, but over time, your work will improve and you’ll be creating amazing pieces of art.
 

2. Practice, practice, practice

Watching tutorials can only get you so far. At the end of the day, you need to simply put your fingers on the keyboard and start creating. They say that it takes 10,000 hours to master something, but in the motion-design world, it’s probably closer to 20,000.

Make it your goal to create a new project as often as possible. Some people try to create new motion-design projects every day. This can be a great strategy if you want to challenge yourself. If you want some quick inspiration, check out Beeple’s everyday project. He’s been creating a new work of art every day for the last 11 years! He started off as a terrible illustrator and is now putting out world-class art daily.

3. Simple and refined is better than complicated and cluttered

One mistake that I see many people making again and again is simply trying to bite off more than they can chew. It’s far better to create a simple and effective motion-graphics sequence than have a complicated scene that’s hard for the audience to follow.

Great motion designers (and graphic designers for that matter) know that good design is all about using minimal information to convey a universal idea. You don’t need to have 2,000 shape layers if 5 will convey the same idea — simple is better.

This great piece from Cento Lodigiani shares how refined animation can speak louder than complex animation.

4. The motion-design industry isn’t for everyone

The motion-design industry can be brutal. In fact, I’d go so far as to say if you are not 100% committed to your craft, you might want to rethink your career. We’ve already discussed that it takes a lot of time to become a great motion designer, but the time commitment is just the beginning.

If you work hard, you will inevitably get to work on really fun projects with amazing people. But the day-to-day work can be tedious. You aren’t going to feel creatively fulfilled every day. If you’re a family-oriented person, it’s important to remember that most salaried motion designers can work well over 40 hours a week. I can’t even begin to count the number of times that I’ve had to work overnight at the office to get a project out. And even if you work hard and get to the top, there’s no guarantee that your industry will be around in 20 years.
 

5. Trends are cool, but they aren’t forever

The motion-design world is all about trends. Every year, it seems like there’s a new motion-graphic style that everyone is putting out. In the past, it’s been explainer videos, 2D flat animation, and liquid motion. Right now, it’s pop-art, 3D macros, and 1980s emulations.

The things you watch will inevitably show up in your art, but simply copying work that someone else is putting out isn’t going to make you a well-rounded artist. Instead, it’s your job to combine the things you’ve seen to create something new.

Motion designers that try to create their own unique style will inevitably get more work and recognition than those that simply regurgitate work they’ve seen in other places. This is what makes agencies like Buck so innovative and successful.

6. Sound is just as important as visuals

I’ve heard it said that visuals tell your audience what to think and sound tells your audience what to feel. There’s something intrinsic in us as humans that makes sound cut right to the emotions. So picking the right soundtrack and sound effects is essential for giving your projects a creative edge.

As a result, you need to spend plenty of time searching for the right music for your project. Try downloading a watermarked version of the track and placing it in your timeline. How does it contribute to your story? Does it complement or overpower your visuals?
 

7. It’s not about learning the software

I’ve saved the most important lesson for the end. The secret to becoming a great motion designer is not simply learning the right software; it’s learning the right principles. There’s a big difference between button clicking and creating art. Many people think that if you simply learn After Effects, Cinema 4D, or even Houdini that you will inevitably become a great motion-graphics artist. This is simply not true. It’s about learning both ends of the motion-design equation: Motion and Design. Learn the principles of animation, learn how to utilize design techniques to tell stories visually and to make beautiful frames — invest in yourself and expect to work hard, because learning After Effects or Cinema 4D is a cakewalk compared to becoming a good designer.

This article was originally posted by Joey Korenman.

Joey Korenman is a motion designer and owner of online learning platform School of Motion.

14 Tips for Faster Rendering in After Effects

Speed up your rendering times in After Effects with these quick tips.

Rendering is an annoying (but unavoidable) aspect of the motion graphics process. However there are a few steps you can take to make your After Effects renders as fast as possible.

1. Use the Right Graphics Card

After Effects is an incredibly intense program for your graphics card (no surprise, right?) And while there may be hundreds of graphics cards available for your computer, only a few are recommended by Adobe to run After Effects. Adobe specifically recommends certain GeForce, Quadro, and Tesla cards. You can find the full list on the system requirements page on Adobe’s website. If you’re using a sub-par card, you’ll likely see an instant render speed increase when you switch.

2. Upgrade Your RAM

If you work day in and day out in After Effects then upgrading your RAM is the way to go. Adobe recommends at least 4GB of RAM to run After Effects, but you’ll benefit from much more than that. It’s not uncommon for professional AE users to have 32GB of RAM or more.

3. Use a Solid-State Drive

A solid state drive is a quick way to increase not only rendering speed in After Effects, but also the overall speed of your computer in general. If you purchased your internal or external hard drive for less than $100 it’s time for an upgrade. With a solid state drive After Effects will be able to load assets, reference the cache, and load effects much faster….all leading to reduced render times.

4. Use Two Hard Drives

When you render your footage to the same hard-drive your project is saved on, you are forcing that hard-drive to perform two operations simultaneously: read and write. While this doesn’t lead to render times that are twice as slow, it does lead to reduced render times. Instead, try using one hard drive to run the program with assets and another hard drive to render the finished video.

5. Turn On Multiprocessing

After Effects has the hand ability to render out multiple frames at the same time using multiple processing cores. By default, multiprocessing isn’t turned on in After Effects, you have to do it by hand. To do so navigate to After Effects>Preferences>Memory & Multiprocessing. A screen that looks like this will pop up:
Simply click the check box next to ‘Render Multiple Frames Simultaneously’ and adjust the settings to your liking.

6. Reduce Pre-Comps

Pre-comps are a funny business inside of After Effects. When it comes to creating an organized and convenient workflow in After Effects, pre-comps are a extremely efficient. However, pre-comps aren’t always best when it comes to creating fast render times. This is because pre-comps require pixel information to pass through multiple compositions before rendering to your hard drive.

7. Clean up your Compositions

Just because you can’t see a layer inside your composition doesn’t mean it isn’t being rendered by your CPU. So before you send your composition to the render queue make sure you delete/trim any unused layers inside your composition.

8. Trim Layers Off-Screen

Files that are actually out of the video frame will still take a toll on the rendering time, especially if you are using 3D cameras. If your goal is to optimize render times you need to use the trim feature (option + [ or ]) to trim your layers up to the exact frame that they will be used in your composition.

9. Turn off Ray-Traced 3D

Ray-Traced 3D layers was one of the coolest features introduced into After Effects in CS6 – finally a way to create 3D models directly in After Effects! This excitement was short-lived though, as Ray tracing takes way to long to be practical for everyday use. Make sure your composition is set to Classic 3D instead of Ray-Traced 3D before you render. If you don’t you will see your render time increase by at least double.

10. Close Other Programs

It can be easy to forget, especially when using the Adobe Dynamic Link, but before you render a composition in After Effects you need close out all the unused programs running on your computer. This will free up space for your CPU to run After Effects.

11. Choose the Right Codec

Less compressed codecs like MOV take longer to render in After Effects than smaller codecs like H.264 or ProRes. It’s important to ask yourself what your video will be used for once it’s done. Will it be on TV or simply embedded on the web? If it’s going online, chances are it’s going to be incredibly compressed anyways. So maybe you don’t need to export your video as lossless?

12. Turn Off Motion Blur, Depth of Field, & 3D if Unnecessary

When it comes down to increasing your render speed in After Effects you need to ask yourself, “will this feature be used in my video?” Often you can toggle unused features off to make your render times much faster. For example, if you don’t need your layers to have motion blur you can toggle the motion graphics button to off. If you have a 3D camera do you really need to have depth of field or are you trying to get a 2D flat look? If your layers are set to 3D is it for a good reason? Could you simulate 3D by scaling down your objects and moving them in 2D space?

13. Be Selective with Effects

Not all effects are created equal. Some take more time than others to render. To speed up render times you need to become very selective about the effects you use. Most effects have been optimized to render across multiple threads on your CPU, but there are a few that will only allow After Effects to use one thread at a time. If an effect only uses one thread it will take much more time to render. These effects are:

• Auto Color

• Auto Contrast

• Auto Levels

• Cartoon

• Lens Blur

• Particle Playground

• Shadow/Highlight
  

14. Newest Version of AE

While each update to After Effects may not seem revolutionary, Adobe is constantly trying to make After Effects faster and more optimized for users. It is important to install the latest version of After Effects available to you. Sure, back in the day it was a large financial commitment to purchase each Creative Suite update as they would be released, but now that the Creative Cloud is prevalent you should always have the latest update.

Bonus: Use Media Encoder to Export Compositions

One of the biggest problems with using the render queue in After Effects is the fact that you can’t do anything else while rendering. However, this is a “hack” that you can use to render AE compositions and still work on another project, using Adobe Media Encoder. Simply import your AE project into Media Encoder and you will be able to select which composition you wish to export. Because this doesn’t go directly through After Effects you will be able to work on other projects during this process.

7 Effective Video Marketing Ideas To Help Grow Your Small Business

#1. Product demonstration

Whether you are looking to sell new technology, a car or a new household gadget, doing a product demo video can do wonders for showcasing your product.  You have the opportunity to give a first hand look as to why your product stands above the rest.  Videos are great since they have such a wide reach and people love when they can see a product in action. Giving them this opportunity, helps foster trust in your brand and helps boost conversion rates.

Here are some tips to keep in mind when making your video:

• Keep it simple and concise.  Show what your product can do and how. The product should sell itself.

• Produce a before-and-after video.  This will help reinforce the purpose of your product or service.

#2. About us video

Just like your website has an “about us” page, you should also introduce your business in a video.  A short clip about the story behind your business is a great way to foster a deeper connection with potential customers.  You can embed the video on your website and also use it as part of your social media marketing strategy.

Here are some points to discuss in your video:

• Give an intro about your company

• Explain your mission

• Showcase products

• Feature top executives and employees

When people can associate a brand with names and faces, they are more likely to remember it.

#3. Tutorial Videos

Customers are more likely to purchase a product or service if they have some help in learning how to use them.  Shooting a step-by-step guide on how to get the most out of using your product or service will not only boost brand recognition but also sales. These types of videos will also help build up your credibility and showcase you as an expert in your niche. Customer service also benefits since these videos usually wind up answering frequent questions from customers.

Here are some tips:

• Show how to use your product in an interesting way.

• Provide tips that are relevant to your product or service.

#4. Behind the scenes content

As a business, fostering connection and boosting engagement with your customers should be top of mind. Producing behind the scenes videos are a great way to achieve this.  They give your customers a glimpse into who you are and what your brand is all about. Not to mention these types of videos garner more interaction across social media platforms.

Here are some video ideas to try out:

• Introduce employees

• Show any special events

• A glimpse into how some of your products are made

• A day in the life of your business

• An employees birthday celebration

• Team building activities

#5. Customer testimonials

When it comes to testimonials, people trust those that are coming from actual people rather than the company itself.  They are more convincing and are really one of the most valuable forms of marketing.  Any positive reviews you have received are great to put into video format.

Here are some ways to share testimonials:

• Put together a series of quotes from your customers

• Gather screenshots of any reviews you have on Google, Yelp or any other business listing website.

#6. Share announcements

As a business today, you need to be consistently active on social media.  Sharing announcements in video format is a great way to help increase engagement via likes, comments and shares.

Here are some suggestions on what you can share:

• Any new products

• New features of existing products

• Upcoming special events

• Advertise special promotions

#7. Question and answer videos

Videos are by far the preferred method of communication when it comes to how your business addresses customer questions on social media. You are able to communicate regularly with customers and it really positions your business as a leader in thoughtful customer service.

Here are some video ideas:

• Take your online reviews and create a video that addresses any concerns surrounding your product or service.

• Do a monthly roundup where you answer any questions your business receives.

Final Thoughts

All the major social platforms prioritize video, so it really is crucial to growing your business.  The videos mentioned above will help boost brand recognition, improve customer service, and help build customer loyalty. In turn, these benefits present an affordable way for small businesses to experience increased growth and profit.

Everything You Need to Know About Becoming a Motion Graphics Designer

Motion Graphics: This website is an online community for motion graphics artists to display their work. Check out hundreds of beautifully crafted cinematic beauties as you scroll through this fascinating website. Films range in length, so whether you need some quick, 30-second inspiration, or you’re looking for a longer, thirty-minute affair, this online community will show you plenty examples of music videos, short films and more featuring motion graphics design.

Art of the Title: This website features the motion graphics design involved with opening and closing movie titles. Scroll through the opening and closing credits to films of old and new, and watch the clever animation of these titles.

Motion Graphics Served: Take a look at the amazing work of many of the leading creatives on Behance. Pick up resources and see what tools and techniques other motion graphics designers are using to create their dynamic designs.

How do I become a motion graphics designer?

The most crucial step for anyone hoping to pursue a career in motion graphics design is to become familiar with the basics of both animation and graphic design, according to George Ruiz, concept and character artist at Mantis Digital Arts.

The software most frequently used in motion graphics design is After Effects, Cinema 4D, Final Cut Pro, Flash, Photoshop and Premiere Pro. It’s also important to have a solid understanding of design and animation basics.

“Anybody can learn how to use the computer programs, but those fundamentals are needed to create dynamic and visually pleasing motion graphics,” says Ruiz. He believes a formal education is instrumental in building this foundation because it’s challenging to learn them on the Internet.

Earning a degree is a great start, but there are several other ways to go above and beyond in honing your skills. There are countless online tutorials and resources to help you add skills to your repertoire. Following top animation blogs is another way to get exposure to new trends and techniques. 

It’s also important to sharpen your communication and collaboration skills to effectively work with team members, according to Tim Ryan, founder of TAR Productions. “A motion designer who can talk with a copywriter about color theory and audio design will undoubtedly be a much more powerful team than someone without those assets.”

What is the future of the field?

You’ll be excited to hear that motion graphics designers are fairly well-compensated for their technical expertise. The typically salary range for these creative professionals ranges from $66,000 to $99,000 annually, according to The Creative Group’s 2016 Salary Guide.*

Not only do designers in this field have exciting earning potential, but the job outlook is only getting brighter, according to Abbruzzesi. “The future of motion design lies within the boundaries of our technological advancements, as well as popular design trends,” he explains. “Design trends will dictate how motion graphics look and move, while technology will govern how we interact with those designs.”

As technology continues to advance, it’s safe to say opportunities for motion graphics designers will advance right along with it.

Ready to get your career in motion?

If you have dreams of becoming a motion graphics designer, it’s important to acquire the necessary skills and hands-on experience first. Becoming familiar with the techniques and fundamentals of the field will help equip you with the comprehensive knowledge needed to evolve with the industry.

Learn how you can earn a motion graphics degree online and on your own time and get started in this exciting field.

7 Ways to Get Out of a Creative Rut

How to escape the hell of a blank page and a blank brain.

"You can find inspiration in anything," said Paul Smith. And he's right, of course. But how about we get specific, because whether you're in a creative rut, suffering from writer's block, or just not quite cracking that brief, sometimes you need to take direct action. 

As Design Bridge's creative director of brand language, I have seven top tips to help you to get rid of creative block and unleash your creativity. So whether you're stuck on a particularly difficult rebrand, website or logo design, or something else entirely, read on to discover what to do about it.

#1 Meet your public. 

Take your headphones off and engage with the real world for a free dose of inspiration.

Okay, Okay, you hate your commute, we all do. But try to see it in a different light. Take out your headphones, put down the Kindle. Listen to people's conversations, their opinions. Think about why they've chosen the shoes they're wearing, the lipstick they're applying.

Take a trip to parts of town you've not ventured to before and walk among the markets and parks to bus stops and stations you wouldn't usually wait at. You won't get to grips with what motivates people in the real world by sitting at your desk.

#2. Be inspired by the inspired.

You should always embrace your inner Bowie

We've all got our secret creative crushes, and I say embrace them. If you're a sucker for Starck, or a bastion of Bowie, go all out. Buy the books, listen to the music, see the films, wear the fur coat. 

Sometimes it helps to have a creative middleman (or woman), because then you can trace their inspiration 'ancestry' – see what led them in certain directions and explore where they'll take you.

Whenever I'm really stuck for inspiration, I'll grab Diana Vreeland's books and off I go, to the end of Prohibition for Tanqueray, or the suave gentlemen's clubs of Piccadilly for Floris. When it comes to journeying into your imagination, it helps to have a travel companion.

#3. Get thee to a bookshop.

You can never have enough books

Bookshops are as much about images as they are about words. The cover of a book is effectively a poster, drawing you in with intrigue, with beauty, with an abstract encapsulation of a narrative. The pages inside are rich with story, information or opinion.

In a bookshop, you can see just what succeeds and fails in design – which covers grab you, which titles provoke, which illustrations cause your inner magpie to take flight. If you'd like to know more about book cover design, then see our post on how to design a contemporary book cover.

When first pitching to Fortnum & Mason, we said that we wanted to think of its ranges as we would editions of books, intertwining visual wit and expert storytelling. That thought (and a long-term love of her work) prompted our later collaboration with Coralie Bickford-Smith on Fortnum's honey range; through her delicate illustrations of hives, flowers and foliage, the story of each flavor is told with the same elegance seen in Coralie's beautiful work for Penguin. 

My favorite book haunts? Daunt Books on Marylebone High Street, Strand Books in New York, Richard Way in Henley-on-Thames and Blackwell's in Oxford. I never come out empty-handed.

#4. Go shopping.

Shops can be an ideas goldmine; you don't even have to buy anything

In our industry, the consumer is king – so behave like one. Get out into the supermarkets, the department stores, the delis. Watch how people behave in front of products, advertising, shelf wobblers. Let your eye be drawn to different finishes, patterns, typefaces, copy lines. Think about what they're saying to you. 

Got a brief to rebrand an eco-friendly hand wash company? Head to a chemist to look at the shelves – is the colour green always earth-friendly? Or is it more clinical than that?

Try to decode some of your own assumptions and behavior. Take photos, buy things, and when you get back to your desk, make mood boards that really encapsulate what you saw (see this post for tips on making mood boards). What themes emerge? You'll be amazed at what a supermarket sweep can stir up, even if your brief is for something you wouldn't even buy off the shelf.

My top of the shops? Wardour News, any decent stationery shop, the whole of Whole Foods, any large Boots, John Bell & Croyden in Wigmore Street, London... I could go on.

#5. Go running.

Going for a run can give you a great opportunity to just think

I began running to benefit my waistline, but I've kept running because it's good for my mind. I run without music, and I plod along with no concern for any improvement in speed. It's the meditative process of putting one foot in front of the other that really helps me overcome any creative rut.

On runs I've come up with the thrust for whole presentations, written backs of pack, come up with design routes – all without the presence of a laptop. I've won awards for the things I've thought of midway through a lap of Chorleywood Common. 

Running is a lesson in persistence, in self-motivation and timing – all vital in our industry, where good ideas sometimes simply have to happen on demand.

#6. Let the eye travel.

Get out of your comfort zone and head somewhere completely different.

Nothing beats getting out of your comfort zone. Heading to somewhere where the air smells different, where the streets echo with another accent and where even the sirens have a different wail is the ultimate awakener for the creative brain. There's no way we could have created our Guinness Africa work without actually going to the bars of Nigeria.

But you don't even necessarily have to go far – I defy anyone to go to Dungeness (Kent, England) and come away unmoved. In fact, take any brief, and most destinations can offer some sort of excuse for a visit. 

You'll never see colour quite like you'll see it in Italy. Berlin is six cities in one, each loaded with incredibly emotive stories and signage. And my heart will always belong to New York, where the subway system alone makes you think differently about design. Travel may not be cheap, but, as they say, it'll always make you richer.

#7. Don't think about it

Of course, this is by no means an exhaustive list, but it might just prompt you to get off your chair and into a more creative way of thinking. I've sometimes even found that not thinking about the brief for a solid hour has been the best way to refocus my mind on the task in hand.

An esteemed colleague and I once brainstormed a list of our top 10 TV detectives one night when we really should have been working on a pitch, but it was the light relief we needed to then get on with the job. The fundamental thing is that when you're stuck, don't panic – take action.

This article was originally published in a 2017 edition of Computer Arts, the global design magazine. Subscribe to Computer Arts here.