Shaela's DAT Capstone Research

As I have investigated further into my project, I have created an outline for one of my logo animations. As Americana World Community Center has an emphasis on their children's education and activity programs, I want an animation to focus on this care for children's well-being. Thus, I am featuring the silhouette of kids smiling, running, and morphing into the image of the Earth in Americana's logo.  However, in order to do this, I need to learn how to complete a walk cycle (or run cycle, in this case) of a figure in After Effects.  With the assistance of the article, "Easy Frame by Frame Walk Cycle" by the animation workshop platform Motion Design School, I can complete this walk cycle and deliver my vision for the logo animation.  This article includes step-by-step instructions on how to keyframe the joints, pathways, and loops of animated segments. Following these instructions and understanding the animation process will be critical to both producing a successf...

An effective logo animation promotes an impactful company product. In the case of my DAT Capstone project, this "company product" exists as multiple interview videos of staff members from the local nonprofit, Americana World Community Center.  These interviews capture the impact that Americana has had on their clients and the Louisville community at large. The organization provides educational, physical, and emotional resources for immigrants and refugees in the city. However, in order to tell the stories of love, passion, and service from staff members, the interview footage must be compiled into digestible and effective snippets that are intriguing to viewers. This is done through the process of video editing. According to the NPR article, "How to decide what to cut (or not) in an interview," several editing strategies are outlined in order to help editors remember key rules of editing interviews and achieve professionalism. As I am scrubbing through hours of foot...

In addition to understanding the most popular and effective types of logo animation, it is also important to consider the most impactful creative elements embedded in a logo animation.  The article "How logo animations are helping motion brand agencies transform B2B Marketing" published by Content Creatures gives an outline of best practices in terms of the visual design.  For instance, the article five key considerations:  "An eye-catching logo animation" It is extremely important that your logo design itself is eye-catching and appealing. It should be representative and recognizable to the brand and include a design that is pleasing to look at and engaging for audiences. It should evoke feelings of care and curiosity in viewers. "A consistent color palette and visual style" Having a consistent color palette will ensure brand recognition, as audiences relate distinct color palettes to certain feelings, brands, items, or organizations. For example, the pal...

Defined by the digital product company, Envato, logo animation "is the process of adding motion to a logo design" that "move, morph, and provide an interactive experience for the viewer" (Williams, 2024). Envato is an online database for marketing assets and communication materials. They have hundreds of designs and a broad "library of high-quality, creative assets — video, audio, photos, graphics, templates..."(Williams, 2024).   From their expansive design expertise, an Envato publication provides a thorough investigation into the strategies behind animated logos and how they can act as powerful attention-grabbers.  To begin, the article covers best practices for deciding when its appropriate to animate a logo. For example, an artist must achieve balance when enhancing a brand and evaluate the level of visual interest already covered. A logo with loud colors, shapes, and a complex story might not be the best candidate for a strong animation because addin...

A study conducted by the School of Economics and Management at Wuyi University found scientific evidence on the impact of animation in modern marketing. As technology has continued to develop in this post-modern age, the design of stationary brand logos are no longer sufficient. Audiences are constantly bombarded with messages, advertisements, and notifications that create a need for something, new, advanced and eye-catching. Thus, the introduction of animated logos and brands came into the marketing scene.  However, what constitutes a good marketing animation? What is going to place one company logo above the rest? In Wuyi University's published study titled, "The effect of different animated brand logos on consumer response — an event-related potential and self-reported study," researchers introduced different animations to participants and studied the brain's reaction to two types of animation: agent and object. Agent animation is graphic movements that make the de...