First-class animation to get kids in class.

In the world of branding and advertising, creativity and innovation are not just tools, they're essential. Behind every effective campaign are dedicated individuals crafting them strategically to resonate and inspire. These are their stories. It's kind of actually surprising how often clients tend to forget about their audience. Can I swear? No. We just had to figure out what world is this like?

What does everything look like? If you cheated somehow, it's okay. We'll cut it out. But you just have to tell me the truth. How did you pull that off? However badly. And welcome to Behind the Craft. Today we're talking to our amazing graphic designer and motion designer extraordinaire, Ashley Bowlin. All right, so I told you I was going to get you questions ahead of time, and I kind of lied to you, so I apologize for that.

And I really did write some. And then I thought, well, I don't want her to have canned answers. I just want to see what she'd really say. So, Yeah, I guess starting out. Why don't you tell everybody a little bit about yourself? Let's talk about, how did you get into graphic design and animation? I kind of fell into it.

Accident. Dentally. You know, I went to community college for my first year and had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. And so I was just kind of looking at all my options. And I saw that the graphic design program there was doing interviews for the upcoming year. So I just got together some. Can I say.

No, I don't care. I, I, just got together some shitty drawings and. I don't know, first time designs and, presented them, got into the program and. Yeah, it just kind of snowballed from there. I fell in love with it. It was such a challenge at first. It's so difficult learning all the different programs you need to know, especially when you're not coming into it with any idea of how to use them.

And I just kind of fell in love with that challenge and. Yeah, still kind of doing the same thing, trying to challenge myself. That's always really fascinating to me. The technical side is like my big struggle, too, but it's because I think when you're someone who's very, like, creative minded, it's like, that's almost a better strength to have because then you can kind of learn.

Once you learn those technical sides, it's like, you know, like you said, you submitted drawings, so you already had an eye for art. You were already an artist. So what about animation? How did you start doing that? Once again, just kind of fell into it. I took animation classes all through college and I guess I fell in love with making things move.

And really, instead of having a static design, seeing things come to life. And I've always I feel like in my art I try to capture motion just because it makes things so much more vibrant. And even when something's static, I've always tried to imply motion into my designs, even if they're static. So yeah, I guess it was just kind of a natural evolution of my design career is what's the next challenging thing I can tackle?

And that was animation. You know, not only do you have to learn the program for that one, but you need to study every day life, every day. Like how do things move? How? Yeah. You know, just watching everything. It's super fun. And it's one of those things where I feel like every time you do it, you learn something new, or you you can just see yourself improve, which is super.

Yeah. I mean, that's certainly true for you. I think, obviously it was like a godsend when you started a brand craft because I was doing all the animation and you've seen, I think, maybe some of my old animation. So, you know, I desperately needed the help. But yeah, I think that first project you took over for me, I think I'd been working on it for like six weeks.

And then you finished it in like a day, and the client was like, yeah, we love this. And I was like, I'm so happy. Today is the best day. So it's been. Yeah, it's been great. It's been great. I wanted to talk to you specifically about one projects, that we can maybe just try to jump into and, maybe you want to give a backstory on, this, this idea LA animation you did that I think is just it's just phenomenal.

You maybe give it a little bit of backstory and tell me kind of how that process went. Okay. Idea LA is sort of like an online public school. They have a ton of different classes that people going to public school can sign up for if they want to learn more about any particular subject. So idea LA came to us to just get the word out there that students can sign up and learn more, and if they are interested in something specific, that this is a great place to go to and, just further their education on it.

So when they first came to us, it was a little bit of a challenge just because. We didn't have a lot of design assets to go off of. So. We really just had the logo. I think the website was being redesigned at the same time, so we didn't have much to go off of there, and maybe we had like one printed piece or something, but really they came to us and we just had to figure out, what world is this like, what does everything look like?

So when I was thinking over all of that, I was just super inspired by the logo when I saw it. It has this Saul Bass style overlapping squares and, just so much dimension and it's so unique that I just felt like we had to go off of it. Like it just seemed like, yeah, for sure option. So I pitched that to you and Thomas, I think, and I think Thomas was a little hesitant about it just because it is very I guess it's different.

It's unique. It's not, you know, just normal vectors or just grabbing something offline and making it, it's designing a full world for them. So I think he was a little nervous at how they would respond to that. But we presented it to the client, presented the storyboards, I believe, and they loved it. They were super excited to get going.

And so we did. We just kind of rolled from there. I got in kind of a groove, I guess, with, you know, this all about style is fun because you don't want it to be perfect. You know, you want everything to be a little bit wonky. Perspective. Yeah. Weird. So that's super fun because I didn't have to get super stressed or anxious about like, oh, I gotta make sure this is in the exact right space and that the perspective is exactly right.

It was just fun and whatever looks cool. That's cool. Yeah, the Saul Bass thing is great. I think, my favorite example there and like, design nerds and people who know Saul Bass know about that style, I'm sure would notice when they see the video. Is that the hand that comes up? Oh, yeah. Such a direct, callback to that style.

I can't remember what that what is that? Which Saul Bass, the man with the golden arm or something. Yeah. So. Yeah. Anyway. But it's very famous, and you can just tell that you kind of took that same shape and same style of the arm, and I just think that's such a cool callback. Yeah, this is really interesting. There's a reason why I wanted to talk to you about graphic design and, motion design is because I think with this one specifically, there's so many points.

There's a, there's a saying in like videography and incident cinematography where they talk about, you know, every frame, a painting. So at some point you should be able to pause every scene and it should be like beautiful. Like that's the Cinematographer's dream is not to take any scenes off. And I think when it comes to doing motion design, that's something you're really good at and especially with this piece is a highlight of that.

The storyboard process was obviously when you talked about how you pitched the storyboards, did that. I mean, you have these frames and one at a time, each of them sort of the each kind of can tell their own story for that segment of the spot. And then you have to figure out how to make them move from one to another and keep it, you know, interesting visually in the meantime.

So, I don't know, do you have any, any any tips or trades on how you did it for this spot or things you kept in mind to do that? Yeah, this one was super fun since it is more of like a. I don't even know what you would call the style like. I felt like they were pieces of paper that we were putting.

Yeah, I know that there's supposed to be like screens that we're putting together to create all these different shapes. And like I, I always try out a few different styles of motion. Just to see what I like the best, what I think feels the most natural for the environment. And for this one, I kept it super simple.

I think I use like normal position keyframes, rotation keyframes, probably opacity like like it wasn't necessary. Really intensive work. It wasn't. Like, oh, I need to figure out how this is going to happen. How is like, yeah, it wasn't like one person I can't figure out how you did which part and if you did like so if you cheated somehow, it's okay.

We'll cut it out. But you just have to tell me the truth. When when they're doing the, like, group video chat and everyone they pull out in, the person does the selfie and all that, like, did you hand animate that or how did you pull that off? Yeah, it's literally just what I said. So like when we're setting up a puppet in After Effects, we parent like the forearm to the.

Yeah, right to this part of the arm to the neck. So everything's parented together in the puppet and then. Yeah, you just rotate the arm. If you want to move it, you scale it down to push it back, to make it feel like, you know, they're raising the phone up. It's. Yeah, the exact same like few animation. Properties that I've been using throughout all of it.

Well, okay. Well, yeah, I, I've never been that successful at it. I'll say that. Okay. Sure. I just, I mean, my, my mind still is blown to my watch it I kind of I'm getting chills thinking about it now you have this like and then she pulls, but it looks like the camera almost shakes, like it's being held by the person.

And then the her hair kind of shakes. It's just incredible. Like, I mean, the motion of that feels so natural, but yet it's all in this, like very customized style and matches all the rest of it. I just kept thinking, I don't know how she did this. Like at first I thought, oh, she found that online somewhere or something.

And then I'm like, but it's in, it's in the style of the custom style. Yeah. It's anyway just incredible. Just my. And that's what's fun too, is just like when you do get a project where you can simplify everything, it's then I feel like you do get moments of inspiration with the animation where it feels like this is an actual character, this is an actual environment that we're creating, and it's super fun to, I guess, dumbed down your techniques in order to make everything feel cohesive and make everything feel natural, I guess.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, well, yeah, like I said, that's probably the best example I have of that. It's it's a fantastic animation. But every time I think about this spot, this is the part I want to talk to you about. So, Yeah. Glad glad I got that out of the way. What what's some advice you have?

Somebody wants to an animated video and they're coming to. You have any advice to say what would make it a success in your mind? I think my main advice is cut as much out as you possibly can of the video. We've had a few clients where, you know, they want a five minute long video and we have to be like, hey, first of all, I don't like you're repeating yourself in a few spots.

Yeah, I'm a third of all. I it's really tough to get people to watch a five minute video, especially if it's an ad or trying to get other people to do something. So I mean, for best practices, I feel like the shorter the video, definitely the better. Another thing, I think clients should keep in mind is you don't want to say too much.

I mean, you really whatever you're trying to base your video on, you want to be able to sum it up in a few sentences. You don't. Like want to touch on a ton of points. Just because that gets confusing for the viewer. If they're going to the video expecting to see a certain thing. I mean we've all done it right.

You click on a YouTube video just wanting one thing, and then they're talking for 20 minutes and you can't find exactly what you're looking for. But yeah, other than that, creatively, I would say. If you have an idea, if you have inspiration for how you were wanting this video, share it with us. You know, show us what you're thinking.

Tell us what you have in mind. I would way rather have more information than not enough. I feel like when we get that information up front is when we can really collaborate and get to a place where we are both super happy with the outcome. Yeah, yeah. So you're saying you think it's probably a good a good idea to have a very firm understanding of the goals?

That's something you want to make sure that you get as a good brief from clients who understand exactly what they're trying to accomplish. Yeah. You know, why do you want to? I feel like sometimes people just want an animated video because they want an animated video. Yeah. And we can definitely help with why you want it. But I think the best outcome of a video is when both parties have been collaborative and I know what they're expecting, and they can trust me to execute.

Yeah, I know, definitely. That's so true. I think both of those points kind of go together a lot because, like you said, if you don't have clear goals, you just want it because you want it. Like, yeah, we can help you with that. I think what you also it's very important these sort of touched on too is like a lot of times to these clients, like you said, when they have the long script, a lot of times people are really in the weeds because they live in this business and it's about and they struggle.  

I think figuring out how to take their message that they say all the time to themselves and they know this and very all these, you know, nitty gritty details, but dumbing it down in a way like you put so that so that it's actually relevant to their audience. I think it's, it's it's kind of actually surprising how how often clients tend to forget about their audience.

Having a good marketer, someone has a marketing mindset like you, and you're smart and we're strategic this way, is that you can remind people of that and say, hey, we don't need all these words. Let's think about your audience here. Great. You're gonna watch it. Who cares? Yeah, I think part of that is just, you know, I'm pretty young, I'm 24, so there is just a lot that I don't know.

And if I don't understand what the client's trying to say, then we could probably simplify it and make it easier for people to understand, you know? Yeah. If I read a script and I'm like, I have no idea what I'm supposed to do after reading this, then probably need to figure out the call to action, you know?

Yeah, there's like there's a very famous quote like that, a camera who said it, but someone says, like, if you can't explain this to a five year old, you don't really know it. And it's kind of so it's maybe nothing more true than with like an animated explainer video like this, where it's like, we really do need to say this.

People need to understand it by the end. They don't just need to see cool animation. Yeah, yeah. And people aren't going to see an animated ad and be like, whoa, I don't really understand what happened. Let me do more research. They're going to be like, that was weird. I'm glad that's over. And also goes back to making sure the right person seeing it.

But that's a separate issue from the animation side. It's the digital marketing. But yeah. No, definitely. Yeah. I think one of the funnest, most fun parts for animating here is like I get to kind of lead, I get to lead the animation projects. So, I get to create the project from start to finish. I don't just get already design storyboards and, you know, I have to go with that.

I get fully invested from the start. I design these worlds and, you know, as I am creating the storyboards, creating those static images, I can think about how these are moving. So I feel like the outcome is so much better than when I just get something and I have to start animating it immediately. Yeah, I've already said it, but I love having my own worlds.

I love the world I've made with ideals. I love the world I made with IEA and other animation projects that we've done. It's super fun. I get to use both my motion and design skills, which. I don't know, I feel like isn't that common? I feel like a lot of people get boxed in and you're either an animator or you're a graphic designer.

And I like I said at the beginning of this, I love a challenge and I love being able to do both and seeing my visions from before. They're even static images to the final animated piece. It's just it's amazing. It is amazing. And I and I say that as a compliment. It's like really amazing the work that you do.

And I'm so stoked to have you here on the team. I don't know why. I'm like, you know, making this into a big speech, like I'm receiving an award or something, but, it's but now that it's it's I it is it's amazing work. And you're right, I think for a lot of people, they're either designers are or they're motion designers.

And I think the reason one of the things that makes you really great is because you have such great skills in both of those places. And again, it's like every frame is a painting. I think you design this really amazing storyboards, even where you're like, that alone is a static ad, and then you go and make them move and turn them into this.

Yeah, this whole world you build is, it's really, really, really cool stuff. So thank you. Yeah. Love to do it. Couldn't do it without your help, that's for sure. Oh, no. You're the reason we have scripts. Well, that's. Yeah, I mean, I like the scripting side of it, but again, it takes us so much more strategy beyond after the script, turn those words into something that, you know, I trust me, if I wrote the scripts in then animated, they would not look as half as good or be half as good as what they are.

Our motion process for these motion design, projects, actually, I think is a really, really good, really well defined one that works really well. So, yeah, I think when I first started here, we maybe did 1 or 2 without storyboards or just not super fleshed out storyboards. And that just doesn't go well. I mean, you can't the client doesn't know what they're expecting.

Yeah. And you have to go back and try to fill in 15 seconds here, 15 seconds here. So yeah, I think we've gotten a really good process for our animation. Yeah, yeah. Well, animation is just so it's such an intense, like, heavy, you know what I mean? Like, it takes a lot of time and a lot of, like, dedication.

And so, yeah, if you don't have the storyboards up front, that can sometimes be a disaster. Because if someone the client doesn't approve or they haven't seen initial artwork. Yeah. And then you spent like 15 hours animating it and they're like, right, I hate the style. Start over it. Yeah. Now you're starting over. Yeah. It makes a lot more sense to like.

And again, that's why it's so great to be able to tell this why they're called storyboards. I guess you can tell that story with these, you know, images. And once you get approval on that, I think, you know, you're in a safe space. So certainly it's certainly something I wouldn't want to do, although I have you're right. When you first started, we did.

So I guess that's we learn how we learn. I'm in. I'm embarrassed like that. Out. Awesome. Well, I appreciate you taking time out today, cause, it's been it's been cool talking to you. I'm sure we'll do it again. You actually mentioned that a couple of projects. I was like, oh, we should just talk about those two. But maybe another time we'll come back and talk about it.

Yeah, because there's some mind boggling stuff there as well. Yeah. That, was a big one that was a lot. Yeah. So yeah. Oh, definitely. Cool. Well, let's do another video sometime down the road and let's talk about some more stuff. I'm sure you'll have something even more awesome by then to discuss as well. So hope so. That's cool for.