How did you first discover motion design, and what drew you into the industry? My path into motion wasn’t linear, but it gave me a helpful vantage point. I moved through film, editing, visual effects and communications before realizing that motion was the place where all of those ideas connected. Each discipline taught me something different about how information moves and how people interpret it.

What ultimately drew me in wasn’t the software side of it: it was the idea that motion could communicate, clarify and guide. Once I understood that, it became less about technique and more about intent, and that framing still shapes how I work today.

As a self-taught creative, how has your background shaped your approach to the craft? The real benefit of my early years was looking through a wide lens. Working across various creative paths helped me understand the landscape at a broader level. It made it easier to see motion not as an isolated craft but as part of a larger system, and it made specializing within it feel like a natural step.

Because I didn’t come up through a traditional motion program, I never just saw motion as “animation.” I saw it as behavior. Body language. That perspective helped me understand not just how something should move but why movement mattered at all. That broader context is what informs the way our studio approaches brand motion today. The tools come and go, but the thinking behind the movement is what creates impact.

What inspired you to build Vucko, and how has the studio evolved with the changing media landscape? Vucko formed organically. As opportunities grew, the work required more support, and the conversations became more strategic. We kept hearing the same need expressed in different ways: brands were looking for guidance, structure and partners who could think beyond assets to entire systems.

As screen-first communication accelerated through the pandemic, brands were struggling to scale motion consistently across product, marketing and events. They needed clarity and cohesion for how their brand should move. This created a Goldilocks zone between what they needed and where our strengths sat. We found ourselves defining motion identities, behaviors and principles that helped teams unify motion across their entire ecosystem.

When developing a motion identity, how do you shape a signature that’s both distinct and accessible for teams? For us, everything starts with understanding. The more we immerse ourselves in the brand’s intentions, history and behaviors, the more naturally a distinct motion language emerges. A meaningful motion language has to be rooted in the brand’s core truths and translated with intention.

Accessibility is equally important. A motion identity only works when teams can use it confidently. That’s why we think in terms of systems and behaviors rather than isolated expressions. The goal is to define logic, range and decision-making tools that let motion scale across marketing, product, events and any other environment the brand touches. A strong motion system should feel unmistakably like the brand while still giving teams the flexibility they need to implement the work.

You recently ran a study asking people to identify brands using only the motion of their logos. What did the results reveal about how audiences perceive motion? Their responses highlighted three consistent signals of recognition: consistency, timing and distinctiveness. What was fascinating was how strongly audiences responded to timing—where something accelerates, where it pauses and how elements behave. These are often subtle decisions, but they carried a lot of weight in how respondents interpreted the brand.

Disney was the clearest example. More than 80 percent of people recognized it immediately—not because of its complexity but because it has a few iconic behaviors that show up everywhere. The castle, the arc, the trail of light—they’re simple, but they tell a story, and they’re incredibly consistent. People know them instinctively.

How has Vucko integrated and collaborated with in-house creative teams? What insights would you pass on to other studios? Our partnerships work best when we’re treated as an extension of the internal team. That level of integration lets motion play a closer strategic role because we’re connected to the people shaping the brand from the inside. At AWS, Google, Intuit and Spotify, we’ve become part of those teams and their thinking.

The main lesson has been to lead with curiosity: ask questions, understand the context, have a beginner’s mind and resist the urge to jump straight into execution. When motion is part of the conversation early, it can influence outcomes in a much more meaningful way.

Tell us about a few of your favorite projects at VUCKO. How did they expand your understanding of what motion can accomplish within a brand? What stands out most isn’t any single project but the nature of certain partnerships. The work becomes most impactful when there’s trust, early involvement and a shared desire to build something that lasts.

Our long-term collaborations reinforce this every year. Each engagement reveals new contexts and new opportunities to evolve how the brand moves. Those relationships continue to show how expansive motion’s influence can be when it’s approached intentionally.

What elements of your practice and workflow are most essential, and what makes them valuable to your process? For us, guidelines are essential because they support both sides of the partnership. They give us and our clients the same anchor, language and definition of how the brand should move. That shared understanding builds trust and makes the work feel aligned from the beginning.

Guidelines are also baked into our process from day one. As we imagine how cross-functional teams will use and stress test the system, we put ourselves in that position as well. We build feedback loops, refine behaviors and pressure-test the logic early. This approach ensures the guidelines reflect real-world needs and that the system becomes something teams can rely on long after the project ends.

What advice would you offer creatives entering the field today? Motion’s role is broader than ever, and the biggest advantage for creatives is understanding the “why” behind the work. Consider how motion scales across product, marketing and events, and how teams will use it long after the design phase. When motion is intentional and built for real use, it becomes a powerful tool for brands.

On specialization, there is no need to rush into choosing a lane. Range can be valuable early on because it helps you understand the broader landscape and the types of problems you want to solve. Explore, experiment and stay open. ca