Motion Graphics Designer’s Important Skills for Success

Motion graphics has turned out to be an indispensable part of the digital world. From television commercials to stupefying game graphics, online videos to complicated CGI in Hollywood films, the increasing popularity of motion graphics is noticed everywhere. It is the advancement of computer technology and the reduced cost of developing such graphics that act as contributory factors of their high popularity. Owing to the rising popularity of motion graphics in Singapore, many students in this country are choosing motion graphic designing as a career option. Now, the question is: what skills you should develop to succeed as a motion graphics designer?
 

 

 Graphic Design Skills:

The job of a motion graphic designer is to bring graphic characters to life using animation. In this instance, the professional can use his knowledge and skill of animation to make the graphic images created by a graphic designer move. However, it would be an added advantage for the motion graphic designer if he himself develops graphic design skills.

 

 A Good Understanding of Fundamentals in Animation:

As a motion graphic designer, you need to have an in-depth understanding of  animation to make the two-dimensional elements move with ease. If you do not have the required knowledge and skill, the animated characters would fail to appeal the audience. You should understand as to where to exaggerate and where you shouldn’t. A stunning design may fall flat if it is not animated proficiently.

 

 3D Design Skills:

3D elements have successfully made their place into motion designing. You will often trace it in commercial advertisements and in 3D logos. Thus, to keep abreast with the new trends, you need to develop 3D design skills.

 Knowledge of Typography and Color Theory:

Apart from being used extensively in motion design, typography oft serves as the driving force behind the moving graphics. Looking from this perspective, you should acquire knowledge of typography and know about what it consists of, what compliments a design and what appeals the audience.

 

Again, as a motion graphic designer, you should have a clear understanding of how to utilize colors in the motion graphics. You should know about what color conveys what mood and expression aptly. To cite an example, if you are trying to develop motion graphics on spring, you should make most use of green, red and yellow colors. Here, the use of white, gray and blue would be wrong as they are used to portray winter.

 

Apart from developing the aforementioned skills, you need to acquire technical skills. Now, the motion graphics are developed using computer systems, and computer knowledge and technical mastery will be able to help you use the new and upcoming systems and excel in the industry. When it comes to motion graphics in Singapore, the institutions offering training to the future professionals focuses on enhancing the technical skills of their students.

Successful Graphic Designer Essential Skills

Do you share a passion for visual arts and are planning to come up with your dream career in graphic designing world? Well, first and foremost you need to hold a diploma in graphic design from Singapore. Most jobs in the graphic design world need a creative mind. Additionally, you should also have a unique approach to solve the problem. However, if you wish to be an outstanding graphic designer, then you should not only be good at designing and visualizing information, but then, you should also possess good interpersonal and communication and technical skills. Some of the essential skills that will help you to become a successful graphic designer are as follows:

Introduce Visual Solutions for Communication Issues

As a graphic designer, you should be well aware of your users’ needs and wants. This is the first step that will help you come up with the best visual solutions and communicate the perfect ideas and concepts. Believe it or not, but then, understanding your users is a good way so as to come up with a perfect design.

 

Collaborate Proposals to Interact with Customers

If you are professional designer then you should empathize with your clients or employees and identify their role within each business role. You can propose various solutions to one problem so as to let your customers select the most suitable approach and take the design work in the right direction.

 

Collect Details and Materials for Meeting Brief’s Guidelines

Each time a graphic designer gets a brief, a research procedure is initiated. Hence, if you wish to begin your career in the graphic design industry, then make sure to invest a great deal of time in research. You should be well aware of facts like which resource is being used in which situation. This approach will help you come up with the right piece of information and material. At the end of the day, your design will depend on what your findings are.

Have an Eye for Right images, Text, Color, Fonts

In order to make your design work stand out from the crowd, you should use the right design elements. Different colors and font shapes broadcast diverse feelings so you will have to take an expert eye to understand the unique design elements inside out to make the best decisions and that too on a quick note to match your client expectations.

 

Pay Attention to Final Review

When the design process is about to end, often people forget to review it prior to its submission. But then, as a good designer you should always review the final product before delivering it. All the more better if you ask for feedback from different people.

 

Finally, designers should be strict with their deadline and should make sure that the quality of their work isn’t compromised at any cost. While a diploma in graphic design from Singapore is an added advantage, a quality work will help you earn accolades. To get more work, you need to aim at delivering quality work.

Avoiding Common Graphic Design Mistakes

No one likes to make mistakes. It is completely unprofessional, especially silly little ones. Sure when you just get out of graphic design school you are bound to make mistakes because you are eager to get to work and express your creativity. But did you know that those mistakes can cost you? You may have gone to graphic design colleges in Singapore, but the sooner you learn what to avoid these mistakes the better it will be.

 

 

1. More isn’t always a good thing!
This is one of those less is more situations. When it comes to the design format, do your best to keep it clear and easy to understand. Overloading it with too many fonts can be very distracting for the end reader/ viewer. Avoid using lots of typefaces on one page. Stick to the rule of using just two different fonts. Keep one as four main font and the other to add emphasis and highlight the main message you want to get across.

2. Not really understanding the brief
Make it a point to thoroughly understand what the client wants. If you haven’t grasped the basic concept that the client is looking for then it will affect the final outcome. You will be working towards something that is entirely different from what is expected. As a result you have wasted your resources and your client’s time. To prevent this from happening, make sure you ask questions to clear your doubts, take down notes and inform the client about the progress you’ve made so far.

3. Not proof reading
Most people are racing against the clock in an attempt to meet client deadlines, because of this they end up forgetting to do one very important thing. Proof reading! Once you’ve completed your work you reed to check it. Not once but twice. Get a fresh pair of eyes to look at it too. Other people can often spot or mistakes better than us. Doing a thorough check will help you catch any mistake or imperfection before sending your work. Remember it’s the simplest things that can lead to your demise.

4. Not taking shortcuts
Yes you need to use shortcuts! You can save time and energy by learning keyboard shortcuts, when using different software. It may seem like a lot of work at first, but once you get the hang of it you’ll be able to work quicker and finish way before the actual deadline, leaving you enough time to review and check for errors and mistakes.

5. Failing to consider the context
Irrespective of the logo, icon or text you are designing, you need to think is the final product capable of being onto other different mediums – digital and analogue. The factors that go into making the overall design like color, size and intricate patterns should allow you to print the design onto various materials like – T-shirts and signs. It should also allow the client to display it across various technological fronts like computers, mobile phones and other devices.

By simply making a checklist of all the areas that need double checking can help you save time and resources and come across as a professional. It will help you stay out of trouble and keep your work on track.

Going to graphic design colleges in Singapore can help you learn everything there is to know about graphic designing, even the tiny little details that most people would hardly stress on.

Believable AI Programming Guide in your Game Design

Artificial intelligence or AI can be referred to as scripted algorithms that have preset data embedded into them so that your system/ program behaves in a certain way under controlled environment. AI creates a realistic and fun experience in game designs. It’s an evolutionary process. If you remember, earlier games, computer opponents  had less options/actions, but today, there can be as many in numbers. From firing to dodging to hiding, all the reactions/responses they produce on your gaming screen can be attributed to this software program only. Whether your game will be a success or failure depends a lot on the quality of its AI today. You can go to a design college in Singapore to get some amazing tricks. But before this you can explore some expert advices here.

Work on AI from day1
Experts recommend that developers should not treat AI as the last thing when working on game designs. In fact, it has to be on your mind from the very first day to ensure ease of functionalities.

Implement AI along with Game design
AI and game design has to be implemented together and not in isolation for best results. To ensure this, both design and AI roles have to be performed in tune with each other. Whatever constraints and possibilities exist have to be thought through in conjunction with each other.

Focus first on Behavior 
Explore your game design to see what AI behaviors you want to include in the game and what not. On the basis of this, your game design team can decide what behavior they desire their AI to exhibit to the player. Once it is sorted out, you can divide the AI in different layers of strategy, methods and control, where strategy consists of long-term goals, methods refer to decision making at every point and control concerns the stop-motion control over the AI character.

Keep a Separate Testing Ground for the AI
According to programming gurus, designers need to keep their elements simple and generic because even after extensive planning you may feel the need for adding some more of them. And since AI not always works the desired way, they recommend you to create a distinct testing ground away from the core game for this so that you have full control over the functionality of the AI.

Be Careful with your Selection of Methods
Since how good or bad, your game will be received by your users, depends largely on the quality of the AI used in it. You have to take special care while using a particular method. For a clear idea, you can take resort to some software called “Decision Trees”, “Behavior Trees” or “Stack-based State Machines”. These tools enable you to tweak and alter elements easily for a better AI experience.

These advices along with training in a reputed design college in Singapore can prove fruitful for your career as a game designer.

How to Create the Perfect Logo for a Tech Company?

A logo is an epic symbol of your company; it represents the face and soul of any brand. Think of Apple’s logo for instance. What do you see when you close your eyes and imagine about this company? We bet that your mind conjured up the image of its logo and that too in less than a second.  A logo is that important. When it comes to designing a logo for a tech company, you have to make sure your purpose is clearly conveyed through it. For this, you have to observe every minute detail while designing, right from color, font, aesthetics, use of negative space and much more. A reputed graphic design institute Singapore can give you the right expertise to achieve this. 

Nevertheless, here are a few pointers that you can follow as a logo designer.

Be Simple and Clear

Your logo has to be bang on the message your brand wants to convey. You have to ensure its design is such that people see your company as a high tech one and that it is a trendsetter. To communicate this through your logo, you first have to understand the nature of your brand. What impression do your brand needs to create on its target audience? Start with a list of keywords, like – strong, sporty, elegant, feminine, fun, etc. The moment you identify a few critical keywords from the list you can begin your designing work with an amount of clarity.

Be Eternal

Your logo needs to have a timeless property to it. For this, you have to think beyond current trends and focus on elements that will reflect your brand identity many years down the line. It will save you the cost that goes into bringing in a replacement design. A wise approach in this direction is keeping the foundation elements of your logo intact so that when your startup undergoes any major shift you just have to do minor tweaks in the design.

Fonts and Colors

Fonts and colors are the two critical elements of logo design. Let’s first look at fonts. A font can easily communicate the idea your brand stands for. It can impart elegance, strength and everything. So make sure the font you select for your company is descriptive of its image. Don’t ignore its contribution to the overall design.

As far as color is concerned, we all know every color has its own personality and thus, can create a deep impression on the mind of the person seeing it. Try to use this attribute of the colors to your advantage while designing a logo. However, for this, you have to understand the impact that a particular color is potential of creating. If you study colors and their impact, you will realize that color blue generates a soothing and healing feeling, orange conveys energy, etc.

You can achieve success in making a perfect logo for a tech startup by paying attention to these details. To get more insights and knowledge on logo designing, you can even do a course in a renowned graphic design institute in Singapore.

Motion Graphic Terminology For Students and Professionals

Jargon exists because it makes it easier for people in a particular business to communicate effectively and efficiently. All businesses have their own lingo that helps them work and understand each other. The graphics business isn’t very different at all and your college of motion graphic in Singapore will teach you that.

 

Some of the basic terminology you should know as a graphic designer are:

- Anti-Alias: In order to reduce or prevent rendering of artifacts through the use of color information, which will stimulate a higher screen resolution. This method is called Anti-Alias.

- Alpha Channel/ Matte: Alpha is the fourth channel in 32-bit graphic systems. It comes after RGB and is reserved for transparency information.

- Animatic: To get an idea of the timing of a sequence, a rough animation is used by animators, like a storyboard.

- Codec: It is a video data encoding system for storage, transmission or encryption. It may be lossless or lossy.

- Cel: It is short for celluloid, a transparent plastic sheet used to create hand drawn animations.

- Color Depth: This describes the number of bits used in describing the color properties of one single pixel.

- Clipping Plane: It is the limit at which rendering and visibility stops in 2D and 3D.

- Depth of Field: This is a good shorthand cinematic effect. It refers to the range of distance from the camera allowing the image to remain in clear focus.

- Dynamics: The modeling of physics and physical interactions like collisions in as a system inside an animated scene.

- Exposure: This refers to the number of cels on which the drawing appears, in the scene.

- Exposure Sheet/ Dope Sheet: It is the tabulated breakdown of camera moves, frames, objects and their actions, scene by scene.

- Fall-Off: This is the phenomenon where the strength of light diminishes as it more further away from the source.

- Interpolation: It means filling in unknown data between two values that are known.

- Null: This refers to an invisible object that doesn’t appear in the final render. However, it does have inherent properties and can be used like the other layers in a workflow. (Null refers in VFX and Programming as empty)

- Onion Skinning: is an animation technique where transparent layers representing subsequent animation frames are put together.

- 2K/ 4K: It is related to a digital frame’s horizontal pixel count. 2K – standard for motion pictures and 4K – the future.

By learning the basic terminology you will ensure you know what you should to. This in turn will allow you to develop your skills as a motion graphics expert and create amazing designs without any hindrances.

Guide for Successful Game Design Ideas

Designing a game takes a lot of time, effort, patience, and also practice. Sometimes, even though one may really like and enjoy the process of creating games, it may be difficult to come up with any interesting idea for designing a game. You may have done a game design program in Singapore but a new idea is solely sparked from creativity and inspiration. For some people, an idea might come very easily to them, but the same techniques may not work for other people. There are some who have to brainstorm for an idea while others, it may be a ‘spark of the moment'.

 

Not having any new idea can be frustrating for a game designer. Here are some interesting tips to find new ideas:

• When you’re short of new ideas, set aside about an hour each day where you just sit down and write down a bunch of ideas on paper, listing them as they come to mind. At the end of the week, go through the ideas and pick out the ones you find interesting and throw the rest away. Then do a little research on the interesting ones and see if they lead anywhere. If not, then throw those away as well and start on a new list. You may also try carrying a small notebook with you in case you’re out on the street and an idea comes to you. If you don't write it down, you may forget it later.

 

• The method of starting an idea with a phrase is called prompt-based brainstorming" and is a very common method.  Some people put words in a bucket and draw random ones, or use an online generator. You can also try searching for words or titles from books and write down the ones that catch your fancy. Then try making up a story from them and converting it into a game.

 

• Mind-webbing is a third method, and it usually involves taking a few key words that are deeply important to you and exploring how they might be related to each other in a fictional or game-design structure.

• Staying inspired is another key to coming up with interesting game design ideas. Go out, see the sights, talk to people, and try to derive inspiration from the world around you. You could also read books or blogs on or by successful game developers and try to follow the path they had taken to design highly successful games. Inspiration comes in various forms. Just keep your senses alive and awake all the time.

 

• Never, ever quit. A good example of this would be Steve Jobs. He never had a single original idea during his time; he didn’t invent the personal computer, the MP3 player, the cell phone, the touchscreen or the tablet computer. But he made those things his own, he put his own touch on them and turned previously obscure technology into things people wanted to own and use. Maybe the game will not be the first one out there, but you can definitely make it the best.

Take pride in your creativity and keep trying until you have that Eureka moment.