One of the appealing aspects of working in the Motion Design industry is that it lives at the intersection of filmmaking, graphic design, illustration, branding, VFX, and writing. As a designer, you get to figure out how everything weaves together in a single video that tells the most compelling story for your client. This book shows there is no one way to make meaningful video work that is considered design and that there is room for your point of view in our industry. It can be pure animation, beautifully rendered 3D, live-action or, a combination of everything. But, good design always has to have purpose and yup, good kerning too.
The inclusion of the main titles I designed for Dexter, Shameless and The Killing shows that powerful design can be entirely live-action. That’s how I love to tell stories and how I visualize ideas. It's that pull that has led me to work as a live-action director. While I capture my ideas with a camera pointed at the world, my point of view as a designer always emerges in one way or another. Whether it's through the conceptual storytelling foundation, or thoughtful art direction and composition - I can't help but execute every detail with intention and meaning.
What students or young designers will learn from the collection of professional profiles is that each designer approaches things differently. From Karin Fong, Patrick Claire, Danny Yount, Lauren Hartstone and Erin Sarofsky - there is a lot to unpack and learn from these conversations. I never had a book like this when I was in school, or more importantly right after I graduated. SCAD professor, Austin Shaw saw the need for this tool and decided to write the book. I highly suggest snagging a copy here.
Thank you to Austin Shaw for making this wonderful tool and for including me in the collection. And bigger thanks to the teams at Digital Kitchen and Sarofsky for the opportunity to work on the pieces that are included.