We create worlds.
We conceptualise, design and build visceral imagined realities from umwelt. The narrative is championed, as stories which underlay, thread and permeate the human experience. This creates powerful life metaphors. It helps us make sense of the world. It also forms the reality we inhabit. Through the animation creative practice I strive to create beacons of possibilities; to expand the frontiers of our imagination; to bring to life new ideas and metaphors which communicate these imagined realities between all of us. Every project is lovingly crafted based on historical research, neuro-psych principles, traditional skill mastery and optimised for respective audiences. Whether it’s a brief kinetic logo, an infographic, mograph, an ad or a tale a new world is crafted with care, attention and intention.
Create your world!

World Creator

O-World stands for creation of the worlds. These worlds are a comprehensive meme-constructs of the psych neuro schema which can be related to the audiences.
Each project needs to involve emotion which is to be related acting as an anchor, conceptual and ideological content using visual (and when necessary audio) language to communicate. The senses which we can communicate in our linguistic relation are visual and audio. The kinaesthetic and smell are reserved for more intimate encounters e.g. feeding, allowing us to be divorced from those when we’re creating a duology of terms.
It is important to create an immersive world. The interactivity within this can range from ephemeral to deep involvement, depending on media out utilised to portal it.
The simplest way to interact with large audiences quickly is through a still published medium. In past this was print, though digital has brought the aces to this even further. e.g. sequential art, books, stories, descriptions, encyclopaedic etc. A single person or a small group can be the creator. - and in current times the distributor.
The quickest way to interact (communicate) with a large audience efficiently is through forms of moving image. Movie/animated movie, short films, public-vlogs and the like as there is the smallest time and emotional engagement in the committal phase. This has never been truer than today as a huge swath of population carries mobile screens with them.
There are also many forms in between and across platforms. Audio-books, series, video games, events,
All worlds created must have a multitude of stories which are engaging. Its like creating a religious scripture. How do we find out about our existence. History. geography, physics.

World must have history.
The history can be hidden or open, false or true, questionable or simple but it must exist, the notion of passage of time prior to engagement within the presented story is integral in the immersive quality of the work.
World must have geography. This can be as simple as plain surface which is metaphorical or it can be a complex land with history in it’s own right. Geography can act, and frequently does as a mood setter and pathetic fallacy within the stores emotional quality.

 

World must have geography.
This can be as simple as plain surface which is metaphorical or it can be a complex land with history in it’s own right. Geography can act, and frequently does as a mood setter and pathetic fallacy within the stores emotional quality.

 

World must have physics (or rules of the world).
Is it just like ours? Does anything strange exist? Magic, gods, creatures, mirror systems, different basic natural laws. Every creation will have a deviation from reality due to it’s unavoidable simplification of the senses. The physics should be manipulated. The rules which we live under are subject to change due to knowledge and discovery. Tectonic changes advance the species and as such resonate.
The physics should be respected in all forms. e.g. a flat-world stays flat and a ball does’t just roll up. The needs to be consistently rewarded. - Due to our biology we get an intangible feel from observing and working out something. The intimate and primal working out of it’s properties needs to be consistently confirmed and, in imagined world, rewarded. It can also create an opportunity for humour. One way is by breaking the constraints of the established physics, giving the viewer certified omnipresence, like breaking the fourth wall.

The characters inhabiting this will be aware of all the three in limited capabilities.
(If they know everything about everything they transcend from Sage into God, henceforth loose all capabilities of growth.)

 

The World Laws

 

To create an intellectual property with a story intriguing, deep and immersive to get audiences to research it is the ideal of the nine goals.
When creating such property and implementing the marketing, there are certain laws one should follow. These are akin to Jones’ simple laws for R. Runner or Sandersons’ laws for epic writing.

Engage the people at their levels.
Different individuals will get differing levels of interaction and value from the work. That will depend on their ability, time constraints and level of engagement. Always allow for ‘low bearing fruit’, but also have a high exit gate exhilarate, and raise the spiritual wealth of the viewer/participant.

Respect the human biology.
If the medium is audio visual then use the knowledge of our sensory inputs in order to create extraordinary experience. (be careful of balance, sometimes overwhelm at the initial phase can disengage the audience, look at story/visual/audio hooks in order to mitigate these)

Utilise human evolutionary behaviour.
If shopping mimics our behaviour of gathering, and travel to work of going for a hunt, then use traits such as these in order to propel stories.
Can stories be told at different times? Can other aspects be limited in some way? In a world of abundant content getting attention is crucial for story survival. Make it a cultural event. Tell tales at the metaphorical fireside. Anecdotes told on the move.

Be aware of cultures.
Different cultures will process the data presented to them in different ways. This may change the interpretations as well as the initial message.
Draw/lure the different cultures in to the meta-world created in order to have them engage on a individual human level within each imagined world’s cultural parameters. This can be used to educate, inform or as simple escapism. A popular tool for this is the use of avatar archetype of innocence, or a blank e.g. a young boy/girl encounters a magical world. The blank acts as a conduit for the audience.

Use human psychology.
People have complex psychological interactions, and it is through these that they interpret and engage within the world around us. These can be utilised in order to structure stories which affect the mind on a conscious level as well as unconscious. Use of archetypes, use of metaphors, heightened crescendos all fall in this category.

We are one species.
Be aware of herd mentality. Collective conscious and unconscious of humanity. Observe the species as one unit with certain traits and always respect and work with these in order to achieve interaction and guidance. There is a universal truth within this.

How content should be spread.
Stories told across the communities. Create a legend, spread the news in a variety of ways, having a consistent message but engaging different sectors of the world and different cultures simultaneously on their own ground. There is no reason why there should be only one edit of the film, one main hero or a villain. Can this be changed across cultural swathes, engaging the different areas in a stronger way while still respecting the essence of the story. Remember that everyone is the hero of their own tale and everyone can identify with this.

 

Perception Within Us

In the back part of the brain, a third of what we use is for interpretation of visual perception.
That visual perception is recreated in our brain based on the camera input of transmitted from our eyes. It forms our visual memory. We use that memory in order to re-live places visited, things done and in general increase our fitness for life. We also can trigger that memory independently in order to use it without feeding the information to our visual cortex. It is that same procedure we use to ‘mesh’ different schema of the world together in order to create new things in our minds. these new things are the future memories i.e. our imagination. With the creation of it we are able to visualise an object or a world in future for us. It is this world which we can further flesh out by having a short and long term imagination/ visual memory. In order to link all of the information together we have a story an lynchpin of if that then this cause and effect elements/happenings to us, further increasing our future prediction and perception of our environment and thus creating survival fitness. The story of cause and effect can be linked and reinforced further with chemical impetus which is driven by emotional, (chemical input). The two are linked together. This system together forms the system for our imagination and story telling ability. Without it we would have a limited memory and lower survivability as well as decreased manipulation of object ability. It is by having a ‘patient’ evolutionary trait that we can imagine and create a story giving us the reason to create something for the future. We imagine the rewards as well as the visceral object. It is part of our dna and henceforth architecture of cortex and the visual interpretation of the sight altogether.

 

ASPECT of ART

 

Because we are able to fully specialise and are primed to live in small units (120-150), we as individuals struggle with the big picture. The science of macro impacts us on every side. The limits imposed by our senses further enhance this. It is the inability to see the existence as a holistic thing and a need to break things down to their basics that which does not allow us to encompass the holistic experience. It is precisely this specialisation which prevents us from being experts upon macro, as we are unable to process many of the complex functions simultaneously. That goes for experiences of emotion. To feel disgusts and attraction; To feel love and hate. We are able to hold a dual emotion spectre; though one would always prevail, tinting the experience, or, occasionally combining it into a new form. We feel chronologically and it is this which necessitates what we call story in order to link all the experiences together in order to increase our evolutionary traits.
Art acts as an aspect of a particular emotion. This is particularly evident with sound and ultimately music. It is true its also interweaved through all artistic forms to varying degrees of opaqueness. Certain evolutionary specialisations will occur precisely because of this. Because it would take a person a lifetime to achieve something: (30yrs) that means that through our empathy: a mould for collective consciousness, we can emphasise and experience that through work of others. We can feel the hand of the artist on all our manipulated environment around us. We can feel the emotional intention and become part of that journey symbolising an emotionally exaggerated enhanced aspect of ourselves, thus living a fuller life than we would otherwise. We don’t have to figure everything out ourselves. We can stand on the shoulders of giants, on all of others around us, creating a progressive culture. Everything is and becomes an ingredient of the culture.
In all of this we are inclined to miss the bigger picture. We are unable to continuously all feel together as a natural experience. We lack that hive instinct. These do occur in times of tragedy (disaster) and joy. Elements outside ourselves and therefore outside our conscious control prompt these actions. We orchestrate microcosms of these experiences on a consistent basis providing the essential glue to our human experience. Music concerts, performance and visual arts and many more create the propolis of human culture. It is this bond which solidifies our respective cultures in order to allow individuals to feel safe to burrow into deep specialisation. We look back to look forward and envision the future, creating a new horizon ahead as we step into it.

 

On the Artist as Creator…

 

We, creators, play, and attempt to show the world our invented game, moving it with the complexity of imagined reality and hoping and aiming to implant ideas and memes which would affect their realities of the world itself. It is by creating the imagined reality that we create a path-road to the future reality of humanity. Each individual part contributes to the whole visioning of process. It is more than entertainment, though it is often guised as such. It creates cultural communities, now across the globe, with common anchors. It alters the worlds’ world view allowing the peeps to dream wider, inspiring the masses.
The creative process is woven by the abilities of the creator. If those decisions and skills are reproduced at blinding speed than it is the creative mind which has the power in order to translate those abilities into craft. Understanding how the brain works and why those decisions are done would allow for fine tuning of necessary skillets; Memory increase; Physical health; Focus & concentration; Pre-visualisation; Fine-motor co-ordination and optimisation and many more. The master of the craft metabolises and executes subconsciously having digested and integrated the knowledge within themselves.
The creative can be viewed as an athlete with high performance output. They have to aim to stay injury free, including their whole body and mind connection. The longevity of the creator and his optimisation will have a direct correlation with the mastery level he/she can potentially attain. The processes and artistic trainings are the same as those of a physical skill. There is a strong element of repetition in order to practice the schematic skill utilisation. There are also mental process which can be practiced to increase this creativity; the connection of subjects=protomemmes into fully fledged memes. Smaller morphemes can also add as well as catalyise this process.
All the creative power of an individual is the sum total of all the inputs that individual had in it’s existence. These inputs can be external as well as internal. The processing and directed thought can create internal (neuro) action which can then result in physical (action) manifestation. The respective umwelt and claustrum would be the blueprints for creation in the shared world reality.
Creators take in their life personal experience. This allows them to insert themselves into characters mimicking child play.
It enables for those authentic human moments and for originality and uniqueness.

This experience at some level can also be researched and developed. Reading, exploring and formulating information helps keep these stories grounded and relevant. They act like a funnel for all of these stories directing their output towards prospective audiences.
Essentially all of the ingredients go into making the cake.
What the mind is fed is what the mind will deliver. This can be trained through Idea Genesis, a form of gedankenexperiment.

 

Meditation on Visualisation

To successfully capture an idea it must be visualised first. This skill and it’s development is crucial for visual storytellers. In the visual story-telling the people in chrysalis must be able to see the idea first;
An appropriate anecdote is an old story of Walt Disney’s vision for a DisneyWorld being realised after his passing. When asked what would Disney say if he could see it now, his brother responded with: ‘Walt saw it first’.
The visualisation is of higher importance in regards to the element of time. The ability to see the sequence in question clearly allows for reduction in choice deviation at later stages. This not to disregard the importance of play at those later stages, but simply to reduce complexity and reduce the imagined proverbial palette of the creator. The more which can be internalised in our very own ‘super-computer’ the higher the rate of creativity can be. This visualisation can be practiced repeatedly with a project, allowing for rapid mind (story) boards. These boards can be re-played with an anchor like an audio track. It could also be a smell or a picture or environmental combination of sensory inputs. This closely mimicks mediation practice. Mind boarding can also be a subconscious thinking exercise during long repetitive tasks with high stimuli such as walking or light long distance running. This would engage the system 2 of our cognition. The visualisation of goals, aims and the like must also be utilised within this. It provides direction and focus. A kind of guided day-dream.
A mesmerism (hypnosis) technique of mindscaping; creating imaginary landscapes in order to increase recollection can also be added to this by creating a self perpetuating loop of creation. The more you create the more parts you have to create from, hence developing and grouping larger and more complex schema.
One could add on the NLP technique of a ‘larger brighter picture’ to immerse oneself in the strategic outcomes of their world. However this same technique can be used in order to visually project the creation itself as well as the creative process. The process divides into virtual creation followed by the physical act of creation and constant (re)production (Henderson) whereby the human element of ‘patching’ (troubleshooting) comes into play. This is preceded by audio visual conception of the idea, using the schemas available to the creator. (Do musicians ‘hear the sound’ before the production of it and if they do what schema is used to create it?)
What is fed in will be crunched in our mind, the super-processor, before it is spewed out as a torrent of data to be refined. All that we create is a manifestation of the structure within us. Our minds are a electric biochemical machine which can only create within it’s own parameters as those parameters which we don’t experience do not present to ourselves as problematic hence we have no requirement to change it beyond definition. By asking how we can change the invisible do we progress and henceforth change our own reality and it’s future.
The act of creation within mimics the same act in nature; Evolution, geology, biology,.. There are principles which we call theories in real world we can codify into laws in our imagined one in order to mitigate inevitable complexity. These laws are guidelines with some anomalies (outliers), due to our lack of true omnipotent complex understanding. Following the laws of nature of our created world the content will out. This content will be refined through craftsmanship (a micro trial and error exercise). An equivalent of writer, rewriting draft after draft of their novel. The ability to pre-conceive all three stages of inner creative process (de-mystifying it) can potentially speed up the creation as well as create scalable pathways for multiple individuals to embark upon it. It becomes a shared meditative experience. When they coalesce these stories embrace the unconscious collective. Animation due to it’s very nature of creation can be the pinnacle of the form. These worlds and their stories (animations) are dreams of collective unconscious through a socially determined form.

 

On Physicality

 

For a creator to create work which has longevity they must train like an athlete. The time given to think, conceptualise, experience and create will undoubtedly have be more prolific throughout. During this period optimal performance can be gained and realised in order to create optimal work. Physicality must be engaged as well as optimum cognitive abilities. This would divide into three categories with some overlaps:

functional:
Basic functionality of our body.
Staving of injuries is number one. Frequent stretches and flexibility exercises for fingers, hands and wrists creating a warm up and a wind down practice will keep those pesky carpals working for a long time. Especially on those high pressure deadline when the rest periods are decreased. In my practice I solved the posture problem by creating a standing working environment. Suppleness of body will altogether increase working ability. When we spend long periods in front of screens spine and neck can become weak points. A good yoga or callisthenics routine can keep the whole unit functioning. Good blood flow and regular mindful breath-work can add that extra (non-caffeinated) energy or pause (for thought) when needed. There are many ways of achieving this and it can tie in to meditative practice. (as outlined in Meditation on Visualisation). I tend to do a quick Iceman method daily and a longer holotropic practice on occasion.

skills:
Acquirement and practice of new skills. These can be directly physical / visceral, or trans-virtual. e.g. learning to speed paint vs learning how to rock climb. The first is transferrable to the creative practice immediately. The latter will allow for the knowledge of body mechanics and emotional experience of the activity to permeate through work increasing relatedness to the creation. It’s subconscious by default but it can be directed. Martial arts, functional movements and sports are great for learning one’s own body in space and then transferring that modelling to the virtual world created. If the animation calls for a specific movement a mental library of kinetic skills is essential. This is especially important when abstraction must be applied in order to capture the essence of the activity instead of literal interpretation. In a similar way as actors gather skills for their portfolio such as horse riding, we animators gather kinetic material. I’ll expand on the internal library of the kinetic at a later date.
optimal:
Enchanting the physiology of the individual so that they will be able to perform faster and for longer. In a holistic approach their longevity will be increased, allowing for prolific productivity. Their mental strength will be increased too, allowing for higher quality produce of a mind-worker. They are faster at their work and more efficient. The physicality is considered throughout, especially in small repetitive movements. We all try to increase our efficiency all the time. Being mindful of it can provide leaps in creative growth. By becoming adept at complex tasks we can increase the complexity of the endeavour, essentially absorbing the information and making room for new inputs. The theory of flow states applies.

 

On Worlds: pt1

 

Why should you get/make a world?
It’s the ultimate creation of a brand.
Coca-Cola is populated by smiley happy/hip/funky/cool (sometimes literally) people who are always young (at heart) projecting that little bit of pzzaz. There are rules to this world which we all understand and it’s one of the prime reasons why this brand is so strong.
When you create a world which your brand inhabits than it becomes bigger then your initial product. You can sell the story and attach multiple things to it.
There are rules to this imagined world as you are creating an metaphysical impression of your business. Nothing can translate this as someone being in your skin, or at very least very, very close to you. We are fortunate that we can project a thoughtful, imaginative reality to our audiences, customers and eventually patrons. Some companies are very good at this, others do not see a current need for it. We all know, instinctively, who they are.
Think of Apple and think what impression you have of the way their business looks, their daily office life, their research. The way it feels. These images come naturally very quickly if the exposure has been high. Think of Microsoft now; Sega; Goldman Sachs; McKesson…
Note that we create these impressions, these all encompassing worlds. It is developed and practiced throughout our childhood in order to understand and socially engage with others. It is very useful if you can tell how different social circuits work beyond what you can see. It is in our biology. It was important to our ancestors if we could identify and imagine a world of our prey. It would help us track and find it.
When hunters go after the prey they react to tracks, trails, clues left over by the animal. They try to get inside of the head of the creature in order to understand where it is, it’s behaviour and the best place and way of attack. Other animals can only use sensory input, i.e. smell, sight etc in order to track the pray. It is one of the reasons why we are able to run for long times and track the pray. That gave us an edge against other species in hunting and subsequently in gathering as we can construct a narrative with cause and effect and retell/communicate this experience to other members of our group ideally eliciting an empathic response.
These worlds are always metaphors, reduced to bare minimum within our minds (as evolution favours slow efficiency).
You can choose what world you want to present or you can allow others to chose it independently.
Tribes, city nations and nations are formed like this. The Empires create their own stories in order to expand and strengthen it’s influence and as a way to create definition. Cultural identity is the collection of selected stories linking our inner worlds together in order to create a somewhat cohesive whole. It is expressed in our individual values, morals and subsequent choices of behaviour.

 

We discover story worlds like berries on a gathering mission in the modern electronic forest.

 

On Worlds: pt2

 

If you have a world populated with characters you already have proxy anchors for your prospective audience. A lynchpin for their attention. You are building each new communication upon the success of the past one and expanding it further. Brand building. What makes your story better than the others: brand and the subsequent attention captured by it. It brings cohesion to your brand and to your product. You disarm the peeps by allowing their presuppositions to open up new horizons for you. The story can acquire life of it’s own and grow exponentially. We have witnessed such thing in our lifetime with modern pop mythologies on all sides of the globe.
Time is a crucial factor in creating a world brand (or brand world). Too many are impatient with this and chop and change far too often to receive any real benefits from this. We’re talking years to stick with one thing, build and develop it. Consistency within the parameters established is super important. The themes have to link up in future instead of being diametrically on separate axioms. You do need to provide constant change and surprise (change could very well be your theme), but this should not be at the cost of good story within your world. You can move parameters and introduce new things. It is of crucial importance to always have self-awareness that whatever you are creating and putting out there is essentially fiction. It is an figment of your imagined reality, honed and crafted for your communication to prospective audiences.
Who can recall the most popular fashion creator of ancient Greece? Who knows the biggest sword-maker in of the 1600’s?
These people existed, as their counterparts do in our respective cultures, but their names and subsequent products were swallowed by time. (Certainly there are individuals who can answer these questions however this data is not in collective conscious awareness)
Who knows of Homer, of Shakespeare...
These greats branded their products, their stories. They were able to transcend not only their respective epochs but also their originating cultures becoming ideas which most of the humankind is aware of today. That is the power of the world, the brand of which can have longevity beyond today.
They were, incidentally, successful in their own eras too.

 

On Worlds: pt3: Bubbles of Reality

 

It was the stories - common imaginary realities - mental constructs - which were used in order to co-operate large groups of humans as we as a species, unlike insects, have no large scale co-operation instinct. Hence weaved stories create common ground in order for identifications beyond the instinctual and biological survival creating imagined order. A story will outpace the facts every time. And the effects of stories will last long after the facts are forgotten. Stories don’t have to defend their premises. All they have to do is cause associations and provoke identification.
They are a chariot galloping into imaginary worlds with us in it. The words we use to describe this experience reflect its truth.
The story(line) hooks us and draws us within a imagined world. These worlds are a comprehensive meme-costructs of the psych neuro schema which can be related to the audiences.
They are bubbles of reality. We yearn for connection. We have an instinct for exploration. By discovering a new world, a new concept inhabited by rules played in by others, with their own hierarchies a powerful primal urge is to explore it and engage with it.
Our behaviour maps towards this continuously. We’re little mammals sniffing our way around trying to find juicy treats to help us survive and thrive. The stories which are shared bring us closer together. The worlds created all start of as imaginations, flights of fancy which are collectively brought to life by multitude of individuals. Even when the world creator is an auteur their world can only exist by engagement with other people, with other minds. Each one will, based on their own unique sensory input create their own version of world in question. There is a feeling which this, an intangible reality anchored within them, would posses. Each one of us will claim this as their own. Our interpretation of the imagined realities of others, by default gives us ownership and subsequent onus upon it. This can lead to disappointment seeing the pre-perceived rules of the world broken. The subsequent creators can also use that knowledge to take the people on a journey, playing with their perceptions and anticipations, as we suspend our (dis)belief allowing ourselves to dream.

 

TRENDing

 

2016 was the culmination of Flat Design. I think of this as the UPA stage of motion-graphics. The simplicity and minimalism which have marked it has not disappeared but, rather, it’s being built upon.
Material Design, the new big trend in UI, and subsequently motion-graphics, draws heavily from this. As John Schlemmer, motion lead of Google created a guideline for developers in Material Design, attempting to solve the new UI challenges. Working in milliseconds and with UI and UX in mind the motion team has looked through the flat design of last years and updated it with 3Dimensionality which can be experienced on a flat screen. This has harkened back to the original animation principles established in 1930’s by Nine Old Men.
The 12 principles of animation established in 30’s still hold true today.
In mograph field these are wedded to the 8 design principles. In combination with 10 principles of Good Design by Dieter Rams they form todays interactive screen environment. Furthermore all objects can gain ‘personality’ within the (re)presentation.
Every movement conveys information which we have derived from real world:
There is cross section with the visual language as well as the cultural tropes (bouncy animation). What can be applied to animated characters, which are essentially a caricature of real life counterparts can, and should, be successfully applied to the animated object.
The tools we, mo-graphers, use have catalysed the birth of this trend.
All the styles and trends are sculpted through use of a plethora of tools. These create a restricted palette for creativity; an effective bottleneck. As the motion graphic designers do more animation the animation principles would emerge naturally as the human variable on creative and receptive side is the constant. These animation principles have now been integrated into Material Design. As we’re able to move in digital 3Dimensions easier then ever we start to experiment with the material qualities within that design. The relatively small screen demands Responsive Design. Treating it as a object within itself, further enhances it, without the need to fake visual cognition.

Minimalism (in composition and layout) is back in general design. One could wonder whether it has ever left as it’s a essential part of good design. Less is more. In motion graphics it has never left as evident from Flat Design. However with the use of small stage and Negative (space) Composition there are interesting trends emerging through it’s self-awareness. Seamless (flowing) transitions or Never-ending Canvass as S.McCloud predicted is starting to be used more in infographic and documentary animation short shorts. We’re aware of what has been and have a natural predictor of what will be. We don’t need to see the immediate past in order to acknowledge its presence within the visual interpretations. With screens acting as a ‘windows’ to another (inner) world we are biologically willing and able to construct the symbolic parameters of this world in a effective never-ending canvass. Mo-Graph artist will understand this easily as the canvass/screen in their workflow and objects around it are evident.

VertVid is a trend that will continue and grow in the short hand-held form.
Video is more ubiquitous than ever and with the natural homeostasis for our hands vert is only going to go up. This is specially true for integrated animations (and live action) with text overlays due to app usage. (Long form will continue with its progress to large immersive environment for the time being - until VR catches up and augmented changes everything again. the VR community is slowly permeating the culture with Intent Paralaxing but we’re still a decade or so away from mainstream)

Further symbolic characterisation of materials is set to grow. Overlaying comic-book/manga style animation over live-action shots is continuing onwards. The ease of CS suite to handle this is allowing animators to start playing with elemental magic of flat VFX, further enriching the video information with semiotic action. There is lot’s of this in sports currently. Gamefying the user experience in UI by adding animations (visual rewards) to tasks as well as openers and placeholders is another expression of this principle. This can be pure entertainment but also semiotic data education through further brand enforcement.
The brands themselves are seeing a growth of kinetic logos. Monolines and Flats are being animated in order to grab attention for longer. The statement is bold accompanying the trend for Very Large Type. As the animations principle percolate through this we can expect for the kinetic brands identities to convey personality through subtle characterisation of the kinetic animation.

Colour Trans are everywhere again, stepping away from the Flats of last couple of years. The transitions are bright and the colours are bold. They are garish and high contrast in tone evoking the (new) retro feel of the 80’s. (e.g. Instagram logo.) The NewRetro, SynthWave (and VapourWave) have influenced this in design. They, in turn, have been motivated through the decade long Shabby Chic trend. The retro design elements are combined from various eras and mashed together. There is a real hunger and attention for nostalgia all over the cultural spectrum. From music to design to politics. In a rapid changing world we naturally cling to familiar things in order to give our story anchoring and prospective direction. Zygmunt Bauman identified this as modern liquidity. A state which is post-post-modernity. Here all eras are mashed up into new forms. The Youthification of our cultures is providing the drive for this. (phenomena could be explained through hyper-domestication of our species). As we all consume longer there is a intergenerational melting pot of influences. It has also never been easier to take elements from various trends and blend them together into new forms. The digitisation has enabled this ease and designers all over the world are creating new trends.
As a counterweight to this there is a desire for (visual) authenticity. The hand written and Kustom typography is a direct exemplar of this. The search for high-res authentic photography is another. Natural and hand made textures are frequently seen in motion graphics to give ease from the Flat design. Their integration into the Material Design with RealWorld corresponding weights and attributes will enable us to map further complex behaviours in our minds. We’ll create another metaphor and effectively short the necessary processing input.
Cultural trends continuously re-incarnate like a collection of memes. Certain things evolve and reincarnate as something different, but cycles are dependant on human life experience. Hence the cultural trends tend to follow suit.
In years to come we’ll probably see something incorporating the grittiness of late nineties, however this time with added optimism, as the strand of nostalgia and the vein of 80’ NewRetro will curse through it’s design as a counterweight. This has potential to fulfil the handcrafted authenticity alongside the minimal and Material design structures. I’ll dub it: GrittJoy: oncoming for 2018/19 prediction. Of course it will be super-ceded by something else soon-after.
Now in motion graphics all of these need to be combined in order to tell a story.
Elements (symbols) within the design need to build over time in order to convey a complex message in a simple way. In the same way there are curves (eases) for individual movements within the hierarchical composition the whole a sum of these is combined into a larger whole: A story; whereupon tone, direction and most importantly emotion is conveyed.
To conclude this study on trends:

 

Design for humans not for ideology!