Motion Graphics Designer Career Path

There are no hard and fast rules for how a career in motion graphics will play out: serendipity and luck (which, in Seneca’s words, is when preparation meets opportunity) will invariably play a role in any career, motion graphics included. There is, nevertheless, something of a template for how a motion graphics career will unfold, serendipity and luck notwithstanding.

Getting Started

Odds are you’re going to get started in motion graphics design early in life by having a pronounced interest in art. In today’s world, that can mean you spent all your free time as a child drawing, or it means you showed an early interest in the digital media that form the backbone of the motion graphics designer’s craft. You may well have played video games and gotten interested in how they’re designed and drawn. At some point, you discovered that there is such a field as motion graphics, and researched it some. If you were really taken with it, you maybe looked to see whether anyone you knew knew someone who knew someone who worked in the field so you could interview them about their own career path. You may also have found an After Effects course designed for teenagers that let you begin learning your trade while still in high school.

Do I Need a Degree to Become a Motion Graphics Designer?

The basic educational requirement for a Motion Graphics Designer is a bachelor’s degree, generally in either computer graphics or art. Four years is the time between Olympiads or presidential elections, and it’s a long time, especially for young people. Your time spent in college should equip you with a wide spectrum of knowledge in more than just your area of specialization, but four years will also give you plenty of time to hone your computer graphics skills. That doesn't alter the reality that getting a four-year degree is definitely a leisurely way to make your entrée into the field of motion design.

A less leisurely approach would be to enroll in a certificate program that will concentrate on exactly the skills you’ll need to break into the motion graphics business. You won’t get the same kind of education you’d get if you were in a four-year degree program, but you will learn the baseline skills all Motion Graphics Designers must have. A large part of your energies will be expended learning the sine qua non of motion graphics programming, Adobe After Effects. You’ll learn other things, as well, but you won’t have to worry about writing five-page papers on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

Both routes have much to recommend them. If you can afford a four-year education without saddling yourself with debt for the rest of your life, there are ample good reasons for going to college. On the other hand, if college isn’t readily feasible (or the debt you’ll incur will put both a millstone and an albatross around your neck until your last day on Earth), the non-degree certificate program at a good professional school will make a great deal more sense. Time is also a factor: if you have four years which you can’t put to better use, again, college makes sense. If you’re in a hurry to join the workforce because you need money to indulge caprices such as food, clothing, and a roof over your head, on the other hand, college may not be for you.

In any event, you will need to have some kind of formal education in motion graphics if you’re to find a job in the field. Teaching yourself to use After Effects is very nice, but, without a diploma or a certificate to back up your claims of knowledge, your resume is not going to make it past the initial step in the application tracking system (ATS) that governs just about every HR department in the country.

Internships

When you’re fresh out of school, you’ll have to face the experience paradox—that you need experience to get hired, but you need to get hired to get experience. One of the best ways around that particular stumbling block is to secure an internship. Not all of those are unpaid, although you’re unlikely to get fat on what a paid intern makes. Internships allow you to continue your education in motion graphics design while on the job, and add real-life projects to your portfolio. School projects are well and good for people starting out, but a project done for a real client is going to be a portfolio standout. Interning will also teach you how to function in the workplace (and how to get coffee), and, thus, has a great deal to recommend it. Most importantly, it can provide that essential bridge between school and an honest-to-goodness job.

Entry-Level Motion Graphics Designer Jobs

Junior Designers (the most oft-encountered job title for entry-level motion graphics designers) usually have a broad range of responsibilities. They get to put their fingers into a lot of pies, although generally in a smaller and more supervised way than those further along in their careers. They 

• work hands-on with 2D or 3D animation, 
• learn more advanced ways of using After Effects, 
• get a chance to get their feet wet and hands dirty with other programs such as Blender,
• help with storyboarding, 
• work up animation of their own to show to clients (after further-ups have vetted it), and 
• get to go to meetings.

Mid-Level Motion Graphics Designer Jobs

Mid-level motion graphics designers supervise more and are supervised less as they create animations to meet client needs. They 

• collaborate and often lead creative animation teams,
• coordinate their team’s efforts with those of other teams working on the same project, 
• ensure consistency in the work they oversee, as all the pieces of a branding puzzle need to fit together,
• introduce new recruits to their duties and oversee them as they perform their duties,
• stay on top of the latest technological developments in the field
• continue to hone their own skills, and
• get to go to meetings.

Senior Motion Graphics Designer Jobs

Senior motion designers generally manage more than they create, although they still get to participate in the making of some animations, frequently drawing the broad strokes that are then filled in by others. (In this way, the role is analogous to the senior animators of the pencil-and-paper days whose work was completed by in-betweeners.) In addition they

• make sure that a project is being completed correctly and on time, 
• see that all its different aspects are properly coordinated, 
• present work to clients and stakeholders,
• often operate as the experienced technological authority on a team, and are the people to whom other people come when they have situations they can’t resolve on their own, 
• stay up-to-date with the latest developments and trends in the field, and 
• get to go to a lot of meetings. 

Another Path: Freelancing

Over half of all motion graphics designers are self-employed, meaning that they freelance rather than work within the bounds of a large corporate structure. That gives them far more freedom, both creative and physical, than people working on large, structured teams like the ones described above. You’ll probably have to begin working in one of those jobs to launch your career, but, after a couple of years, you’ll be able to go out on your own and escape the chain of command structure so dear to modern corporations. This means you’re answerable only to the client, which is a bigger responsibility than you’ll probably ever get if you work for a large firm. You thus need wicked people skills to go with everything else a motion designer does. 

Freelancing does mean forgoing a regular paycheck, 401(k) plan, medical insurance and an eventual key to the executive washroom. And don’t deceive yourself: there will be fallow periods between clients, which means you’ll need some savings to keep food on the table until you find your next client. On the other hand, you get to work when you want, and you can pick up and go to Disney World whenever the fancy strikes you. It’s a trade-off, but the majority of motion graphics designers has spoken. Still, there are jobs with large firms to be had if you’d rather have that regular paycheck and earn your key to the executive washroom.

How Do I Find A Motion Graphics Designer Job?

Finding a job in the motion graphics field is, to a certain extent, like finding any other. You’re going to have to look at the pons asinorum of job seeking today, Indeed, simply because of the volume of jobs (and scams) to be seen on that platform. Indeed searches can be discouraging indeed, but you’ll have to put up with them, and you may come up trumps after all. Just remember to submit a carefully tailored resume with each application and hope it gets past the application tracking system (ATS) that any employer advertising on Indeed is going to use, simply because of the sheer number of applications their postings attract. You might also consider LinkedIn (since you’ll need to have a LinkedIn profile regardless), although it’s generally not considered the best resource for mograph jobs.

In addition to that rather grim forecast (and, in all honesty, people do find jobs on Indeed), there are sites devoted to either creative talent in general, or to motion graphics professionals in particular. These are definitely worth researching, and include Behance (no relation to the pop singer), Motionographer, and the job boards hosted by the School of Motion. Among these, Behance offers you a chance to exhibit your portfolio for all to see. You’ll be facing less but stiffer competition on these sites, but you’ll also find postings to which you’ll be better suited than some of the more general ones to be found on Indeed.

Learn the Skills to Become a Motion Graphics Designer at Noble Desktop

If you’ve decided that you want to make a career designing motion graphics, you’re going to need training, most particularly in the program that’s going to sit at the heart of your professional labors, Adobe After Effects. Noble Desktop, a well-known design and IT school based in New York City, can help you to become a motion graphics designer without a degree. Noble can teach you what you need to know with its Motion Graphics Certificate program, which includes instruction in After Effects, its sister video editing program Premiere Pro, and the 3D modeling program Cinema 4D. You’ll also have ample time and support to devote to the development of your professional portfolio. There is an even more thorough option, the Video Editing and Motion Graphics Certificate program, which includes everything in the Motion Graphics Certificate program, but is augmented by classroom modules in Adobe Audition, Adobe Photoshop, and state-of-the-art instruction in AI for Video & Motion Graphics. (The AI class is available separately, too.)

Both certificate programs include a number of 1-to-1 sessions with an experienced mentor who can assist you with everything from classroom matters to laying down a battle plan for the job market. You’ll also get a free retake option, be able to consult recordings of every classroom session, and receive fully live and fully hands-on instruction that will have you learning by doing rather than just sitting there like a lump trying to make sense out of video tutorials. You’ll be the recipient of Noble Desktop’s proprietary classroom materials and workbooks, which will be yours to keep for future reference. You’ll also earn a New York State-licensed certificate for your labors at the end of the course, which you can exhibit on your all-important LinkedIn profile.