Hamadi Belghachi
Preview of the Inkspread Motion Graphics Logo made for a class project.

Motion Graphics Logo

My Role

Motion Designer

Tools Used

  • Adobe After Effects
  • Adobe Illustrator
  • artivive.png

My Team

  • Independent Project

Skills Used

  • Motion Graphics
  • Logo Design
  • Illustration

Process

Moodboard

Early on, I wanted to use a mascot as the friendly face for the Inkspread company, so I created a simple moodboard with examples. Additionally, I recorded color codes and typefaces I was interested in trying out later.

Moodboard for the Inkspread Motion Logo project.

Storyboard

With the mascot design in mind, I drafted a storyboard of how I thought the animation would play out. I wanted to illustrate speed, so I drew the mascot zipping from the left to the right of the screen to demostrate fast, on-demand printing.

Page one of the storyboard. Depicts the mascot dropping down and printing the wordmark.
Page two of the storyboard. Depicts the mascot leaving and the wordmark drying up to reset the scene. This part of the scene was later scrapped.

Illustrating

Having a clear vision for the animation, I created the mascot and wordmark in Adobe Illustrator. I built the mascot using basic shapes and the pathfinder tool to create a pseudo 3D effect. I ensured that the layers were organized and labeled to make it easier for animating.

Original design for the Inkspread logo. The mascot resides to the right of the wordmark.

Animating

Now with all the assets ready, I animated the motion logo in Adobe After Effects. I created a pseudo skeleton to rig the layers together, making the animation process easier as parent layers affected child layers. I created two versions, one that worked on its own, and the other intended for an Alternative Reality poster hosted on Artivive.

Short animated logo for the original Inkspread design.
Animated poster for the original Inkspread design. This design would be viewable via the Artivive application on iOS and Android.

Reviewing

A few semesters later, I revised the motion logo for my Art Exhibition. For this next iteration, I focused on a simpler style that softened the colors and used only solid shapes to convey friendliness in design. When I presented my revised design draft, I received feedback that the redesign was too flat. I brought back shapes from the previous logo to find the perfect balance.

Eight thumbnail sketches for the redesign of the printhead mascot.
Comparison of the top drafted mascot redesign to the bottom original mascot design.

Illustrating

I made the new design in Adobe Illustrator and incorporated all the feedback and knowledge I had gained to improve the Inkspread logo. Instead of making the lettering for the wordmark, I chose the Comfortaa typeface for its geometric shape and rounded caps to fit with the design of the mascot.

Final design for Inkspread Logo. The printhead mascot resides to the left of the wordmark.

Animating

With my final drawing done, I re-animated in Adobe After Effects using the same techniques of parenting layers and keyframes for fine tuning. The resulting animation improved initial ideas and represents a more professional product.

Short animated logo for the final Inkspread design. The printhead mascot quickly moves from the left to the right printing the wordmark onto the paper.

Reflection

Having wrapped up this project, I became better using Adobe After Effects for creating motion graphics. Connecting layers together to create a rig for the logo helped with animating the motion the mascot would make printing on a piece of paper. In tandem, designing a logo and animating it is a delicate challenge that requires careful planning. When I decided to revisit this project with a fresh perspective, I was happy to have had done proper file organization. I was able to quickly pick up where I last left off and understand my original thoughts.