Thinkful Motion Identity

Trollbäck+Company was approached to design a new suite of motion design tools and guidelines for Thinkful, a career accelerator that trains, mentors, and finances people’s career changes into the world of tech. I was tasked with helping create the motion language in order to bring the company's visual identity to life.

Thinkful Motion Identity

Trollbäck+Company was approached to design a new suite of motion design tools and guidelines for Thinkful, a career accelerator that trains, mentors, and finances people’s career changes into the world of tech. I was tasked with helping create the motion language in order to bring the company's visual identity to life.

Context

Thinkful is a groundbreaking career accelerator with an incredible business model—where you pay nothing until you’re hired and get your tuition back if you don’t get a job in tech. Collaborating with Thinkful’s instructional design team, we developed a motion identity for the company that helps express who they are and what they stand for. Inspired by the brand’s strategy, we developed a suite of engaging, dynamic motion design tools for their video lessons that will aid students through their courses, foster empathy, accessibility, and dedication whenever, wherever.

Context

Thinkful is a groundbreaking career accelerator with an incredible business model—where you pay nothing until you’re hired and get your tuition back if you don’t get a job in tech. Collaborating with Thinkful’s instructional design team, we developed a motion identity for the company that helps express who they are and what they stand for. Inspired by the brand’s strategy, we developed a suite of engaging, dynamic motion design tools for their video lessons that will aid students through their courses, foster empathy, accessibility, and dedication whenever, wherever.

Motion Language

In order to reflect Thinkful’s mission to “build the world’s next workforce,” we needed to create a complementary motion language that would convey the brand’s passionate, optimistic, hardworking personality. Using acceleration as a conceptual starting point, we designed a collection of styles that stack, scale, and transition to what’s next while emphasizing the velocity and acceleration at the heart of their offering.

By reducing information and motion to their most essential elements, we were able to design and animate with finesse, focusing on legibility and consistency with curated bursts of color. Additionally, handwritten assets mimic common note-taking styles in a way that feels honest, intelligent, and human.

Guides + Toolkits

In order to guide Thinkful’s teams as they instruct designers and external experts, we also developed a comprehensive style guide to create a clear overview of strategy, elements, how-to’s, and dos and don’ts. A complete motion toolkit further helps streamline the brand’s motion identity, standardizing everything from title cards to course overviews, lower thirds, infographics, definitions, and more. The result is a system that moves, scales, and makes connections with maximum ease and clarity.