In a world where digital tools dominate nearly every creative process, stop-motion animation is defying the odds and, in many ways, thriving. From feature films to TikTok reels, this timeless art form is more relevant than ever. You might think stop motion peaked with Wallace & Gromit, but in 2023, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio took home an Oscar. And now, studios and solo creators alike are embracing frame-by-frame storytelling with renewed energy and innovative tools. So, what’s driving the revival?
Tactile, Emotional Storytelling
Stop motion hits differently. It’s tangible. It’s charmingly imperfect in a way that makes it feel… real. Every frame shows the animator’s hand, whether it’s a slightly shifted puppet eyebrow or a tiny dust particle catching the light just right. As del Toro puts it, “Animation is not a genre. It’s cinema.” That human touch resonates with audiences craving authenticity in a polished, algorithm-driven media landscape. You can’t fake the effort that goes into moving a character one tiny click at a time, nor should you.
Tactile Storytelling That Sticks
In an era dominated by AI-generated visuals and 3D animation, it’s surprising and exciting to see stop-motion making a major comeback. From Netflix’s Oscar-winning Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio to A24’s buzz-worthy Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, this hands-on medium is having a serious moment. But why now?
Stop motion is more than just a quirky animation style; it’s a form of interactive storytelling that invites audiences to feel the human touch behind each frame. With every carefully sculpted puppet, every hand-painted backdrop, there’s something tangible that digital effects often can’t replicate. According to the Animation World Network, del Toro said of Pinocchio, “I believe animation is cinema. Animation is not a genre. And to me, it’s art made by hand.”
A Modern Toolkit for a Classic Art
Here’s where it gets exciting: we’re blending old-school craftsmanship with new-school tech. Animators today are combining physical builds with digital tools, such as Dragonframe for capturing shots, Adobe After Effects for cleanup, and even 3D printers for creating expressive character faces.
Take a look at Phil Tippett’s legendary Mad God project. Tippett, a pioneer of visual effects (Star Wars, Jurassic Park), spent 30 years creating this mind-bending stop-motion film. The behind-the-scenes (below) offers a rare glimpse into how traditional techniques collide with digital workflows. You’ll see green screens, practical explosions, and hand-sculpted monsters all coming together with digital compositing and editing. It’s gritty, raw, and mesmerizing. The lesson here? You don’t need to choose between analog and digital; you can (and should) use both. That’s where the real innovation is happening.
Indie Creators Are Owning the Space
And it’s not just big names making waves. Independent artists like Kevin Parry and Guldies are garnering millions of views with DIY stop-motion projects. They’re using phone cameras, LED lights, and free software to tell mini-stories that grab massive attention. Even mobile apps like Stop Motion Studio Pro allow you to experiment with animation on a tablet or phone, making them ideal for students, freelancers, or creators just starting.
The Frame-by-Frame Future Is in Your Hands
Stop motion isn’t just surviving, it’s evolving, and it’s inviting all of us along for the ride. Whether you’re a seasoned animator, a curious creative, or someone who just appreciates a good story, this art form has something to offer: patience, precision, and pure heart. In a content-saturated world, it reminds us to slow down, get our hands dirty, and fall in love with storytelling all over again.
The next great stop-motion story could be made in a studio or your bedroom. So why not give it a try? Or, at the very least, keep watching, keep supporting, and keep coming back here as we explore more behind-the-scenes magic, emerging creators, and the tools that keep creativity moving, one frame at a time.
When crafting an app to complement your existing website, it’s tempting to replicate all your website’s content. However, a well-designed companion app needs its own thoughtfully curated information architecture (IA) that specifically suits mobile users’ needs. Let’s dive into why IA matters, how I approached creating the sitemap for our companion app, and some valuable insights from our usability study at Red Buffalo Ranch.
Why Information Architecture Matters
Information Architecture (IA) is essentially the backbone of your digital product, organizing content clearly and intuitively. When done right, IA makes navigation feel effortless, turning visitors into loyal users. This becomes even more critical when transitioning from desktop websites to mobile apps. Mobile users have unique behaviors: they’re typically on the go, have shorter attention spans, and prefer quick, task-oriented interactions.
A strong IA accounts for these factors, making mobile experiences efficient and enjoyable.
Crafting the Companion App Sitemap
Our research at Red Buffalo Ranch revealed key insights. Users, like Brian and Lisa, desired immediate access to booking, simplified reservation management, and real-time updates during their ranch visits. They didn’t need exhaustive details, just quick and relevant information.
Keeping this in mind, I structured the companion app around a clear, task-oriented IA:
Home: Immediate highlights, booking prompts, and notifications.
Book a Ride: Direct access to reservations, availability, and payment.
My Reservations: Manage upcoming bookings and get directions quickly.
Trail Map & Explorer: GPS-enabled interactive maps and safety guidelines.
Events & Groups: Streamlined forms for group events and specialized bookings.
Media & Memories: Easy photo uploads and social sharing.
This minimalist, action-focused design addresses the core needs of mobile users without overwhelming them with information that would be better suited for a website.
The companion app sitemap prioritizes easy navigation to key features, enabling swift access to bookings, updates, and reservations explicitly tailored for mobile users.
View and download a copy of the new proposed app here:
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Mobile vs. WebView: Finding the Balance
To prevent app clutter, I decided on a hybrid approach using WebView for detailed content like extensive FAQs and comprehensive galleries. This maintains app efficiency, ensuring it remains fast and responsive while providing access to all necessary information.
Our usability report highlighted users’ struggles with information overload on the website, something I was keen to avoid in the app. By shifting dense content to WebView, we maintained clarity and speed.
Visualizing the Companion App
Visual clarity is essential. To support our IA, I recommend including visuals such as:
User flow sketches showing booking and reservation paths.
An IA tree diagram clearly presenting navigation pathways.
Wireframes emphasizing intuitive design elements.
Additionally, videos illustrating IA concepts, like Understanding IA in App Design, can reinforce your understanding and effectively communicate the app structure to stakeholders.
Integrating Social Media Thoughtfully
Including Instagram in our app sitemap was strategic:
Media & Memories: A direct link to Instagram enhances visual storytelling without distracting from essential functions.
Social Proof: Encouraging user-generated content strengthens trust and engagement, amplifying community involvement.
However, the integration was kept subtle to avoid pulling users away prematurely, especially crucial when they’re about to book.
Humanizing the Process
Designing the IA wasn’t merely technical, it was empathetic. I imagined scenarios like Brian, who needs quick reassurance about his family’s safety, or Lisa, who wants visually appealing experiences to share with friends. The companion app is tailored to those genuine, human moments where simplicity and clarity count most.
Personas like Brian, who’s always traveling and needs quick booking management, and Lisa, a busy mom who depends on instant updates, show why designing around real-life mobile moments is so important.
Final Reflections
Our companion app’s sitemap isn’t just a simplified version of our website; it’s a distinct, user-focused experience explicitly designed for mobile contexts. By thoughtfully applying IA principles and responding directly to user feedback, we’ve created a companion app that supports, rather than duplicates, our website. It prioritizes immediacy, clarity, and actionability, enhancing user satisfaction and driving meaningful engagement.
This approach ensures that your companion app complements your website and excels at providing users precisely what they need, exactly when they need it.
This week’s blog will be a short one. I will take a look back at how things progressed and key pieces that stood out to me from a visual design process. Thanks for taking the ride with me!
The design process
Here we are at the end of one journey, the visual design journey. Time was spent over the past several weeks using design thinking to take us from brand identity to full event collateral. The key pieces which stood out to me was using the right type face for the job means knowing both your audience and your key message. From there you can apply colorization to further define the message. The use of mood boards help provide you with a direction to engage your audience. Once you have your brand identity, audience, type face, and colors it’s all about organization and layout. Organization is giving precedence to the most important message and layout is not being afraid to have too much white space to allow the design to breathe. If you’re designing for digital it also includes using grids or modular designs to stack information so that the most important information sits “above the fold.”
A quick gut check to determine whether or not you should include something is— ‘if this is the only project a potential employer saw, would they be seeing my best work?’
-Heather Phillips
Building the portfolio
Now that you have the different designs what do you do next? Well, you could let them sit where ever you have them. However, that’s not going to help you land that sweet design job or get the well earned promotion. No, what you need to do now is showcase your stuff! Like the trophies you got for extracurricular activities (sports, cheerleading, dancing, etc.). Seriously! You spend all that time doing the work now show it off like a proud parent! Okay, you’re ready. Wait! Are you planning to put everything you did up on your portfolio site? Well that’s great but what would be even better is if you were picky (like having a favorite child, but you certainly don’t tell your other kids that). So, that’s right. You should be selective when adding a design project to your portfolio. According to Heather Phillips, a Director of Design at Go Abstract, you need to determine “asset by asset.” She goes on in her Medium article 5 Dos and Don’ts for Your Design Portfolio you need to ask yourself “if this is the only project a potential employer saw, would they be seeing my best work?” As you go through each of your finished designs, make another folder labeled Portfolio and if you answer “yes” to the previous question, place a copy in the newly created folder. Then, by the time you’re done you’ll have only the designs you want to showcase. From here decide on the type of portfolio layout you want to use. On your site start to create high-level headings. That is try to create groupings that your designs fall into. Now that you have all the upfront framework in place, start adding your designs. Don’t forget to save your draft often and when finished uploading the last design, Publish! I hope you found this helpful and again, thanks for coming along for the visual design ride!
The word composition according to the Britannica dictionary is “the combination of parts or elements that make up something” (britannica.com, accessed 28-Apr-2024). Thus it is giving order and hierarchy to your design in such a way that is not aesthetically pleasing to the eye but also flows naturally. In design there are a several principles to accomplish this. These include using things like the golden ratio or rules of thirds. Additionally, selecting the correct typography for your project is yet another principle. Choosing the correct colors for your branding and mood. However, choosing and using a grid and wireframing are also important in design.
Grids
In the design world grids help a designer layout the elements in a way that they can easily see if elements will complement each other or not and adjust according to the needs of the project. For that reason, Cath Caldwell shares three types of grids; single column, multiple columns, and a modular grid. According to Caldwell “The type of grid you choose will depend on factors such as the amount of content you have, the number of pages, and whether it is a print or online project” (Caldwell, p 158).
Wireframes. What are they? Well according to Michael Angeles, an interface designer at Balsamiq and User Experience (UX) industry speaker, “wireframing is a language for communicating user interface ideas, which helps developers, designers, product managers, and stakeholders think about and understand the big-picture structure of a website or app without being distracted by the details” (Angeles, p.1). Yeah, but I’m a visual designer, not a UX designer. How does this help me? Well, actually, all designers UX, graphic, or otherwise can benefit from wireframing. Why? Because as Angeles states it will help you and your stakeholders align on a layout before spending countless hours on development. This in turn helps the project be more efficient and you look more professional.
Source: Personal copy
Applying lessons to a Newsletter
This week, I was challenged to create both a wireframe and comp layout for an Email Newsletter for a company of my choosing. I decided to continue my journey with Tre Fichi Infused Olive Oils. Before going into my wireframing tool of choice, I did a rough sketch of an idea I had. Then, as I do with many of my designs I immediately went into Balsamiq to begin wireframing. However, this time armed with the knowledge of grids, I designed the Email newsletter using a 6-grid column on a standard email width of about 650 pixels. Once I was happy with the wireframe, I moved over to Illustrator where I applied the wireframe layout.
Applying lessons to a Website
In addition to an Email Newsletter, I was also challenged to again create both a wireframe and comp layout. Except this time was for a website Homepage. Continuing with Tre Fichi Infused Olive Oils, I approached the website in the same manner. An initial sketch to start to get my wireframing juices flowing. Again, using grid knowledge, I designed the Tre Fichi Homepage in the standard 12-grid style. The desktop size I used was a standard 1920 pixels wide. However, to view the entire Homepage, I expanded the height to 2160 pixels. I got to fiddling in Balsamiq and then when I felt it was good to go, I moved over to Illustrator where I applied the wireframe layout using the same dimensions.
Initial sketch of Website
Website – Left: Wireframe and Right: Comp Layout based on wireframe
Conclusion
A lot was learned, not only in this last week, but over the past several weeks. This week was a chance to put everything I learned together into a finished piece. Using Design Thinking isn’t easy but with practice can be a fun creative outlet. I discovered the rules are there to take your design from zero to hero if you just trust in the process.
Citations
Angeles, M., Barnard, L., & Carlson, B. (2023). Wireframing for everyone. A Book Apart.
Caldwell, C. (2019). Graphic design for everyone: Understand the building blocks so you can do it yourself (R. Skene, Ed.). Dorling Kindersley Limited.
“Designers use grids to organize content and manage the clarity of a message”
– Jenn & Ken Visocky O’Grady
Visual Design thinking has a lot of moving parts to make it all work together. One thing I learned this week is that every good design starts with intent. That is, a Visual Designer must remember the basics, hierarchy, and composition. One of the basics is structure. In Graphic Design for Everyone, Caldwell points out “No matter how simple the design, it needs structure – an ordered and logical way of positioning elements” (Caldwell, 133). According to Caldwell, using one of the three most common structures will achieve the goal of getting your audience to the important pieces of your design in a logical way. The most common structure she describes are Golden Ratio, Rule of Thirds, and Modular. Reading our required reading reminded me of a quote from Jenn and Ken Visocky O’Grady’s book The Information Design Handbook. In their chapter on structure and grid systems, they say “Designers use grids to organize content and mange the clarity of a message” (O’Grady, 98).
Focus the audience
When your designing a layout, along with the organization and structure is a hierarchy which helps to guide the eye to the areas the designer want them to go. This is important because there is a purpose to the content being consumed by the audience. Connie Malamed, a visual designer and instructional designer with over 20 years, says there are two reasons for directing the audiences eyes. In her book Visual language for designers: Principles for creating graphics for creating graphics that people understand, Malamed states you want “to steer the viewer’s attention along a path according to the intended ranking order and to draw the viewer’s attention to specific elements of importance” (Malamed, 71). Martina Bretous, a writer for the HubSpot marketing blog echo’s similar tone on the importance of good hierarchy. In her article 7 Visual Hierarchy Principles for Every Marketer, Bretous says “create a visual structure that facilitates understanding and guides the user” (Bretrous, 2023).
Patterns Emerge
At this point as a newer designer, I was becoming overwhelmed, but I began to recount previous a reading as an Instructional Designer about hierarchy and the planning of patterns. In her book Visual Design Solutions: Principals and Creative Inspiration for Learning Professionals, Connie Malamed reminds us that as humans when we read there is a pattern to how we view things. She explains that “The most common eye-scanning movements of people who read in left-to-right languages is an F pattern. The next most common is the Z pattern.” (Malamed, 160). Knowing this eye-scanning movement helps the designer be thoughtful and methodical where they place images, text, and calls to action so the audience does with the visual design was meant to do. Below is an example of the website I based my project on regarding event promotion. Notice how the viewer starts left at the logo (1), then moves across to the right for the login (2). Then as they scan diagonally down to the left a “hero” image or video is in the middle. As they arrive at the lower left there’s useful information (3) and finally they move to the lower right where the call-to-action (CTA) is, which in this case is to play the game (4).
Promotion
So, for this weeks project we were tasked with creating several assets as part of a event promotion. We could choose any large scale event. It had to be large scale because the assets we created for the event were:
Flyer
Poster
Facebook banner
Instagram posts (3)
VIP Invitation
T-shirt
The event I chose was the annual CitizenCon. This is similar to Comic Con but instead for a PC Game my son and I have backed for the last 10 years. Each year they hold the conference in different locations. This year’s will be held in Manchester, UK, their headquarters (HQ). Since I’m vested because I’m going, I elected this event. Below are the different assets I created with a brief explanation of choices I made.
Flyer and Poster
First up was the flyer. I did have a poster of this event from a previous project. However, I wanted to update and give it a fresh look. As you can see in the sketch below, I was planning to reuse the venue as a focal point and rearrange the elements around it. I was always trying to keep the event logo center prominence as the event was what was important. Using the design ideas from our book, I tried to give ranking order to dominance. As I got into the design, I abandoned the venue idea and brought in the element which the game is about…outer space.
Social Media
For the social media piece the focus as stated earlier was on Facebook and Instagram. Here I had to look up what the dimension needed to be so they fit appropriately. For Facebook I found and used the dimensions 1920×1005 pixels and for Instagram it was 1080×1080 pixels. The Facebook design I used the event logo over a sepia sort of toned venue image on the left. Keeping with including the important elements, I also wanted to entice my audience by utilizing a few of the known characters who are voiced by celebrities such as Mark Hamill. Each of the Instagram post had their intention too. The first would be the initial post get the audience “psyched up” to attend. The next post would entice those who enjoy the cosplay experience. The final post was aimed at appealing to the “nerd” who wants to meet the celebrity who voices their favorite character in the game.
VIPs Only Please
Designing the VIP invitation was probably the most fun next to the T-shirt (coming up next). Keeping with the flyer and poster theme was important to keep the cohesion of the entire event. First I sketched the invitation in order to get what elements I wanted to include on the invitation and what rank I would give. However, the twist on this asset was that I made the invitation as if the player (as an officer of the game’s military) was receiving a direct invitation from their highest ranking officer. I felt that using the storyline element weaved into the design will intrigue the person who would receive this invitation. As an incentive, I included a sample on their invitation of the swag item they would get (a collectors badge based on their level of ticket they purchase).
Everyone wants a T-shirt
As with a few of the assets I delivered, I had an idea for a T-shirt design and drew it up on my Remarkable pad. The initial design didn’t pan out because I needed to keep in mind that the theme had to pull through as many elements that were in the print and digital promotional assets already. Therefore, my final design kept some of the main elements like the event logo being prominent, the location of the event, and incorporating a few of the characters to draw the audience in to want to come and receive or buy the swag.
Caldwell, C. (2019). Graphic design for everyone: Understand the building blocks so you can do it yourself (R. Skene, Ed.). Dorling Kindersley Limited.
Images and illustration are an integral part of visual design. In her book Graphic Design for Everyone, Cath Caldwell points out that “anyone can snap a photo, but getting the most from photography takes forward thinking.” (Caldwell, 2019) However, what does that even mean? Luckily the book goes on to provide examples and go over the finer points of taking images for the purpose of impact. Oliver Laurent, editor for TIME LightBox online blog also wanted to know why images were so important. He interviewed thirteen of his colleagues to answer “Why they do it?” There were a lot of reasons around the question. Some similar, some different. However, Sarah Leen’s answer around time struck a chord with me since I was recently thinking about my parents who passed several years ago. Ms. Leen stated “Photography can defeat time. Images can keep the memory of a loved one alive, hold a moment in history for future generations, be a witness to tragedy or joy.” This was especially true with my daughter celebrating her Junior year of High School with her Ring Mass and Prom this week. I couldn’t help but pull out old photographs of my parents and talk to them saying “You’d be proud of your granddaughter especially now.” I got emotional just typing that so imagine what an image for a brand or in an eLearning can do if done properly. That’s only images.
Another piece of the puzzle for graphic design is illustrations. Images are powerful when you get the right composition, lighting, and perspective but illustrations can help show how to do a task such as tying a knot in a rope, or provide context to a period of time that predates photographs being available. These are not the only uses for illustrations. Perhaps you needs something whimsical like for a children’s book or to point out a location on a simplified map. It’s clear however, that both of these mediums are important in graphic design work.
Finding the Right Mood
So, remember just a bit ago I mentioned I was remembering my parents. Well, that was while eating my salad (with Oil and Vinegar) from Panera’s. Additionally, my daughter is going to visit Southern Italy this Summer. While there she’ll visit an olive oil farm, among other farms. Because of all this, I decided to focus in on creating assets for Three Figs Olive Oil company in my dad’s hometown of Cosenza, Calabria, Italy. I started off thinking about what the company would offer. Then the first one hit me “Duh it has to be Fig infused Olive Oil Tony! It’s in their name after all.” Now, that I had the first one FIGured out, what where the other two infusions. Then I decided to honor our surname I would have Rose Petals and the last one Ginger is a nod to my martial arts ties. Wait, Tony what sort of mood would each of these have? Have no fear, with the help of Envato Elements I was able to quickly find photographs that helped to set the mood for each of the infusions. Each image were carefully selected to tie to what I connect with when I think of each infusion to be used in the olive oil. Have a look!
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Label it again Sam
Okay. I had my three moods which incorporated the purple of the figs, the pink of the Damask rose, and the tan from things like porridge, couscous, and scented candles. However, what should the label look like? What should the typeface be? Will it have color illustration or a sketch outline? Where will each of the elements on the label go? What type of bottle is being used (tall cylinder or square metal can, or something else)? To get a good sense of the illustration and label design, I needed to try and answer these. I did a rough sketch of the label with callouts to the elements. As you will see from my rough sketch and finished labels, the design changed or as I like to say evolved.
Rough sketch of label with elementsTranslated rough sketch in Illustrator
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Would you like one of our brochures?
With the labels made I was feeling good. I thought “WOW! I’m almost there.” Then it hit me. How would I incorporate my images and my illustrations into a cohesive brochure. Well it wasn’t easy but thankfully during the label making process, I remembered to place the labels on some sample product. I just needed some additional images to use. Since this was a nod to my dad’s hometown I started with an old image of my grandparents from when they were back in the old country. It was black and white. I brought it into Photoshop and colorized it. From there I placed it on the inset of the brochure and let the olive color bleed through to give it the look of being shot like that. In addition to using personal imagery and created product, I used images of olives and an olive oil farm to tie it all together. I placed the 3 product lines within a farm shot. Then, that image was spread across the lower front of the brochure to remind you of what the brochure was about and it continued to the back where the call to action (CTA) was located. Well, thanks for taking this journey with me. I hope you enjoyed the ride and got something new out of this blog.
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Citations
Hearn, J. S., & Caldwell, C. (2019). Building Blocks. In Graphic Design For Everyone (pp. 91–123). essay, DK Publishing.
