There’s a big difference between making something move, and making it animated. To animate means to ‘bring to life,’ so to say animating is just a matter of ‘adding movement’ insults both animators and Dr. Frankenstein's everywhere. When you spend all day creating characters and digital worlds, you can acquire a minor God complex.
But let’s table that conversation (therapy session?) for another day. We’re here to talk about your brand. When we talk about creating logo animations, titles, intros, outros, call-to-actions, and more, what we’re really talking about is bringing your brand to life. A good headline on a site should motivate people to continue on, and so too should your video's intro.
What Goes into Creating Animated Graphics?
While we love helping brands create logos and other graphics from scratch, there’s something about working within the constrains of an existing brand that adds a bit of sport. A logo should in some sense tell a small part of your company’s story, no matter how subtly. Some companies need to be seen as highly professional and trustworthy, while some want to be seen as cool, hip and cutting-edge. How you convey those personalities depends on your method and style of animation. There’s no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach, so most of the creative process revolves around finding that glass slipper.
Youtube series are great examples of utilizing graphics to attract interest and reiterate ideas. For this example, we provided templated graphics that he adds to each episode.
Our team, for example, looks at your existing branding guide and website, infusing your individual style throughout every graphic created. Graphics may also be tweaked to suit the channel they're going to live on. This is especially important with social and shared videos that may live outside of your branded website. Just like how the copy of an ad should relate to its designated target, a social video’s style should as well.
However, those graphics and animations need to still possess the essence of your brand and every other graphic created - there should be no doubt in anyone's mind that they’re in the right place after clicking through to your website.
Why Should I Pay for a Quality Logo Animation?
The creative process takes time and energy, which equals cost. It’s important to ask, what is a good logo animation worth to you? For just a few bucks, you can find a template and call it a day.
The problem with this method is that you're buying someone else's watered-down brand. Maybe many someone-else's. Pre-made templates are Dr. Frankenstein's monster for the design world - you're getting creative bits and pieces spawned from a hundred other companies, thrown together without much thought for the end product. Sure, it's technically alive. But how will your customers react to it?
Your branding is likely one of the first things your customers will see, so if you consider your company to be offering something unique and original, it should convey that. For this reason, we avoid pre-built templates and instead create custom-tailored branding from scratch.
Yes, it’s a higher upfront expense, but it's better to pay once for quality, rather than paying over and over again for mediocrity. However, always ask who owns your graphics. It is our company's policy that any materials we create with you are yours to keep, whether you're working with us or not.
Many of our customers come to us having been burned by other video companies' policy (conveniently not mentioned at the project's start) to retain ownership of all of the footage and graphics created. This means you can only use it again if you're working with them, and it also means they have the right to (and many do) sell your footage or created graphics. So even though you paid for unique branding, other companies may be copying you on the cheap without your knowledge. It bears repeating: ALWAYS ask who will own your footage and graphics.
Aside from your logo, our logo animation packages include custom lower-thirds, ending graphics and call-to-action, as well as whatever else will make your video both professional and engaging.
Remember, clients are no longer just comparing you to your competition. They’re comparing you to everyone. When your brand represents quality, your company reaps the benefits. This becomes apparent the second your customer presses play, so make sure their first impression is a good one.