Motion is the new logo: designing identities that move

For most of the twentieth century, a logo was something you printed. Today it is more often something you watch: a story intro, an app launch screen, a pre-roll sting, a product page loading in. Yet many identities are still designed as static marks with animation added at the end by whoever has time.

That approach produces motion that feels bolted on. The logo spins, bounces or shimmers, and it says nothing about the brand. Designing motion from the start produces something different: behaviour that is as recognisable as the shape.

Start with a verb

When we begin an identity, we ask what the brand does, in one verb. For a cannery it was gather. For a skincare brand it was settle. For a fintech it was snap into place. That verb becomes the root of the motion principles, guiding easing, timing and how elements enter and leave the frame.

Build a small system, not a showreel

A useful motion system is modest. It gives your team rules they can apply in a social template without calling us. Ours usually include:

• Two or three easing curves with names and use cases.
• A timing scale, for example 200, 400 and 800 milliseconds.
• Rules for how type, image and logo enter and exit.
• A primary logo animation under two seconds, plus a shorter version for small screens.
• Editable templates in After Effects and lightweight Lottie files for product teams.

If your animation only works in the launch film, it is decoration. If it works in a loading spinner, it is identity.

Test it small and fast

Watch every motion piece on a phone, at arm's length, on mute, with the sound you would have used turned off. Most people see brand motion exactly that way. If the idea still lands in the first second, you have something. If it needs the music or the full eight seconds, simplify.

Done well, motion stops being a deliverable and becomes part of how people recognise you. That is worth designing on day one, not the week before launch.

One practical tip: put the motion principles in the same guidelines document as the logo and colour rules, not in a separate file nobody opens. When motion sits beside the static rules, teams treat it as part of the brand rather than an optional extra.