FAQs
What's the Difference between Motion Design & Animation?
Motion design (also called motion graphics) is the practice of taking graphics and making them move — think animated logos, letters that move or stylish transitions.
Animation is broader, but most people think of character-led or illustrated storytelling, like a Pixar film. The key difference is intent: motion design is design- and brand-led; animation is usually narrative-led. In reality though, many projects combine elements of both.
Motion design: graphics in motion
Motion design sits right in the middle of graphic design and animation. When a designer takes visual elements — logos, type, shapes — and brings them to life, that's motion design.
You might recognise these examples:
Animated brand logos
Kinetic typography (moving text)
Transitions and UI animations
Data visualisation
Branded social content
The key characteristic of motion design is that it's design-led. The starting point is visual identity, brand language, and aesthetics (not character or story). Such as this piece for Chatloop.
Animation: movement with a story
Animation relates to all things that move, but most people think of character and illustrated projects when you mention animation – the sort of thing you’d see in a Pixar film.
The key characteristic here is that animation tends to be narrative-led. It exists to tell a story, convey emotion, or bring a character to life.
Being an Animation & Motion Design studio, we often move between the two, depending on the brief. The Sweet Freedom Commercial we worked on, whilst not a long piece, definitely used the charm and nature of Animation to convey an emotion.