Reel talk: the power of branded motion design

You’ve just opened an email about the role of motion in branding. This probably means you’re thinking about making your brand come to life—we’re here to walk you through it.

This is OFF Brand, a newsletter by Koto, a team of brand specialists and optimists made up of designers, strategists, writers and art directors based in five major cities around the world.

We’re using this newsletter to explore all things brand: from naming to nomenclature, identity to UI, Pantones to pixels, and strategy to guidelines. From our experience and what we’ve learned from our friends, clients, and other experts, we hope to make the challenges of brand building simple—with practical tips, actionable insights, and inspirational examples.

In this issue we're focusing on motion design. We'll cover what it is, where it comes from, where it lives today, but most importantly: how to create motion that moves your audience. (An inevitable pun we're deeply sorry for.)

Thank you to the 8.85K readers like you who receive this newsletter, including the 1.3K people who signed up since our last issue. If someone shared this newsletter with you, consider hitting subscribe to get the next one straight to your inbox.

Now, let’s get moving. (This one, also, inevitable.)

What you’ll learn about motion design

– What it is
– Why we’re in a motion-first world
– How it works for brands
– Touchpoints to consider
– Assessing your needs for it
– Tips to get you started

What is motion design?

A fairly important question to begin with. Truth is, motion design is still a relatively young discipline and industry, so its reach grows by the day as new tech and outputs for it emerge.

But to kickstart this, let’s define motion design as the art and the craft of bringing design (and, on a broader level, brands) to life using animation techniques.

The line between animation and motion design is blurry, in the best of ways: there’s a fruitful back and forth between them, they cross-pollinate.

Broadly, animation refers to character-driven narratives, similar to live action. Think Betty Boop, Mickey or Studio Ghibli’s Totoro for 2D, and Woody, Buzz or Moana for 3D computer-generated animation. They move in a certain way to convey who they are as characters, and they go through development arcs. They animate to tell a story.

On the other hand, motion design uses a design toolkit with clear goals in mind. Its purpose is to convey information in a consistent and effective way, enhancing the concept and visual language of a project. It elevates messaging, streamlines communication, and drives behaviors and calls to action. Motion is crafted to create specific effects or impacts and, in most cases, to encourage users to take action.

We’re looking at logotypes and symbols, typography, imagery, footage, illustrations, icons—any visual item that conveys information can be raw material for motion.

The shape of these elements can be transformed by moving and/or morphing them. Then, using editing, the elements can be put in sequence to generate visual rhythm, contrasts, attention callouts, and transitions. It’s a sweet spot between techniques coming from film, graphic design and, of course, animation.

Don’t get us wrong, there’s a lot of storytelling involved when making a motion design piece, and we’ll talk about that later. But we think it works at its best when visual storytelling and graphic assets, along with strategic copywriting and art direction, are used to engage audiences.

Motion has many levers to pull and assets to play with to drive home a message. This makes it an essential tool for social media, music videos, news broadcasts, sporting and cultural events, marketing campaigns, and other (if not all) types of mass-media communication.

Whatever the output, at Koto, we believe motion works best if it's rooted in strategic thinking that defines how everything should move. For more on the importance of strategy, we have a full OFF Brand issue on the topic.

A brief history of motion design

We’re not going to give you the full lecture here, but we feel it’s important to set the scene: how did motion evolve from an avant-garde art experiment to a vital tool for brand expression?

The history of motion starts off in the mid-19th century, with early analog devices such as flip-books and zoetropes setting out the basic principles of animation.

With the development of projection and theatres, artists such as Oskar Fischinger started experimenting with geometric abstraction and music.

Early motion design really came into its own during the era-defining explosion of cinema and advertising of the 1950s. Think Saul Bass’ film titles for Alfred Hitchcock or the campy 60’s and 70’s Bond titles, where a very synthetic graphic language and typography were used alongside footage and music to set the tone for the movies.

Imagine how revolutionary this was: a sort of animated film poster inside the movie, that not only grasped the attention of spectators using state-of-the-art film tech; it also subtly prepared them for what genre of movie they were going to see, while presenting the cast and crew in a new and appealing way.

Outside the world of cinema, product branding remained static, confined to print ads and billboards. But the new era of television broadcasting was about to change everything.

As it became a staple in every home, TV began using motion as an organizing principle. Jingles and animated graphics introduced shows—any child of the 80s and 90s will remember MTV idents and Nickelodeon’s wordmark. Motion also appeared within structured ad breaks, as brands realized television was a great way to reach large audiences, simultaneously.

We can’t talk about TV without diving into sports broadcasting. It’s easy to overlook how much motion design brings to the experience: match scores, time remaining, offside lines—all layered seamlessly in real time. While the Koto team might not share a unified stance on VAR just yet, we can all appreciate the quality of its live graphics.

NFL and NBA games even have live player statistics using complex multi-camera setups and RFID tags on players’ uniforms. Here's a great explanation from Corridor if you want a deep dive.

As motion was becoming firmly established on screen, enter the Internet. From its very inception, there were experiments and attempts to make things move under very—and we mean very—slow and expensive conditions.

From the now defunct Adobe Flash technology and the first pop-up ads and banners, through the YouTube video boom of the mid-00s, to the seamless, motion-heavy web and mobile experience of today, making content move and be interactive has been a successful battle for programmers and creatives alike.

OK, that's the end of Motion History 101. Our key takeaway: motion is a medium that's evolved with—and, crucially, been shaped by—the changing decades.

Which brings us to today, and what motion looks like when screens are everywhere.

Living in a motion-first world

YouTube pre-rolls. Facebook ads. Instagram reels. Splash screens when opening apps. Web UIs. Microinteractions. Digital billboards. Out-of-home screens. They’re all moving!

With the arrival of Web 2.0 and the rise of social media, screen access and online content exploded. Brands quickly shifted to include digital touchpoints alongside traditional broadcast channels. From immersive brand experiences to streaming and broadcast content, motion design has become a standard in marketing, entertainment, news, and education.

So, in short: in a world where watching big screen while holding little screen is a relatable feeling, motion is essential, not optional.

But we notice there is still a tendency for brands to only consider their motion language when they need to produce a one-off animated piece of content. As a result, they are stuck with their existing static assets and have no system or guidelines to bring their existing brand to life.

Jumping in with only static design guidelines—because you need an ad ASAP!—can make it tough to transform your brand's core DNA into a fully interactive experience. Without these Lego bricks, the process becomes less efficient, forcing brands to start from scratch each time. With today’s most valuable channels being moving-image-first, it’s clear that executing motion without a holistic approach just doesn’t add up.

Koto’s two cents? it’s all about going back to your strategy and being intentional with how to translate it into motion before doing a quick rollout. Your brand idea should be the starting point of a bigger, brand-driven thinking for moving assets.

Why motion is a great asset for brands

This is the point where we make it clear that we still think static brand assets are a big deal. They’re alive and well, helping to engage audiences, highlight key selling points, and deliver direct calls-to-action. Print has proven to be far from dead, and web and product designs still need moments of visual respite to convey in-depth messaging.

For that matter, you’ve been going through this newsletter up to this point through mostly static typography, Gutenberg style. And we thank you for that. But your lengthy attention span might be amongst the few.

Let’s face it. We live in a (very) noisy world, where consumers are bombarded with endless options, one after the other. We’re not just speeding through content thanks to doom-scrolling; we’re also getting sharper at filtering information and making snap decisions about what’s worth our attention.

Corny as it may sound at first, we seek a connection and engagement with what we spend time watching.

This is where well-thought-out motion reigns supreme: it can deliver nuanced brand narratives, and has the power to build rapport, evoke emotions, and foster deeper brand connection with your audience.

But how? It all starts with storytelling.

1. Storytelling

Humans have always connected with stories. It can be a minimal transition like a dandelion becoming our Pairpoint logo. Brands that tell great stories—paired with a good product or service, of course—have an edge over others.

Research shows that storytelling has the potential to increase the value of products by up to 2706% and that more than half of consumers are more likely to remember a story than a list of facts.

And conveniently enough, motion is built around time. It showcases elements in sequence over time, letting narratives unfold. Well-crafted movement can guide the eye and help lead your audience.

For a simple example of how storytelling through motion works, Andrew Vucko, Founder and ECD at VUCKO, showcased in this animation how simple elements can move in different ways to different effect.

But motion design as a visual storytelling tool is especially powerful for simplifying complex information—whether it’s a step-by-step guide to using a product, or a video introducing your brand and its purpose.

As a brand operator and strategist, you likely have a great amount of information to convey to your consumers or audience. Delivering it in a well-paced, orderly fashion on a timeline makes it easier for them to absorb and fully immerse themselves in the story.

2. Engagement

Most of our interactions with brands happen in crowded environments like social media, the endless scroll of the web, streaming services and TV networks with countless options, or city streets packed with advertising.

Nearly every brand is churning out assets for these crowded environments. But it shouldn’t be about just making content for the sake of it—you need to create something engaging enough to make someone stop mid-scroll and interact.

According to Ad Age, 33% of viewers stop watching a video after the first 30 seconds, 45% after one minute, and 60% after two minutes.

In their latest State of Video report, Wistia found that the businesses they interviewed still see strong ROI from video. Video marketing continues to be one of the most effective strategies for driving sales and engaging customers.

What’s interesting is that this stat holds true for both short and long-form videos—the latter being especially effective as an educational tool for viewers. The key, then, is the value your content delivers. A big part of that also lies in making sure it feels distinctly branded.

Online video also gives companies the advantage of built-in analytics to measure impact. Metrics like views, comments, watch time, and drop-offs offer valuable, free feedback. Make sure to track them—they’re insights you don’t want to miss!

Ultimately, don’t treat video content as just a quick way to hit your audience’s feed. They’ll only respond if you share meaningful stories, deliver useful information, or ask them questions that spark their interest.

3. Memorability

Last but not least, motion is memorable. It’s all too easy to spend 20 minutes scrolling social feeds—without remembering a single piece of content you’ve seen in that time. A brand that speaks, looks and moves like Bolt is crafted to stay burned on your retina.

According to Statista, consumers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video advertisement, compared to just 10% when they read the same message in text.

This comes down to editing. Moving image assets focus on single, simple pieces of information presented in a clear sequence. Static assets, on the other hand, display all levels of hierarchy in one layout, relying on composition and typography weights to guide the viewer’s eye.

Because users are forced to interact in really cluttered platforms, they’ll naturally gravitate towards clearer imagery and messaging. Use this to your advantage.

It’s also about standing out—this applies to all of branding. If your competitors have no clear approach, using a consistent language makes your brand more recognizable and distinct.

Motion is still a blind spot in many industries, so make sure to focus on making yours worth remembering.

In conclusion

Storytelling, engagement, and memorability are the core superpowers motion brings to brands on a big-picture level. But how does this translate into practical ways to meet your brand’s everyday needs?

Now that we’ve explored the current landscape, it’s clear why motion should be part of your brand’s strategy. But the big questions are: what should move, and how much?

Our short answer—though it might not surprise you—is: it depends. But don’t worry, we’ve got a method to help you figure it out.

How much motion does a brand need?

Not all brands need to master every aspect of motion. Some products, industries and verticals might require a more minimal and functional approach. Others will more likely require bold, vibrant expressions.

Your brand's DNA and daily activities will naturally inform which assets you might need to animate to highlight the right touchpoints and their purposes. Some of these assets may still be static at the moment, but they hold the potential to elevate your storytelling, engagement, and memorability.

Let’s start with an extreme example. If there’s one brand that truly harnesses the power of motion, it’s Deezer.

We relaunched their brand around the core strategic idea of "Where music comes alive" and created a motion-first visual identity system.

This brand’s identity wouldn’t work without motion. Deezer’s core promise is the love of music: vibrations moving through time, creating patterns.

Our modular graphic language features oblong shapes inspired by waveforms, but it’s their rippling motion that brings a specific mood and energy. They can represent Dylan, Charli, or Maiden with equal impact.

At the center is Deezer’s new heart-shaped logo, a symbol of love for music. It pulsates and reacts in a characterful way to reflect the vibe of each genre.

Not every brand needs motion at the center of every single communication. That’s why we recommend a tiered approach, tailored to where your brand is now and where you want it to go.

Level 1: Animated brand assets

Start with the basics. A smart first step is to keep it simple and focus on your key brand signifiers: logotype, symbol, and/or headline typography.

These likely already have static design principles in place. You know their origins and the reasons behind their design choices, which makes them a solid foundation to build on.

R&Ding animations for these core brand assets will help you identify broad principles and styles that feel relevant.

Once you land on something you’re happy with, it gives you a bank of animated assets to use as a plug-and-play solution at the beginning and end of longer video pieces. This’ll provide a base level of brand recognition.

While we always suggest our clients build this base level of motion into their brand, we ultimately recommend having a more extensive set of moving parts from the start. This will give you more flexibility to scale up motion, without needing to re-invest down the line. The same assets will become repetitive very quickly!

The answer? A solid motion system, established from the get-go.

Level 2: Motion Systems

A motion system defines how your brand idea articulates to be translated into animated outputs.

First, you need to create what we call ‘motion principles.’ These are a set of guiding traits, inspired by your brand strategy, which will be the foundation of your motion applications.

They might sound like abstract or unusual adjectives at the beginning. But the moment you see a small square move in a way that embodies one of those traits, you’ll know you’re onto something.

For example, when building the motion system for Faculty, our guiding principles were to make the motion feel "balanced," "straightforward," and "bright."

This led to symmetrical, light-driven ripples of color using our 50/50 threshold to make elements grow in an outwards motion from the center.

Once your principles begin to emerge through experimentation, they’ll start to shape individual behaviors—where things become real and tangible.

Motion behaviors are concise mechanics that apply to each element of your visual identity: type, imagery, containers, layouts etc. You’ll start defining rulesets for pacing, sequencing and easing curve settings. If we go back to Faculty, we can see how the principles illustrated above can inform the system assets below.

Another good reference of how principles and behaviors interact is the yearly Spotify Wrapped; here is an article from a few issues back explaining how the team defines a set of principles to build a digital product that exists inherently in motion, whilst keeping brand consistency.

Think of a motion system as a grammar. It creates meaning by articulating elements. It’s a sort of red thread, connecting everything from hero brand symbols and wordmarks to the smallest icon animations.

Not all motion systems are created equal. Depending on the state of your brand identity, you might not need extensive testing right from the start. In that case, principles and behaviors with general guidance can serve as a flexible guide for your team to build on as they go.

We recommend using a rebranding opportunity to refine your motion system as much as possible. A well-tested system, applied across various touchpoints, will help you to develop strong, resilient rules. Then you’ll be ready to move onto the next step: creating guidelines.

Level 3: Motion Guidelines

We’ve reached it—the final level of motion complexity and cohesion.

Once you’ve evaluated and thoughtfully built the animated formats your brand needs (across touchpoints, marketing, and digital platforms), you’ll be ready to create a clear, easy-to-access document outlining your motion rules.

Having accessible and straightforward guidelines empowers your team and stakeholders to understand how your brand should move. This not only strengthens your branding system but also ensures it’s ready to scale and adapt as your needs evolve.

We often cite Klarna's motion guidelines as a great example of well-documented and easily accessible principles and behaviors, with all possible use case scenarios for all of their motion assets.

Finally, you might not need this but it’s good to know: for motion-heavy industries like broadcast or events, where many screens and motion touchpoints are to be built in short amounts of time, thoughtfully designed guidelines can help build what’s called a motion toolkit or graphics package.

This is the process of generating automated, editable files that facilitate updating information quickly (even in real-time) whilst keeping the animations consistent.

The ability to quickly version out an animation across deliverables without manual tweaking ensures consistency and makes the process streamlined. Colosseum's US Open graphics package is a good example of a solid motion toolkit showcasing complex information across multiple screens.

So that was a breakdown of our tiered approach to motion for brands.

While the mileage you get out of your motion assets will depend on how developed your overall brand is, we recommend an upfront time investment on par with your static brand assets, to prevent any headaches down the line.

Motion touchpoints to consider

So far, we’ve established that brands can’t afford to ignore motion today. There’s a full range of motion that can be used in different contexts, and with different intents.

When building your motion system or guidelines, it’s helpful to have an idea of how brands typically approach movement. It’s not exhaustive, but it’s a great way to get started.

We’ll give you a small cheat sheet to inspire you at the end of this section.

Logo animations

The tried and tested choice, a logo animation can go a long way in giving a brand personality and memorability.

An obvious example of a logo animation is Netflix, which combines light and color driven motion and sonic branding with its familiar 'tudum’ sound, and adds a forward camera motion to immerse the viewer in the content. It’s a sort of modern version of MGM’s classic Leo the Lion, presented before the movie at the theater to indicate to the audience they are about to be taken to another world.

It's such an iconic and clear idea for a logo animation that it can easily trickle down into a broader motion language, which Thru Motion did in 2024.

If your logo involves a mascot, animating them will make them lovable, and help build brand trust and loyalty.

Brewbike is a good example of an appealing mascot. Then, for Sock, we created Toni and a community of illustrated brand characters. Through playful motion, they help users navigate the product experience, understand web3, and explore the future of finance.

Another great example is Duolingo’s Duo and its other characters. Their animations bring the digital experience to life, making the brand feel approachable and friendly.

Product UI/UX

In a world where digital products are increasingly used by many types of businesses, good UI/UX is essential—and this can be greatly enhanced by motion design.

Animated, dynamic elements can be used to guide users for a smoother, more intuitive experience. This might be an interactive infographic or a cursor hover effect, or the way the brand’s signature color and motion combine in our design for Bolt.

Microinteractions on social media platforms are so prevalent we take them for granted. Hearts when liking a post on Instagram, checkout animations or the Tinder swipe add an interactive, and often human, element to the online experience, as well as becoming associated with your brand. DUMBAR’s motion system for Instagram is a great example of picking up user interactions and making them a part of a ruleset.

There are many more examples—from motion-driven abstract visuals that shape a sensory experience, to banners designed to drive sign-ups.

Brand or product launch film

Another great way to showcase your system is through short films that tell the story of your company’s vision and positioning.

As we mentioned earlier, motion design is great at simplifying complex information, helping to demystify your brand or product. It not only highlights innovation, it also builds awareness and sparks desire.

Broadly speaking, there are two main types of these films: concept films and product films.

Concept films focus on creating a mood or atmosphere that the brand wants to be associated with. They’re not always tangible—think of every perfume ad you’ve ever seen!

For Copilot+PC, Microsoft’s new AI-powered class of PCs, the brand's groundwork was used by BUCK to create a slick product video to show users what it’s like to use the device—while highlighting the core brand concept of illumination.

Product films focus on showcasing the user journey with a product, whether it’s physical or digital. This approach is more practical and works well for everyday items.

This Google Gemini campaign is a good example of combining the UI and Gemini's rotating motion language with real-life footage to illustrate the growing rapport between the user and product.

Retail signage and Digital Out-of-Home

In physical spaces, motion can be applied across multiple surfaces to boost engagement and create a memorable, immersive brand experience. Examples include our work for Google Maps featuring Billie Eilish or DIA’s work for the Adidas London flagship store.

Motion can also shine in digital out-of-homes, grabbing attention as people move through their day—whether they’re traveling on public transport or walking down a busy city street.

For the release of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3, Las Vegas’ Sphere served as the perfect canvas to bring the game’s immersive experience to life in the city.

Physical activations can be costly, so it’s crucial to have a strong, well-defined motion language to maximize their impact!

Live events and broadcasts

During live event broadcasts, motion graphics on large screens can complement live performances or sports games. They're often synced with the action on the stage or field, to create an immersive, larger-than-life experience for audiences. If the event is being televised, how your graphics package works in those contexts will also be worth considering. Here's a little snippet of our work on the League of Legends LCP tournament toolkit to illustrate.

Studio Dumbar/DEPT®’s work for the Utah Jazz basketball team is also worth a watch.

The yearly Figma Config conference is a great example of a modular approach to dress up and brand an event space with many screens and a live streaming to the whole world.

When branding an event, we highly recommend working with a specialized company to develop a motion toolkit. The more solid your motion guidelines are, the easier it will be for this partner to create templates for you.

Cheat sheet

As promised above, here’s a rundown of common motion outlets and what goals they tend to achieve.

Hands-on: putting it into practice

Our key advice for brands starting with motion: lay the groundwork for your brand’s motion system before diving into a long-form animated piece. While rushing might help you meet a short-term deadline, it can lead to inconsistency and inefficiency in the long run.

We understand that it's still a relatively new discipline in many companies, and many don’t have dedicated motion teams.

That’s why we recommend seeking guidance from an experienced team to help you build it. A single motion designer might not have the experience or skill set to create structured systems. Building and testing a motion system properly often requires more than one in-house member, which can become more costly.

We can’t stress this enough: bad motion is worse than no motion at all!

To wrap things up, here are a few key points to consider as you develop motion design for your brand:

1. Invest in figuring out your core message

Developing a clear message for your motion design will inform the majority of decisions. Ask yourself:

• What story do you want your motion to tell? Can it express your brand values or personality, or explain your product or service?

• Will it live in your products, or will it only be used in communications and marketing?

• What emotions do you want to evoke? Should motion just be a functional support, or should it be expressive?

• What do you want to highlight about the brand? Is it connected to a particular culture, style, or genre?

2. Explore and learn from others

Look at what other companies and individuals in the field are doing. Mood boards are great for collecting elements that inspire you before you land on motion that feels true to your brand.

3. Design for the whole system

Designing each touchpoint in isolation can lead to inconsistency. Approach motion design holistically, considering where the most important touchpoints are and what will be used repeatedly. A thorough audit is integral to the longevity of your motion principles.

4. Tailor the motion to the context

Match the scale of the motion to the scale of the asset. A new feature reveal might deserve a more dramatic or cinematic event, which will pan out across multiple screens and/or a broadcast-like stream—and will need a motion toolkit. In a more sporadic campaign, a good opener and end card of a video might be enough.

5. Implement and document your guidelines

Motion guidelines are essential for maintaining consistency across your brand experience, especially when working with external designers or onboarding new team members. Clear, widely shared documentation of these guidelines will help prevent your brand from looking like a patchwork mess.

6. Ensure your motion can be produced at scale

Consider whether a more complex or artful motion style is worth the extra effort and assess the team’s capacity to execute it at scale without compromising quality.

Investing in a more comprehensive motion system—including guidelines or even toolkit templates—might ensure consistency in a less experienced motion team.

And a few common mistakes to avoid:

🚫 Don’t overdo it

Too much or overly flashy motion can be distracting. Treat motion like any other design element—focused and intentional. Always return to your strategy to create meaningful movement instead of digital clutter.

🚫 Don’t neglect the bigger picture

Every piece of motion should align with your overall strategy and strengthen your brand identity. Ignoring this can weaken your brand’s impact.

🚫 Don’t underestimate quality

If you don’t have the resources for high-quality motion design, stick with polished static designs. A professional-looking static asset is always better than poorly executed motion.

🚫 Accessibility is key

Motion design should include everyone. Add audio captions where needed and use Harding-FPA tests to ensure flash-heavy videos are safe for those with epilepsy.

A small appendix on AI

You thought we would dodge the AI debate?

At Koto, we keep a close eye on AI developments and use workflow-enhancing tools daily to simplify tedious tasks and bounce ideas around.

In motion design, tools like style transfer and gen video are definitely exciting. But as of now, we don’t believe image or video generation is advanced enough to replace real video production. And no model out there can truly outperform motion graphics created by skilled designers.

The bigger issue lies elsewhere. AI still struggles to think in terms of identity systems—it’s more about one-off results rather than consistent, strategic solutions. So, for now, it’s not a substitute for the holistic, strategy-driven work we do at Koto.

This perspective (or maybe the entire newsletter) could age quickly, but as of today, we’re feeling confident.

Let us know what you think

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See you in a few weeks for the next edition of OFF Brand. Let’s hope we set some ideas in motion. (One last inevitable pun.)