How to do motion graphics pre-production—the ultimate guide

You’ll find the board to create your brief on the Motion Design Plan board. Double-click the Brief to open it and start adding the goals, concept and defining the audience.

What do you want your animation or video to communicate? Is there a specific message or concept you have in mind? What do you want the viewer to feel when they see it? Use emotive words to communicate the brand style and tone of voice you want to express within the project.

What are the specific outputs you require? Is it a TV spot, an animation for a game, or a video for Youtube? Try and provide as much detail as possible. The technical constraints will help inform the design and production process, costs, and timeframe for the project.

This is where you describe a specific type of audience and detail what’s important to them. What do they care about? What inspires them? Include any relevant research or stats you have. All this helps the designer choose a mood or animation style that speaks to your audience.

Once you’ve made any final tweaks, it’s time to share the completed brief with your team, organize a kickoff meeting, and get started. If you want to learn more about writing a motion design brief, check out our in-depth Motion Design Brief guide.

You’ll find the board for brainstorming on your Motion Design Plan board. Double-click the Ideas board to open it and start brainstorming.

What's the key message or idea your want to communicate through your project? This is your starting point. It might be just a rough idea at the moment or a topic that you want to explore, but this process will help you see how far you can take it. Add a note that describes your topic in 1 to 2 sentences to get started.

Now it's time to get creative. Start adding any ideas that relate to your main topic. Think about different ways to communicate your message, animation styles you could use, characters, or even the history of your topic. Explore every thread until you fill the board.

Don't worry about evaluating your ideas yet, that will come later. Just add as many as you can. Setting a timer for 5 minutes is a great way to create a sense of urgency and prevent people from judging their thoughts.

Sometimes it's easier to communicate an idea with an image or video, especially if it's a mood or style you're trying to express. Gather reference imagery, videos and sound and add them into the mix. These can become the foundation for a moodboard as your project evolves.

Once you've explore tangents and shared feedback, the next step is to make connections. This is where you see the magic of brainstorming.

Start by grouping similar ideas to uncover patterns in your thinking. Add a title to each group so it's easy to scan. You might find your ideas fall into groups like characters, key messages, styles or aesthetics but there are no rules about how you do it. Now you should start to see your initial concept coming to life.

Now that your brainstorming session is complete, you have a strong foundation for your motion design project! Remember, just as creativity and inspiration are constantly evolving, so are ideas. Come back and add to the brainstorm when inspiration strikes.

You’ll find the board to make your moodboard on the Motion Design Plan board. Double-click on the Moodboard to open it and start adding your inspiration.

Start by adding any existing material you have—this could include examples from previous projects, client references or images you've saved as inspiration. These might not make it into the final moodboard, but they're still a great place to start.

The imagery you bring into your moodboard is what helps you express the look and feel of your project. Images can define things like character style, font choices, colors, scenes, and more.

You can start by saving visual references from around the web. There are lots of fantastic sites where you can find great visual inspiration for free, like Dribbble, Behance, and Designspiration.

Once you have all your inspiration in one place, the next step is to arrange your ideas to create the perfect layout. Start by exploring composition and introducing hierarchy. Place a key element to anchor your board, and change the size and position of the remaining elements to indicate their importance and relationships to one another.

Now that your moodboard is complete, you have a powerful visual reference for the style and animation of your project. Remember, you can create multiple moodboards to explore different directions at any time.

Next, we'll create a storyboard to map out the sequence of your animation.

You’ll find the empty Storyboard on the Motion Design Plan board. Double-click the Storyboard to open it and start adding the mapping out the key scenes.

When creating a storyboard, it’s crucial to know what story you’re telling. The best starting point is to break up the script or narrative you’ll be working from. Identify the key scenes and start to map them out on your storyboard.

Now it’s time to begin visualizing each scene. Some storyboard artists might begin sketching with a pen and paper first, but you can use reference photography, illustrations, screenshots, location shoots, and even motion to communicate each scene.

While each frame is a static image, try to communicate how it's going to look and feel as a moving sequence. Describes the style, mood, and behavior of any characters. Consider how you'll transition from one scene to the next. Add details about the sound or voice-over to help your team imagine the emotion and drama you're trying to create.

When you're ready, invite your team to review your storyboard and share their feedback. This is the perfect moment to see how others interpret your vision for the story. It's also a great opportunity to make any final tweaks while in pre-production. Adjust the order of your frames or edit the content based on everyone's feedback.

Now that your storyboard is complete, you have a clear vision for the sequence of your animation! Let's move on and create style frames to help you present the visual direction to your team.

You’ll find the Style Frames board to on Motion Design Plan board. Double-click on the Style Frames board to open it and get started.

Start by uploading the concepts you've designed so you can share them with your team. These are often 2D or 3D renders of a scene from a storyboard you've created earlier. It's best to present variations of the same scene side by side so your team can focus solely on the visual style rather than the contents of the scene.

Next, include some written notes about each option. This will help you explain your ideas and keep everything in context. You don’t have to go into too much detail—the goal is to explain the differences between the options you're presenting. Remember to give each concept a name so they're easy to reference.

Share the style frames with your team and get together to choose a final direction. Ensure that everyone on your team agrees on the final direction before you start animating. It's much easier to revise the style in this phase of the project compared to production, where simple changes can take days.

Hopefully, this guide has helped you become more organized during the pre-production stage. If you're just starting a new project, use the Motion Design Plan template below to get set up in minutes.