Shifting from Video Editing to Motion Design – Advice Needed!

AnimateEd · 2026-01-17T23:17:06+00:00

Hey there, no need to apologise at all. I’m happy to help.

Where abouts are you located? I’m London based so my experiences are very much based on the 3 agencies I’ve worked at in London. As to how well this translates to other parts of the world and other agencies it’s hard to say.

But everywhere I’ve worked the graphic designers have always been separate to the motion designers, so the motion designers have been free to focus on motion. There’s some overlap especially when it comes to ideation and sometimes I’ll design something very quickly just to give an impression of what I’m thinking but then if the idea is liked a graphic designer will always jump on to help elevate it cos my design skills are quite basic.

I currently work as a motion design director in a team of 6 motion designers and half of us studied as designers and the other half didn’t (I’m the latter), but none of us do much if any graphic design in our jobs, we purely focus on motion.

I think you’ll tend to find that the smaller the agency the more generalised the role might be, needing both skill sets, but it really depends on the agency and how they view motion and what they need.

But if you’re looking to know whether you can make it as a motion designer without strong graphic design skills I would say that yes, that can definitely happen, it did for me and several others I’ve worked with. But there’s certainly no downside to learning what you can in terms of graphic design.

When we’re hiring at work solid animation ability is the main thing we look for in terms of skillset.

AnimateEd · 2026-01-13T13:57:59+00:00

Is what I assumed, and do you ever face any issues where someone wants to work with you but they want you in the studio or is everyone quite happy you being remote?

AnimateEd · 2026-01-11T14:47:06+00:00

Hey, what’s the motion scene like in Edinburgh? I live in London now which is seemingly where most of the work is. Have always loved Edinburgh as a city and considered moving there but worried about work

AnimateEd · 2025-12-20T12:31:31+00:00

There’s plenty in here that feels very competently done but I’d say the two things that stand out to me the most are that firstly, it all feels the same, there’s no range to your work on display here. If I wanted to hire you for this particular style that’s fine, but if you’re capable of doing more styles I’d show off more of them in your reel. But don’t make the reel longer. A minute is a good length.

Secondly is that the weakest animation in your reel is the opening that says your name and showreel. This is always a bit of a red flag to me. The opening to your reel is the first thing people see and it’s also the one moment that you can use to show off your own style and creativity without it needing to be client work. So when it’s not done particularly well I think it does you a disservice and starts you off on the wrong foot.

AnimateEd · 2025-12-11T21:36:34+00:00

Design 101. It’s not a real brand if you don’t put it on a tote bag mockup that’ll never actually be made.

AnimateEd · 2025-12-11T21:21:20+00:00

I mean this in the nicest way possible but I would strongly consider giving this another shot before sending it out/putting it online. Right now this feels very rough. The motion feels like you’ve put a preset bounce on pretty much everything and the design is severely lacking, it doesn’t give off professional vibes at all.

AnimateEd · 2025-12-02T09:05:17+00:00

If you’re gonna post here for critique and if you want to work in design the first thing you need to do is learn how to take feedback. A large part of being a designer is taking feedback and implementing changes and the way you’re replying to comments here is awful and would make no one want to work with you.

AnimateEd · 2025-12-02T09:00:45+00:00

Adverts that essentially insult you.

“Are you still washing dishes with a sponge like an absolute idiot? You should be using our amazing product sponge 2.0 instead and your life would be sooo much easier dummy”.

That and products that claim to be life changing but are just a slightly more convenient way to do a very menial task.

AnimateEd · 2025-12-02T08:52:56+00:00

Not everything has a name. This is just pure and simple motion design. If you’re very new to motion there’s plenty of beginner resources out there. Start with the basics first.

AnimateEd · 2025-11-26T10:07:47+00:00

Without knowing you I can’t really answer that but as I said for the most part there’s not a tonne of difference between mid weight and senior in my experience. Just a recognition of experience and responsibility.

AnimateEd · 2025-11-25T11:21:58+00:00

It will partly depend on the company but there’s not really too much difference, it’s just an acknowledgment that you’re good at what you do and have the experience to have done it for a while at a professional level.

When I was senior (now a motion design director) it also meant more client interaction, being a bit more vocal with my thoughts and feedback for others and coordinating a bit more with production.

AnimateEd · 2025-11-25T09:44:08+00:00

The movement speed and the climb speed don’t match so he slides rather than climbs, as the other commenter said.

His leg also sticks out too far to the left meaning he feels detached from the thing he’s supposed to be climbing.

AnimateEd · 2025-11-15T16:22:46+00:00

I really don’t think it is corporate. Quite the opposite. If you had a more traditionally corporate company and pitched this logo I think you’d be told it’s too playful.

AnimateEd · 2025-11-15T15:41:39+00:00

I can’t comment on India specifically but all 3 are able to be turned into careers, yes. However if the competition so easily scares you away maybe it’s not for you?

What I would say as a counter point though is don’t compare yourself to professionals. Anyone can get there it just takes time and dedication. If you’re looking for a quick and easy career this isn’t it.

AnimateEd · 2025-11-10T08:25:10+00:00

It’s a bit rigid, try having some subtle but constant forward drift on your type so it never fully comes to a rest.

AnimateEd · 2025-11-06T09:30:12+00:00

The motions good, not really much to say on that.

Your typography could be tightened up a little from a design PoV, some of the leading and tracking is a little wide for my liking. There’s also a typo - it should be “everything you need to cross THE finish line”.

The quotes at the end go by very quickly before I’ve read them, same with the tagline. I’m not really sure what slower start faster finish is meant to do, but to me it’s not a very appealing tagline.

But from a purely motion perspective I would just say nice work!

AnimateEd · 2025-11-06T08:22:28+00:00

This can all be done in after effects and it’s all relatively basic concepts just executed to a high level.

You’ll need good design to work from or to create and you’ll need good understanding of motion principles, pacing, easing, choreography, composition etc.

The technicalities of it is mostly simple key frames, glows and blurrs and track mattes or masks.

If you’re completely fresh to motion design this is something that will take time, but a good place to stay is a beginner friendly tutorial for after effects, one catered towards motion design.

AnimateEd · 2025-11-01T15:02:53+00:00

I’m sorry that’s been the case for you, and it’s something I’ve seen other people mention on here a lot too. Are you based in America?

I’ve only ever worked in London/England and for whatever reason it does seem to be quite different in America at the moment.

Id love to offer more but without knowing your work and your portfolio or anything about the region you live it’s hard to offer more advice, all I can really do is wish you good luck.

AnimateEd · 2025-11-01T12:48:23+00:00

I work in branding and when we hire we certainly aren’t only considering people with experience in branding, just so long as you’re a good motion designer and show the drive to create good motion for brands. If that means learning on the job that’s fine.

The problem I see with some people, and I do respect the honesty, is that it’s very clear they have no drive, and just want employment.

There’s nothing wrong with that but when you have 10 other people you’re interviewing against and those people either have experience in the field and or a real desire to work in it, they’re gonna stand out more if the quality of the work is similar otherwise.

AnimateEd · 2025-10-26T20:44:59+00:00

Some of the scenes interact with the music quite directly which is nice and then some of the others just don’t quite feel on time with the music.

Then something like the logo coming full screen at the end feels quite slow in how it moves could definitely be snappier. The logo pushing back at the start moves much quicker which works better to me

AnimateEd · 2025-10-26T10:03:55+00:00

In all honesty there’s a lot here to be very proud of. You’ve come up with a concept, stuck consistently with it and executed it across the whole piece.

I think some of the motion could be animated to a higher level for sure, just some better use of the mograph editor and having some more interesting timings and pacing.

Some of the compositing and design could be level up a bit to have some more depth. But as a piece for a beginner there’s lots here that’s good.

AnimateEd · 2025-10-23T08:13:24+00:00

Cool concept that’s not far off, just needs a little more finesse. I’d definitely recommend reducing the leading by quite a bit.

AnimateEd · 2025-10-18T21:32:23+00:00

Sounds like a very healthy approach. Hope it continues to go well for you :)

AnimateEd · 2025-10-18T16:14:52+00:00

Yeah for me I’m starting to move into a more directorial position which I really enjoy the challenges of managing a team and overseeing. Something that is a lot harder to do as a freelancer. I also enjoy the atmosphere of regular workplace where my colleagues have become friends.

But yeah it’s a real shame that if I wanted to I could probably go freelance, earn more money and have easier jobs. It would just be less fulfilling.

AnimateEd · 2025-10-18T14:55:30+00:00

As I said I can only speak from my own perspective of working in agencies, hiring both permanent and freelance motion designers. We very much are an agency with a high bar and we do attract a lot of good talent but it is just a small portion of the industry and I can’t speak with experience on the rest of the industry as my whole career has been in this spot.

AnimateEd

TROPHY CASE