As the art director of this annual student-led conference, my primary role was to communicate closely with a team of 33 talented designers to ensure visual cohesiveness for all design deliverables. Within a span of 7 months, we have successfully crafted out a title sequence, animated title cards, campus poster, web page, and social media content.

This idea sparked from one of our brainstorming sessions, as we were reflecting on how much motion design has advanced. From traditional animations in the 1940s to visual effects and projection mappings in the 21st century, we wanted to take the audience on a journey to experience the evolution of motion media and the limitless possibilities it will bring. Often times, those who are not familiar with motion graphics would wonder if it is animation, visual effects, or graphic design. We wanted to show that motion media is all of the above and everything in between.        ​​​​​​​

Initial pitch deck can be accessed here 

Direction Guidelines​​​​​​​

To ensure that the directors' vision was clearly conveyed to the branding team, we created direction decks which provide guidelines for the design, graphic design, animation, and sound design teams to follow. These include references, design assets, and allocation of tasks for the team members. Access to resources, working files, and submissions are shared with the use of Google Drive.

Slack was utilised extensively for giving updates and announcements. The team would send in their works in progress, where the leads would reply with their feedback. 

Whereas Zoom sessions were held at least once per week for check ups on the team's development. These live sessions were held to also encourage other team members to chime in on their opinions as we go through everyone's works. Occasional tutorials were also held by the leads or directors to demonstrate their workflow.

As the teams update the directors on their works in progress, I would provide them with notes, annotations, and references to help them visualise better on what could be improved. Most of my notes would concern emphasising depth, improving on lighting, and tweaking the patterns. Below are some examples of my feedback to the design and graphic team. 

The directors and animation lead Desmond would use Frame.IO to relay our comments for the animation team, as it allows us to annotate frames in specific time codes for video-based content.  

​​​​​​​Miharu and I visited our daily checklists frequently to keep track of our own and the team's tasks. These include meeting notes, shotlists, and a database of everyone's status.

Initial Design: Miharu Murai, Yu Xin King, Yorlie Avila

Creative Director: Miharu Murai
Art Director: Yu Xin King

Producers: Mel Petzoldt & Matt Paulsen

Lead Designer: Yorlie Avila
Lead Graphic Designer: Weiqian Han
Lead Animator: Desmond Du
Lead 3D Animator: Olivia Trotter
Lead Graphic Designer: Weiqian Han

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Designers: Auralee Mayfield, Isabella Jean Ranci Ortigosa, Antara Ghosh, Tiffany Lo
Yuwei Liu

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Animators: Greg Markman, DaAe Kim, Cathy Lin, Jun Zhou, Marly Koven, Brenda Chen, Wanyi Ma

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Graphic Designers: Alyssa Kalbus, Aanvik Singh, Josie Glassman, Krista Miller, Bella Shih

Experiential: Riley Carson, Priscilla Quek

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Sound: Michael Karaman, Alwyn Tay

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Website Andrew: Goodridge, Varun Khatri

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Documentary: Samantha Woods, Haze Nguyen, Sigourney Alden

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Special thanks: MOMELove, Our Professors, SCAD Motion Media, Kelly Carlton, Duff Yong

Alexandra Marca, Kaleb Sweeney, MaryBeth Morgan

Check out scadcomotion.com for more information!