Motion Designer for Editorial Animated Explainer Series (After Effects)

Motion Designer for Editorial Animated Explainer Series (After Effects) About the Project I’m creating a premium animated explainer series built around beautiful maps, elegant motion design, and clear visual storytelling. The first series focuses on Charleston, South Carolina, but the project is designed as a reusable educational brand rather than a one-off video. This is not a typical real estate marketing project. The goal is to create short films that explain complex geographic concepts in a way that feels intuitive, engaging, and visually sophisticated. I’m looking for someone who enjoys transforming complicated information into elegant, easy-to-understand animation. Think Vox, The New York Times, Bloomberg, or Apple—not flashy social media graphics. The first episode will be approximately 60–75 seconds long, but my goal is to build a reusable animation system and visual identity that can support many future episodes. ⸻ What I’m Looking For I’m searching for a motion designer with strong experience in: * Adobe After Effects * Motion graphics * Animated infographics * Editorial-style animation * Vector-based animation * Clean typography * Smooth camera movement and zooms Experience with maps, geographic visualization, or data visualization is a major plus, but not required. ⸻ The Style I’m looking for animation that is: * Elegant * Minimal * Editorial * Sophisticated * Timeless * Easy to understand I’m not looking for: * Flashy transitions * Cartoon animation * Loud effects * Social media gimmicks * Trend-driven editing The goal is to create something that feels closer to a premium documentary than an Instagram advertisement. ⸻ Deliverables Initially, I’m looking for help creating: * A custom animated map * A reusable opening title sequence * A reusable ending sequence * Smooth map animations * Editable After Effects project files * Organized project assets for future episodes This project is intended to become a long-term series, so there is strong potential for ongoing work with the right creative partner. ⸻ To Apply Please include: 1. Three examples of work that best demonstrate your motion graphics abilities (quality is much more important than quantity). 2. Any examples involving maps, infographics, editorial animation, or educational storytelling. 3. Tell me about one animated explainer or motion graphics project that you admire and why. 4. In one or two paragraphs, describe how you would approach a project like this. ⸻ Budget I’m willing to invest in high-quality work and am looking for the right creative partner rather than simply the lowest price. ⸻ Bonus If you’ve created work for news organizations, educational companies, museums, technology companies, nonprofits, documentary productions, or other editorial brands, I’d especially love to see it.