Motion Design Project Plan Template

The Motion Design Plan template is the central hub for your project. It includes the key parts of every motion design plan: The brief, your ideas, moodboard, storyboard and style frames. There are also checklists for your workflow so you have everything in one easy-to-access place.

It’s crucial to set a strong foundation from the start. A clear, inspiring, and informative brief provides the structure and direction for designers to do their best work. Motion graphics briefs typically include background information, goals, deliverables, visual and animation references, creative direction, and a style guide.

Fill in the placeholder cards in the Brief template. Start by adding some background on your client and the project. Then, list the goals, deliverables and important dates. Finally, describe the target audience—the people you hope to impact with your animation.

Once you’ve made any final tweaks, it’s time to share the completed brief with the your team so everyone's is on the same page.

When a new motion design project kicks off, your starting point is often just a rough concept or idea. So how do you transform that idea into something bigger? Brainstorming!

Brainstorming is a classic creative technique for generating new ideas quickly. You can use it to explore animation styles, dream up new characters, locations, or even the visual style you're after. It’s best thought of as a way to light up our imagination.

Start by writing the central concept for your project in the middle of the board. Next, spend 5 minutes adding ideas related to your concept.

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. Finish by sorting the best ideas into groups. This gives you a strong foundation for your animation.

During brainstorming, you imagined the different parts of your project. It's time to start exploring some visual directions with a moodboard. Moodboards can help you visualize any aspect of your project. You could focus on how you want the finished design to look. Or they could be centered around collecting references for animation styles. You can create a moodboard for each of these separately or mix them all into one board.

Drag in images from your computer and drop them onto the image placeholders on your moodboard. Then, use the built-in image library to add inspirational references. Finally, move and crop your images to communicate how you want to frame your shots.

Storyboards are a powerful way to visually organize the composition, action and look of a project before you start bringing it to life. As director, producer and screenwriter Martin Scorsese said, “The storyboard is the way to visualize the entire movie in advance.”

Traditionally, a storyboard would be created with analog sketches, but with a modern digital tool you can use photography, animation, color and notes to highlight key characters, scenes and objects.

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.

Next, add images or sketches that represent each scene. These could simple sketches, photos, or examples you've sourced online.

Finally, describe the scene. Think about the style, mood, and behavior of any characters. Consider how you'll transition from one scene to the next.

Style frames are a simple, visual representation of how the final animation will look, they're a critical step in the motion design process.

Motion designers, animators, and creative directors use them to present options to clients and teams before they start an animation. This gives everyone an opportunity to provide feedback and agree on a visual style early in the creative process.

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.

Next, include some written notes about each option. This will help you explain your ideas and keep everything in context.

Finally, share the style frames with your team and get together to choose a final direction.