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Building The First idea to Final Brand Systeming
Published
Oct 2026
Read
5 mins
Inside the Motion Identity Course
Motion design is more than bringing a logo to life.
It's about creating a visual language that gives a brand
its own personality through movement.
The Motion Identity Course is a new ten-chapter programme designed to help motion designers understand the full process of building a motion-led brand identity, from developing initial ideas and establishing animation principles to creating scalable systems, presenting concepts and delivering a final
case film.
Drawing on years of experience working on brand identities at Monks, the course bridges the gap
between technical animation skills and the strategic thinking behind motion in branding.
Through a hands-on mini identity project, downloadable files and real-world references, students learn how to turn individual animations into a cohesive brand
motion system.
What the course Is
The Motion Identity Course is a practical walkthrough of how motion design works inside brand identity projects. It's made for motion designers who already know their way around After Effects and want to understand the bigger picture.
Over ten chapters, we follow the whole journey: finding the motion in a logo, building a system out of containers and type, presenting it so a room says yes, refining it, taking it to web and product, delivering it, and finally turning it into a case film. Instead of working on client work, we build one mini identity together throughout the course. Every chapter comes with a downloadable project file that picks up where the last one left off, so by the end you've built a complete motion identity step by step.
Real client work shows up along the way as quick examples of the final output, but the thinking happens on the course's own brand. It's meant as a jumping-off point, not a rulebook.
When I started working on motion identities at Monks, I learned almost everything on the job. I was part of the brandID team, working alongside Frank Gouwy, Philip Tan, Jonny Singh and Jennifer Weber, with Megan Palero as my animation director. Watching how they approached a brand, how a logo starts to move, how a few simple rules grow into a whole system, taught me more than any tutorial ever had.
Outside of a studio like that, there weren't really any places to learn this stuff. You can find endless tutorials
on animating a logo, but almost nothing on the actual process: how motion fits into a brand identity project from the first brief to the final delivery.
So I decided to build it myself. Not because I know everything, but because I remember how keen I was to learn this when I started. Now, years later, I have enough experience to see the process clearly, and that's what I wanted to share.
Made in between everything else
I had a baby daughter recently, so the course came together in the small gaps of a pretty full life. I walked with my daughter in the afternoon a lot for her nap and started to talk to Claude on my phone. Which turned them into transcripts that became the base of my scripts. From there I gathered the references I wanted to show and shaped the mini identity we work on in the course, with the design made by Callen Neasmith.
The Launch
In the first few weeks after launch, it went way better than I expected. I got a lot of messages from people who wanted to join, and 50 students signed up in that time.
It also felt right to point people toward the places that helped me. In the chapter about building a case study and a case film, I mention Brands In Motion as a valuable resource. It’s one of the best places to see how studios present their motion identity work, and a great reference when you’re putting your own case together.
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