Stephen Ong
Q&A | Stephen Ong
Senior Motion Designer
Published
May 2026
Meet Stephen Ong, a London-based senior motion designer with over 8 years of freelance experience under his belt, creating work for some pretty serious names: Notion, YouTube, Discord, and Ramp, to name a few.
But what sets Stephen apart isn't just the calibre of his clients, it's his voice. He's built a style so distinct that clients now brief him by dropping his own loops into the mood board as reference.
Rooted in expressive, frame-by-frame animation and a genuine curiosity about the world, his work sits in that rare space between personality and craft.
Beyond client work, he runs Fun Fridays, a community series keeping creativity playful, social, and accessible for motion designers at every level. We sat down with Stephen to talk about developing a style that's truly your own, navigating commercial work without losing your edge, and what he thinks will actually separate great motion designers from the rest over the next decade.
15 years - Reel
Nidia Dias
01
At what point did you realise your style was becoming something distinct from mainstream motion design?
I had already been freelancing for 8 years when I picked up an iPad. This got me into frame-by-frame animating, which then led to a period of having a lot of fun making tons of personal work. I have so many folders of loops; it actually got to the point where I'd run out of ideas for names for them.
After a while I would notice clients sending me briefs with my personal loops dropped in as reference. I think that's when you realise you've got something a little more unique; when they stop sending you other people's work as ref!
“It's always better to go too far and see what too much looks like than not go far enough.”
02
How do you balance personality and expressiveness with clarity and communication, especially in commercial work?
With commercial work, having enough time to explore is so important. You need to be able to get right to the edge… and possibly fall over it. Then you realise what the right balance is. It's always better to go too far and see what too much looks like than not go far enough.
03
What does your typical workflow look like from idea to final animation?
I like to sketch and write a bit early on.
When I was working with Uncommon on the Sirius rebrand… drawing and animating the mascot pup Stella. I played with this idea of 'taking Stella for a walk' in the proposal, which was a fun way of describing how we could flex her motion behaviour. We could let her off the lead to run wild for some touchpoints, but when she needs to, she's at heel and on her best behaviour!
Exploring with motion tests is my favourite part of the process; this feels like the creative part of my brain gets to come out to play. Final animation feels a little more technical: problem-solving, refining, crafting. It's two different types of thinking, which is what I think makes motion designers so unique.
04
How receptive have clients been to this style compared to more conventional motion design?
I usually find clients are well-briefed in that the work is going to be playful or expressive, so they've generally always been on board. Playful motion is something that can still be quite nuanced when it needs to be.
I do work on a lot of conventional motion projects too, and having an understanding of character animation is actually a bit of a motion design superpower. We have a nerd-level understanding of weight, timing and personality. This is helpeful as inherently, all brands are characters themselves. They all move and perform for us in a certain way to convey a mood.
I often see some of the most talented motion designers overlooked because they have character-heavy portfolios.
“Personally I think it's being curious, exploring the world, your interests, your likes & dislikes, having lived experiences and meeting new people.”
05
What do you think will separate great motion designers from average ones in the next 5–10 years?
Technical skills and craft will always have value, but I think these skills are getting maxed out; it's why there are so many motion designers already at boss level. You look at social feeds and it's filled with absolutely stunning work in craft and execution.
But what makes motion designers stand out in a world where everyone's work is crafted so beautifully?
Personally I think it's being curious, exploring the world, your interests, your likes & dislikes, having lived experiences and meeting new people. All of this is influential, and you can tell when someone has an obsession with thinking about things. This all comes from being human, having a brain using it, and exercising your free will to imagine whatever you like and make it… pretty f**king awesome.
So yeah, they'll be the people whose work I'm looking out for in 5 years!
