8 ways to brand your animation

8 ways to brand your animation

These days branding is much more than just a logo on your website and office stationary. A great way to think about it is how people talk about you when you’re not there. If you are thinking of commissioning an animation for a future campaign, here are some tips that will ensure that the finished product best represents your brand. 1. Use your brand colours A colour scheme is the most common way to visually communicate a brand, and any animation you produce should clearly reflect your brand colours. If you already have a brand guidelines document you can pass this onto your animation studio to help them understand who you are. 2. Choose a unique medium A  particular style can become associated with your brand so choosing one that is unique will help to develop your branding. The more distinctive the medium used in your campaign the more of an edge you will have over your competitors. For example using a traditional craft can help your campaign to stand out, and if you can find one that has never been used before you will be able to create something completely unique and bespoke. Mediums that have often been seen as old fashioned such as knitting, needle felting or wicker crafting are great examples of techniques that are ripe for reinvention and could be used to add a human and quirky feel to a campaign. 3. Use music to engage your audience Music is well known for creating emotional responses in people and when used cleverly in a campaign audio can help to trigger these feelings with your audience. This can then help to boost your company’s branding by...
How Much Does Animation Cost?

How Much Does Animation Cost?

What’s the damage? Your first question when thinking about commissioning animation is mostly likely about the cost. Is your shiny new animation going to bankrupt your company or can you get it done for peanuts? What factors affect your quote? Unfortunately due to the unique nature of your project there is no straight forward answer and there are a number of factors that an animation company will consider when producing a quote, such as the script, storyboard, style, audio and the schedule. The script Writing a thorough script will force you to think about your animation idea in detail before a single penny is spent on production. Want to scrap that expensive and irrelevant scene with the space battle? Now is the time to do it! If the planning stages of your animation are perfected before production starts, the chances of any costly changes being made in the future will be greatly reduced. Be prepared All good animation companies will offer a scripting service but if you already have a script prepared, or a very clear idea of what you want, you will most likely save both time and money. After all no one knows your product or service better than you. Storyboarding The storyboard is a vital visual map of your ‘story’, which should always be developed for any animation project. When creating storyboards, questions and problems tend to pop up that weren’t immediately obvious from the script. By planning everything on paper, animators are able to solve any big issues and can get a much better idea of schedules and costs. Visualise your idea Thankfully you don’t have to be a world renowned artist to create your own storyboards and most animation companies will welcome your visual ideas,...