I teach a motion design class at the Art Institute, cleverly disguised as a Flash class.  I do care about my student learning the Flash program, but I care just as much to teach them good motion design.  I think good motion design is more or less comprised of three things basic things: Rhythm, Transition and Point of Origin.

Point of Origin is simply where the graphic, text, or whatever asset is coming from as it moves.  What was it’s original position on screen?  In life, all things have a point of origin and it’s startling if we can’t guess what that point of origin was.  So think about someone just appearing beside you as you turn around – you didn’t see them coming and didn’t expect them to be there.  It’s startling as you say audibly “You came out of nowhere.”   To some degree the same is true with motion graphics – graphics, text, etc that just “appears” is jarring.  Jarring can be good or bad depending on the situation, but generally people want those assets to have a predictable point of origin.

Transition has to do with the way things move.  An asset sliding in from the left, fading in from the top, fading out in the middle.  Transitioning elements and playing those elements against each other can have a powerful effect.  If we had the words “Motion Design” that we wanted to appear onscreen in some way, we have several options.  One option might be to fade both words in at the same time.  Another would be to fade one in from the top, the other in from the bottom, ending on the same line.  The second method will create more interest.

Rhythm has to do with the inherent beat any animation will have – and you will either be on-beat or off-beat regardless of whether you have music or not.  All people have rhythm, it’s built into us.  We have a heart that beats at a certain pace.  And to varying degrees all people can tell if something is “off” or “on”. Spacing your animations to create a beat that either goes along with music, or has no music at all is important.  Taking .5 seconds to fade something in, leaving it for 2 seconds, then fading it out over another .5 seconds will look better than something just randomly timed.   Keeping a rhythm also allows you to break the rhythm for dramatic effect.

So those are the big three I emphasize in my class – Point of Origin, Transition and Rhythm.  If you can use those three effectively you’ll come out with decent motion piece.  The rest depends on your content and your writing.

Logo design is a tricky thing.  The question is how to you communicate the essence of a company in a small symbol and type treatment?  Here are a few pointers, as well as some examples taken from logopond.com.

Many companies simply use a type treatment as their mark.  This approach works best if the logo’s name is short (think google, gap, macy’s), or if the company goes by an acronym (think abc, ibm, ups).  If the company’s name is too long or has multiple words, it may be tough to create a strong representation of the company using only type.  Most of the best type-based logos tend to be fairly bold as they scale large or small easily.  Sans-serif fonts tend to be better and usually there is some sort of circle or bounding box around the words to help the type pop.

http://logopond.com/gallery/detail/64990

http://logopond.com/gallery/detail/63998

http://logopond.com/gallery/detail/61860

Other companies choose to employ a graphic element to represent their company, usually in addition to a type treatment.  Still others integrate the graphic into the logo in some way.  Again, something bold is usually best as line artwork can get “lost” when it’s taken down to a small size.

http://logopond.com/gallery/detail/65940

http://logopond.com/gallery/detail/69920

http://logopond.com/gallery/detail/41911

Some helpful hints:

1. Choose 1-3 colors for a logo.  Anything more tends to be too complex.  Start designing with black and white, finalize the graphic and type treatment, then add color as you wish.
2. Keep the block in mind.  Any logo must be used in a variety of places.  If you drew a rectangle around the logo, how much space does it take up?  Usually you don’t want something that is too horizontal or too vertical, but a good mix of both.  If it is, you’ll have many more options for placement when you go to use it in a design.
3. Keep it simple.  The best logos tend to be the most simple with an “ah ha!” element.  For example, the wooden house logo above uses a house/tree combo to communicate the name and what it does.  It’s instantly recognizable.  Paired with the right colors, you could see that the name and the graphic go together even if you were to separate them.
4. Think about how your logo will be used.  If it’s going on the web, on letterhead, on a business card, billboard, etc – how will you use it?
5. What do the colors communicate? Red might be aggressive while blue might be calming.
6. What does the typeface communicate?  A serif font is classic, timeless and established while a sans-serif tends to be more trendy and techie,
7. Don’t use gradients.  Gradients add complexity and tend to lessen the pop and contrast of a treatment.  They are also harder to represent over a variety of media in a consistent form.

That’s all I’ve got for now.  There’s much more you have to keep in mind, think through, etc.  Mostly though, go find some logos you like and study what they do well.