School of Motion: Level Up Your Animation & Design Skills
In 2020, School of Motion (SOM), an online school specializing in animation, design, VFX, and 3D training, launched a social media campaign to showcase its project-based learning approach and engage a growing community of aspiring creatives. The campaign aimed to highlight how SOM’s courses equip students with real-world skills by featuring student success stories, hands-on projects, and expert insights from industry leaders. By leveraging Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, we created an interactive experience that not only raised awareness but also drove student enrollments and built a thriving community of passionate learners.
Client: School of Motion
Industry: Online Education (Animation, Design, VFX, and 3D)
Role: Lead Graphic Designer
Agency: Uhuru Network
Year: 2020
Tools: Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, Facebook Ads Manager, Instagram, YouTube
The Project
In 2020, School of Motion (SOM) approached us to support their social media advertising efforts aimed at promoting their animation, design, VFX, and 3D courses. SOM already had an established brand identity, including a comprehensive brand book that guided their visual language, color scheme, and tone of voice. Our task was to design a series of paid social media ads that would drive awareness and enrollments, ensuring that the visual assets adhered to SOM's branding while also standing out in a crowded digital landscape.
As the graphic designer on this project, my role was to take SOM's brand guidelines and translate them into engaging social media ads that spoke directly to their target audience of aspiring creatives, while clearly showcasing the value of SOM's hands-on, project-based learning approach.
Key Challenges
Adhering to Brand Guidelines: The key challenge was staying within the boundaries of SOM’s brand book while creating ads that felt fresh and eye-catching.
Engagement & Conversion: Designing ads that not only grabbed attention but also encouraged viewers to take action—clicking through to the website and enrolling in courses.
Platform-Specific Design: Each platform—Instagram, Facebook—has its own design specifications and user behaviors, so the challenge was creating ad variations that performed well on each platform.
Design Strategy & Execution
1. Visual Consistency with SOM's Brand Guidelines
SOM provided a detailed brand book, which was essential in ensuring all ads adhered to their established visual identity. The design needed to be instantly recognizable as SOM.
2. Platform Optimization
Each ad was designed to perform optimally on the specific platform it was intended for. Instagram & Facebook Carousel Ads: I created a series of carousel ads with a focus on engaging visuals, breaking down course benefits in short, digestible slides. This format allowed for a mix of imagery, testimonials, and key course features.
3. Crafting Engaging Messaging
The design was only half the battle—the messaging had to be just as compelling. I worked closely with the client’s marketing team to ensure the copy was clear and aligned with SOM’s tone of voice attention-grabbing headlines. I used concise, action-oriented headlines that highlighted the practical skills students would gain by taking SOM’s courses.
4. A/B Testing & Optimization
I designed multiple variations of each ad to test which combinations of visuals and messaging resonated best with the audience. By analyzing ad performance metrics, we could refine the designs and messaging for optimal engagement and conversion.
Results & Impact
Increased Engagement: The ads generated a high volume of interactions across social platforms, including likes, shares, and comments, thanks to their visually engaging and informative content.
Higher Click-Through Rate (CTR): A/B testing helped refine the designs, and as a result, the CTR increased by 20%, leading to more visitors to the website.
Course Enrollments: The ads drove a notable uptick in course sign-ups, directly contributing to SOM’s goal of increasing student enrollments and expanding their reach.
Brand Awareness: Through consistent ad placements across Instagram and Facebook, SOM's brand awareness grew significantly. The recognizable design and messaging helped reinforce SOM as a leader in online education for animation, design, and VFX.
Key Takeaways
Consistency is Key: Adhering to brand guidelines ensures consistency and strengthens brand recognition, even in ad formats that may be viewed for just a few seconds.
Tailoring Designs to Platforms: Understanding the nuances of each platform (Instagram, Facebook, YouTube) is essential for optimizing engagement. Customizing designs to each format ensures the ads resonate with the target audience.
Effective A/B Testing: Testing different design variations and copy helped optimize ad performance, ensuring the campaign was as effective as possible.
Actionable Call to Actions: A strong, clear call to action in every ad is essential for driving conversions and turning awareness into tangible results.
