Humacyte
Motion Identity
Building Humacyte's first motion identity. Transforming a static brand system into a scalable language for video and motion design.
How do you take an existing brand and establish consistent motion language that can scale across different types of video content while still being accessible to other creatives? You build a repeatable motion identity.
Consistency: Videos must feel unmistakably like the current Humacyte brand
Flexibility: The system has to work across intro/outros, titles, lower thirds, transitions, backgrounds, bugs and other applications.
Scalability: External vendors need to be able to use parts of the system without rebuilding animations or interpreting the motion language themselves.
Humacyte came to us with an established visual identity logos, brand guidelines and a library of static design elements—but no defined motion language.
The challenge was to translate that existing identity into a cohesive system for video. How should typography enter and exit? How should graphic elements transition? How should the logo reveal itself? And how could those decisions remain consistent across everything Humacyte created?
Rather than approaching each deliverable as a standalone animation, the goal was to establish a set of motion principles that could extend across the entire brand creating a recognizable visual rhythm while remaining flexible enough for different types of content. The result would need to work beyond a single project, giving Humacyte and its production partners a repeatable system for creating branded motion content moving forward.
The goal wasn't simply to animate the brand. It was to define how the Humacyte brand moves.
The ChallengeWe were provided only a hand full of assets to begin with. A simple graphic motif, rebranded fonts and brand colors.
What we received
Motion LanguageMotion Values
Logo Movement
Text/Image Movement
TypographyType Animation
TransitionsThese transitions can be used in both motion graphics and video footage. We reduced our transitions into three simple types: circular transition wipe, circular transition center and slide cut.
The Motion ToolkitA flexible system built for every touchpoint
CD & AD: Michael Lapp
Illustration: River + Wolf
Animation: Michael Lapp
Sound FX: Custom
Studio: Richter
Credits