Postgraduate Degree in Motion Design

Animated graphics are present in all areas of visual communication. From video game credits, series and films to music videos, mappings, video art and motion branding, as well as news, memes and content for social media and streaming platforms, motion graphics have become an essential language for storytelling, evoking emotion and communicating in the digital age.

The rhythm of moving images, together with sound design, creates an immersive and memorable experience, capable of capturing attention and provoking an almost hypnotic response. Designers must understand the media, master audiovisual language and be familiar with the dynamics of contemporary communication in order to successfully connect with an increasingly demanding and curious audience, constantly searching for new visual and narrative experiences.

In the Postgraduate Degree in Motion Design, through projects guided and tutored by specialised teaching staff, students consolidate their mastery of 2D animated graphics and the keys to combining creativity, technique and audiovisual language to transform ideas into movement and communicate with rhythm, emotion and coherence.

The programme, with its highly practical approach, applies methodologies such as Design Thinking and Agile Development, reproducing the real processes of the professional environment and incorporating a critical and innovative view of the use of artificial intelligence in contemporary audiovisual creation.

Module 1 – Contexts of animated graphics

This first module presents specific references in the field of audiovisual design, analysing communication formats—styles and trends—and their potential applications in the development of motion graphics projects.

• From paper to screen: From the Avant-garde to Saul Bass.Film and series credits.
• Fundamental principles of on-screen typography.
• Audiovisual language and immersive XR narratives: AR / VR / MR.
• AI as a research tool, content generator and representation resource in audiovisual pre-production processes.

Module 2 – Fundamentals of audiovisual production

The objective of this first tool module is to learn and apply the basics of composition and the principles of digital animation with After Effects.

• Image formats, video, codecs and compression.
• Interface, tools and workspace organisation.
• Project and composition creation and management.
• Types of layers, properties and organisation.
• Basic animation: keyframes, interpolations and animation curves.
• Preview, export and output formats.

Module 3 – Animated graphics in audiovisual content identity

In this workshop-style module, the aim is to learn about and analyse rhetorical figures as a narrative resource and apply metaphors to audiovisual content identity projects: films, series, festivals and video games.

• Rhetorical resources in the history of art and communication.
• Visual and narrative resources: metaphors and visual tricks.
• Production styles: rhythm and editing.

The workshop includes the creation and development of an animated graphics proposal with an emphasis on the use and mastery of metaphor, applying project methodology and professional production processes.

Module 4 – Audiovisual and animated graphics production

This module provides in-depth knowledge and skills in the use of the digital composition and animation tool After Effects and complementary software.

• Layer animation.
• Spatial animation.
• Advanced interpolations.
• Transparencies and masks.
• Integration with Photoshop and Illustrator.
• Transparency masks and blending modes.
• Application and control of effects.
• Video editing.

Module 5 – Animated graphics as a narrative resource

This module offers a workshop focused on exploring and analysing different narrative styles, with the aim of training participants in the use and mastery of their structures and their application in animated graphics.

• Fundamental principles of audiovisual narrative.
• Sequential narrative structures.
• Representation and production resources.
• Production styles: rhythm and editing.

The workshop includes the creation and development of an animated graphics proposal with an emphasis on the use and mastery of narrative structure, applying project methodology and professional production processes.

Module 6 – Audio design in audiovisual production

This workshop-style module delves into the knowledge of sound and the acquisition of skills for using its components—music, voiceovers and effects—as an essential part of constructing audiovisual narrative.

• What sound is and how it is expressed in space-time.
• Sound in narrative: the relationship between signifier and meaning.
• The audio track: music, voiceovers and effects.
• Technical resources: microphones, mixing desk and effects room.

This workshop includes the creation and development of an animated graphics proposal with an emphasis on the use and mastery of sound in a motion graphics piece, applying project methodology and professional production processes.

Module 7 – Advanced production and post-production

In this module, projects are developed combining animation and visual effects, integrating professional post-production workflows and techniques.

• 3D compositions: three-dimensional space in After Effects.
• 3D layers.
• Lights and cameras.
• Trajectories and nulls.
• Rendering and final output.
• Application of advanced workflows.

Module 8 – Postgraduate Final Project

As a Postgraduate Final Project, based on the demand of a collaborating client, a project is developed that simulates a real professional commission, with the aim of enabling the student to undertake a complete creation and production process, putting into practice and validating their knowledge, as well as their creative, reflective, technical and methodological skills.

This is carried out following the iterative design model in order to obtain real conclusions and results that meet the established objectives, taking into account the following development phases:

• Research. Selection of a topic, research and analysis.
• Definition. Conceptualisation of a narrative proposal, both visually and auditorily.
• Ideation. Structuring and writing of the content to be explained. And synthesis in storyboards of the development of the piece.
• Formalisation. Checking the rhythm and effectiveness of the solution with animatics. And creation of a final sequence in motion graphics.
• Communication. Presentation and defence of the project; final result and documentation of the process.