Motion Graphic poster
Briefing
Create a motion graphic poster using either Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop and afterwards Adobe After Effects, incorporating a chosen automatic (theme or subject matter) related to a well-defined problem or event, and develop a loopable animation featuring distinct elements.
Our goal
A motion graphic poster for the ballet Swan Lake, designed in Adobe Illustrator and animated in After Effects as a seamless loop.
Overview
A poster has to say a lot in a glance, and a ballet is even harder to sell that way, because its whole appeal is in the movement and the atmosphere. I chose Swan Lake because I had just seen it and it stayed with me. The challenge was to capture its essence in one image, then bring it to life as a loop that still feels like the same piece.
Static Poster
Light and dark are central to theatre, and they’re also the heart of the Swan Lake story, so I built the whole concept around that contrast. I pictured two swans moving in opposite directions, with a light searching for the ballerina between them. For the look, I wanted something classic and elegant, so I limited myself to two colours: deep blue and gold. A small palette keeps it cohesive and makes the contrast do the storytelling.
I designed the poster in Illustrator around that first image: the swans in opposite directions, the light looking for the ballerina, and the blue and gold palette setting the tone.
Animated poster
Animating it meant changing the design. Some changes were aesthetic: I added the main title and increased the colour contrast so it read better in motion. Others were functional, so the poster could do its job as an animation. The ballerina now stands in the centre, and the light changes around her, so the “search for the ballerina” becomes the movement of the loop.