Mouvo Index is a fresh new endeavour and a direction to develop our platform with an aim to curate, archive, catalogue and educate within the intersection of audio-visual culture and digital technology. Our first project is called Time & Motion and is an interactive and curated selection to define and map historical development of motion design. The project is getting back to the Mouvo roots, definining and understanding the genre of motion design that is an inclusive field on the intersection of animation, film, design and technology.
The curation of Time & Motion is seen from an artist perspective. Seven themes try to group together visual examples that have a common nominator – the desired flow and content of visual communication. Thus they may range enourmously in used techniques, they always try to seek a common goal in communication. And for them to be selected, we’ve always ask the question – what role does the motion play in the visual communication?
From the very start we understood motion design as a dynamic visual language. It overlays animation, graphic design, film, video, special effects, and new technology. Not necessarily using all the possibilities at once. Its main characteristic is a timeline development and a flow of changing forms tied to it. Motion Design borrows and translates elements of the specific fields which it grows upon. Visual abstraction, graphic simplification, sense for layout, composition, and information structure, choreography of motion and other narrative elements.
The selection Time & Motion is mapping the motion design evolution as it has adapted to the ever-changing technologies of audiovisual production and presentation. The demand for a new visual form gave birth to the film title sequences, television branding or interactive animations. Motion design is thus ubiquitous. Ranging from animated icons on small devices to giant projection screens and canvases. Motion of graphic elements becomes inevitable and a key building part of the current visual design.
Timeline-based development and natural narrativity enable design to simplify. Thanks to animation the things become tangible and physical. The moving image is simply fascinating. Motion Design is not just an eye-candy nor graphics in motion. It’s an elementary way of thinking and an important core of the dynamic visual communication and its creation.
The title design is the first specific field which let motion design proliferate. Initially static text information transformed into a narrative form using visually strong typography and graphic iconography. Together with production tools of the time and the prevailing influence of modernism it made the characteristic image of the genre. Some of the best creators professionally grew up right on the title design genre. It still remains among exclusive and very popular genres today. The popularity of the film and television industry helped to extend the use of new technologies and creative forms for the industry. It also helped to spread the idea of animation as complementary to graphic design.
The film and later television narration has always offered a space for supportive graphic elements. It all started with typographic cards for silent movies and continued with infographics in news broadcasts. The development of visual culture and technological possibilities helped to enrich graphic sequences and extended the range of their use. The main principle for these remains the same. It complements the main narration with additional information. Whether it is clearly informative and factual. Or making an illusive effect.
Graphic design has a great ability to simplify things. The use of abstract visual graphic forms has always been an appropriate way for explaining complicated an intriguing problems and relations. Animation levels that up. It can structure and direct the information flow to make it even more clear and simple to understand. Animated films based on simplified graphic forms were used early on for government, corporate, educational and scientific needs and remained popular until today. They present a clear narrative with a clear message. Because of its abstract meaning science can't be explained well enough with a live footage movie. But in form of motion design it can gain quite a popular interest. As well as developing news features and visual essays.
The animation can also take a part in non-linear interactive forms manipulated by the user. Depending on the size of medium the dynamics of design is its key aspect. The motion enables to underscore the semantic part. A shake of a button on display telling you about a wrong input. Animation enables one to simplify and make a hierarchy of the information structure the user is engaged with. Meaningful phasing of information, their motion and transformation together help to navigate in the digital space. Or can just simply impress the user and let him enjoy the interaction a bit more.
The ability to work with a logo and a visual identity that develop throughout time found one of its early uses at television stations. British Channel 4 introduced its modular logo in the 80's. Parts of the logo became active in variety of motion choreography and formed a range of different structures like clocks or layouts. The expansive range of creative approaches to the visual identity was accelerated when MTV came in. It offered a wide open space to young creatives for freely experimenting with the identity. Animation enables visual identity to develop its potential beyond the framework of its static use.
Digital and interactive platforms let motion design expand from screens to space. Motion design is naturally illusive. Using advanced projection technologies enables us to modify and create new space order. Established and experimental technologies as live tracking or 3D mapping let motion design use a vast range of narrative situations from light installations to complicated scenic stories. Motion design then owerpowers the space. Ranging from tiny projections on a body or interior installations to stage compositions and massive projections on architecture or natural landscapes.
The experimental approach goes hand in hand with the abstract motion medium. Thanks to this motion design becomes very inclusive. New technological possibilities still expand the space for exploring new artistic approaches. The specific meaning is not the key and can be missing in the narration. More important is the creative expression, innovation and subjective feeling of the piece. The oldest examples of motion design can be traced back to experiment abstract animation authors like Oskar Fischinger or Hans Richter. Their animation studies connected the visual medium with music in a way that had not been explored before. Choreography of the abstract image established a dialogue with music. The strong cohesion of sound and motion still belongs among dominant creative approaches. Experimental creation offered a space to use with a massive variety of artistic tools. The collaboration across different fields continuously widens the interdisciplinary area of motion design.
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