How to meaningfully incorporate motion into branding, with DIA, Studio Dumbar/DEPT® and Connor Campbell

As the framework of brand identities continues to evolve, we’re seeing more and more studios using animation to bring their work to life. Designing for digital spaces is now an integral part of the branding process, as internet traffic is increasingly consisting of video content – from Tiktok’s boom in popularity and Instagram’s annoying prioritisation of video to digital ad spaces and web-based campaigns. The medium can add emotion, expression and dynamism that can’t always be achieved by static means. To find out more about this topic, we spoke to three leaders in motion design – DIA, Studio Dumbar/DEPT®, and Connor Campbell – who revealed how they make animation an integral part of a project, so it’s actually part of the identity system, and not just something stuck on at the end. Studio Dumbar/DEPT® are no strangers to motion design, having adopted it seamlessly into their practice. As lead designers Christopher Noort and Stan Haanappel explain, “the studio considers motion to be a vital part of contemporary brand design.” For the Rotterdam-based design agency, movement is “considered a fundament of expression” from the start of the design process in much the same way as typography, colour and composition – core elements of effective and emotive design. DIA’s Mitch Paone concurs, “we integrate design and motion entirely into one process.” For the NYC and Geneva-based branding and graphic design studio, motion is there “right from the start” and a foundational component of their approach – as the team specialises in kinetic identities and typographic systems. “Corporate branding work primarily lives in digital and time-based formats,” he points out, therefore motion is central to the design experience. This is reflected in one of the studio’s favourite sayings: “Time is Form, Form is Time,” in other words, “Design is Motion, Motion is Design.” From leading his London-based experimental motion design studio, Connor Campbell observes that many clients often don’t share this viewpoint. “We get to focus solely on the motion element,” he notes “but often identities we’ve been briefed on have motion as an afterthought, as opposed to being a part of the design process from the early stages.” A major downside to this, as Campbell highlights, is that it loses the potential of some exciting discoveries in the identity’s development. “When motion is there from the outset, some of the freeze-frame moments in a rough motion exploration can lead to creative routes within the static identity.” This is one reason why Campbell believes getting a motion designer in at an early stage “will always lead to much more interesting outcomes.”