First, what is motion graphics? Motion graphics is the process of animating graphical elements such as text, logos, shapes, or illustrations to create more engaging content. This is especially useful in a digital world where attention is in such high demand. Motion graphics brings static assets to life and helps prevent people from scrolling past your content in their feed.
Small businesses need to be creative when finding ways to stand out in a sea of digital noise. Getting eyes on your products is becoming increasingly competitive, both organically and through paid adverts. Adding motion to your content is an excellent way to stop the scroll and make your message stand out.
Animated adverts can also help bridge the knowledge gap when explaining complex products or services. By showing your product in action or visualising the problem it solves, animated videos make your message easier to understand and remember.
“That’s great, but aren’t they incredibly difficult to set up?”
You might think you need a lot of assets, complicated video setups, or even an external production team to get started. That’s the beauty of motion graphics; you can achieve a lot with very little.
If you already have marketing materials, a logo, product imagery, or a brand identity, you probably have what you need to start adding motion to your marketing efforts. Motion graphics for social media can be built from the assets you already own, making them accessible and cost-effective for small businesses.
Case Study: Treo Recruitment
For the example below, Treo Recruitment contacted us with a list of bullet points they wanted to cover, a voice recording they’d made on their smartphone, and, since we’d worked with them before, we already had their graphical assets on hand.
Not all briefs are this simple, but this example demonstrates how efficiently a concept can come to life with a clear idea and a few key elements.
I’ll break down how we produced this project below to show how the process works and demonstrate what’s needed from a client’s side.
And don’t worry, if it sounds like a lot of work, get in touch with us and we’ll make the process as simple as possible.
1. From Brief to Concept
As mentioned above, the first step is the brief. Treo Recruitment’s request went something like this:
“We’d like a 30-second animated video advert to play at one of the venues we sponsor. It should match our brand guidelines, be 1920×1080 pixels, include these bullet points at the specified times, use our voice recording, and have an upbeat energy.”
This short brief was perfect. It contained everything needed to start breaking the information down into Adobe Illustrator files for each section of the animation. Doing this helps storyboard the content and prepares it for animation in Adobe After Effects.
If you’re planning to do this yourself, remember to break down each graphical element you want to animate into separate layers. It will make life much easier later.
2. Adding Audio to Visuals
The next step is audio. Treo sent over a voice recording done on their mobile phone. A few years ago, this would’ve been a nightmare, but technology moves fast. These days, you don’t necessarily need an expensive studio setup to get usable audio.
With modern smartphones and some post-processing, you can achieve great results.
We pulled the audio into Logic Pro and processed it to clean it up and bring it to life:
- Used a multi-band EQ to reduce harsh high frequencies and boost the midrange tones.
- Applied compression to balance volume levels.
- Added light noise reduction to remove background static.
- Finished with a touch of room reverb to reintroduce natural warmth.
It might sound like a lot, but it’s well worth the effort, and it makes animated video production far more accessible and affordable for smaller businesses.
Finally, we added background music. Using Adobe Stock, we found a track that matched the energy and tone of the advert. Music licenses can be expensive, but stock music helps keep costs down while adding essential emotional impact.
We imported both the music and voiceover into After Effects, adjusted levels so the voice stayed clear, and added beat markers to sync certain animations perfectly with the rhythm.
3. Let’s Get This Thing Moving
Now it’s time to animate. The storyboards created in Adobe Illustrator are imported into After Effects as compositions, meaning each layer can be animated independently.
Rather than detailing every step (that’s a series of blogs in itself), here are a few principles that make animations feel more polished:
- Easing: This is how elements accelerate or decelerate during motion. For example, an object moving left to right might start slowly and speed up toward the end. This “ease in” motion feels more natural.
- Anticipation: Real motion often includes a preparatory movement before the main action. Think of how a person crouches before jumping. Adding this kind of subtle movement makes animations feel more human and less robotic.
You can see this in the Treo animation when the world icon transforms into a pound coin. Just before disappearing, the world squashes slightly, and the pound coin responds with a slight upward motion as it appears. Small details like this add polish and realism.
4. The Finished Product
Brining Your Brand to Life
If you’re experimenting with motion graphics for your business, hopefully you now have some insight into how these are made and what goes into them. I know it can be tough as a small business to justify new marketing expenses, especially when you’re already wearing a lot of hats.
But if you’d like to speak to someone about creating this kind of content for your brand, get in touch with us today. We’d love to hear your ideas and help bring them to life.
Thank you for taking the time to read this, and good luck with all your marketing efforts.
Sid Shevlin
Creative Director
Koan Creative