r/MotionDesign • u/Quiet-Bell6227 • 19d ago
Question How do I deal with like senior designers drooling over opus and AI motion design rather than actual motion design.
I'm a senior motion designer (5+ years) working on product motion. Lately my team and leadership are chasing every new AI motion tool. The results from tools like Opus can look impressive at first glance, but the quality isn't there. I'm aiming for Apple-level motion: considered easing, physics that feel right, consistency across the system. As they always we want apple level of motion design in their launch videos and all. The problem is that leadership doesn't seem to notice the difference, and they approve AI output that lacks craft. Another motion designer on my team leans on AI for almost everything and ships mediocre results with minimal effort. Because that gets approved, it's making it hard to justify the time I put into doing things properly. I don't want to just complain. How do you handle a team where taste and craft aren't valued, and speed plus novelty win? Do you fight it, adapt, or leave?
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u/Secret-Lawfulness-47 19d ago
I’m Director of a Marketing company and a lot of what we do is animated videos for events, social or explainers for huge multinational clients and government.
I face this with my CEO who keeps pushing me to use cheaper vendors who use AI. I resisted as long as I could until I became the guy who is needlessly blocking progression on the work.
There is a difference between business communications and art. Business doesn’t care about art, we carry that banner for ourselves and our peers and a tiny percentage of audiences who notice.
It saddens me to admit this, but money talks, and there is no way anymore to justify craft when the job can be done for 1/4 the cost or less, without the impeccable colouring, layout, timing or pacing or other details, no one cares except us. The video objectively is done by AI, client accepts, and that’s it. Even if you do get someone who agrees the hand made one is better, it’s a tall ask to stretch that to asking for them to pay 4x the amount. What AI does is fast and “good enough” which is good enough for them.
We are entering a world where we know it will be worse for a while, but don’t be the person that is seen as being picky or snobby. Get studies on the subject and back your opinions up with studies, facts and feedback if you want to change. Not your opinion. The suits don’t care about our opinions - they care about things like (30% of the audience said they have a negative view of brands that use AI for comms - here’s the study)
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u/rubberjohnny1 18d ago
"This meets the minimum standard, so let’s move on.”
It's a tale as old as time. Just check a box as cheap and quick as possible, mark it up and pocket the difference.
But it's a race to the bottom and you'll get to a point that the work isn't even worth doing because there is literally no margin left.
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u/Secret-Lawfulness-47 18d ago
It’s shit but it is what it is. Thats how business managers bump up the margins to get their bonuses
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u/rubberjohnny1 18d ago
I agree that has always been true on the low end. And things always get silly when clients are telling designer HOW to do their work.
For premium work you don't really dictate the tools or process. You leave any AI integration to the studio or designer to use as they see fit and they'll own the efficiencies instead of the clients.
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u/Secret-Lawfulness-47 18d ago
There are plenty of AI-dependent studios now that popped up offering the same segment of work for much less cost and time
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u/rubberjohnny1 18d ago
In your opinion what are the 3 best AI-dependent studios? I am generally curious because I don't know of any. I just see lots of these cookie cutter AI platforms where you get credits, but it is still up to you to actually figure out how make something.
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u/Euphoric-Werewolf367 19d ago
It’s “good enough” for now because expectations haven’t caught up. Eventually there will be negative ROI as a consequence of over-reliance on this tech.
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u/surrealstruggle 19d ago
"worse for a while"
Why a while only and not like.. constantly?Link the study, pls.
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u/Secret-Lawfulness-47 18d ago
Disclosure and purchase intent (Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, 2026): https://www.sciencedirect.com/org/science/article/abs/pii/S2040712226000034
Disclosure and authenticity, brand trust: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/389674886_Revealing_AI_Involvement_in_Ad_Creation_Effects_on_Authenticity_Brand_Perceptions_and_Consumer_Intentions
Instagram travel advertising and disclosure: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563226001445
Role disclosure transparency (Psychology & Marketing, 2026): https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mar.70175
"Made with AI" disclosure framing: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41270-026-00534-7
Flaw disclosure in AI ads (Frontiers in Psychology, 2026): https://www.researchgate.net/publication/414723505_When_AI_admits_its_flaws_authenticity_and_novelty_pathways_of_flaw_disclosure_in_AI-generated_advertising
IAB, "The AI Ad Gap Widens": https://www.iab.com/insights/the-ai-gap-widens/1
u/surrealstruggle 18d ago
The very first link kind of contradicts your statement.
Findings
The results reveal that AI disclosure diminishes advertising value and purchase intentions. The relationships are negatively mediated by advertising credibility and positively moderated by consumer attitudes towards AI.
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u/Secret-Lawfulness-47 18d ago
It is still very early and a lot of these have very limited sample sets but there are many findings that support how we feel, however we must be careful not to look for studies that reinforce.
In my anecdotal level personal experience I know many who dont care and many who agree, personally have a visceral negative reaction to AI looking slop which I explain at work as “it smells rotten”, however many people don’t notice and think it is fine.
The question is what proportion of your audience are the “don’t care” and how many are “this stinks”. Differs by context
Where the proportion of audience who feel “it stinks” is bigger than 20-30% (roughly speaking) that’s too big of a number to alienate. Some other contexts (training explainers for example, or where using an AI workflow allows for rapid updating of content in outputs impractical to be hand done) AI really does get the job done
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u/Sorry-Poem7786 19d ago
senior in my book is 10 years.. 5 is just getting the hang of things.. the fact you can’t figure it out means you are not a senior.. no matter what the problem what serves the project? What serves quality? what serves the clients goals? what serves the needs for the company to make a profit while proving the best work? What wins awards? What is fastest but allows changes? as long as you are serving the best interests of things beyond your ego.. then you have something the decision makers have to consider..
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u/Missa_avaler_foutre 19d ago
Are your clients big ? I have not noticed this trend for projects other than influencers or little web business yet. (Maybe i'm wrong)
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u/mck_motion 19d ago
Have you ever heard of a company called Coca Cola?
They're all scummy bastards who would feed your children in to the AI machine if it made it 1% more productive.
I'm sure they're currently brewing up some more Christmas slop!
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u/tilemaker 19d ago
Take this from a designer who’s currently working on coca cola, they dip their toes in the ai pool, got a TON of pushback and are also doing traditional work with traditional artists.
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u/mck_motion 18d ago
Interesting! Do you think they're going to make AI slop Christmas 3 this year? I was so surprised when the second came out because the first got slaughtered.
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u/tilemaker 18d ago
They probably will, it’s a different vendor so not completely sure. generative ai definitely isn’t going anywhere, but consumers really hate it. People hate being sold to, and they really hate being sold via ai slop so there will be a push toward authenticity. As far as motion design, there are several ai tools, those will keep evolving I’m sure, but there needs to be an artist with taste and restraint that is directing the vision (that’s where we come in). I always think of ai tools like autonomous vehicles - sure one day we may not actually need to drive, but that car isn’t going to tell us what errands we need to run. For everyone thinking some CMO isn’t going to sit down and hit a button has never met a CMO in their life.
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u/Missa_avaler_foutre 19d ago
At their level, i think the ai slop badbuzz was a test and a showcase at the same time. They're so big that it would have been a missed opportunity to take the temperature with all settings on max...
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u/Comfortable_Law3683 19d ago
Omnicom has over 100K employees, for the biggest clients in the world. They use AI for EVERYTHING. Its only little agencies that haven't skilled up yet in that domain that are still safe.
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u/Quiet-Bell6227 19d ago
Nope i don't have any clients 😞 just on a job 🧿 paycheck that too not enough for savings just comes and goes and even i couldn't make my own workstation or buy a macbook for my own personal thing or for freelance as I don't have one and couldn't due to not getting paid much attention my job.
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u/laranjacerola 19d ago
I've been working at a company where this lack of care for quality happens. Been 5 years there.
I guess the difference is that I am the most expelrienced designer of 2 but I am requested to do way more tha motion design.
I have been desperately hunting for a better job where that hopefully is not the case or where ar least I can focus on motion design only... 3 years job hunting. 5 interviews only. No offers
Frankly, just accept your situation and put your energy on creating personal projects at the quality level you want to do, for portfolio, and start hunting for another job.
But don't expect to find one soon.
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u/Quiet-Bell6227 19d ago
Why are you downvoting my comments and questions guys is this how motion design community has become like putting down a guy who's already going through trouble rather than helping him.
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u/WhoopsDroppedTheBaby 19d ago
Your concerns are valid, but some of your replies lack focus and sound immature. People are asking you clarifying questions and you go on a rant with every reply.
Anyway, you still got some good advice here.
My advice is similar. Your employer is not going to start magically valuing longer turnarounds for better design and animation. I recommend you learn AI tools that accelerate your expertise, while maintaining your level of quality.
Also, not every project requires the same level of fit and finish, learn where you can spend more time on output and where you can use AI shortcuts.
Ultimately, if you want the high level of quality in your work, you may need to look for another gig or put that effort into personal/freelance gigs.
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u/TH3PhilipJFry 19d ago
If leadership is onboard, that’s the direction things will go. You can continue doing your job and evolving to changing preferences, or you can leave and pursue something else to better itch your artistic interests.
Are you at your company to get paid or to make art? Their paycheck is gonna come from doing what they want. You can steer your own ship in your own way, but don’t expect to be the hero for continually being the squeaky wheel about AI.
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u/Missa_avaler_foutre 19d ago
True. You can take money and fight for the cause at the same time imo.
Feed the dumbs with what they want and make great designs and engaging projects with people that share your vision
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u/Quiet-Bell6227 19d ago
Yeah, they always sideline me and praisee the other motion designer guy who spits AI shit slop and makes like very bad motion and is not helping or cooperative too just like a shit sits there pulls out AI slop gets praise goes home and getting paid more than me.
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u/mck_motion 19d ago
This is absolutely shit and unfair, BUT we all have to realise the vast majority of suits in this industry went to school to learn how to make money and accidentally fell in to animation. It's just a product to them, and it doesn't matter what it is as long as it sells.
Our passion is getting the graph editor right, the only graph they care about is the number going up.
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u/4321zxcvb 19d ago
If ai slop is getting the praise then I’m not sure your work can be all that great. Perhaps your own prejudice and ego are getting in the way of your judgement about which work is better ?
If someone was producing ai motion work that was consistently considered better that whay I make I’d be very fucking worried about my output not what others are doing .
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u/motionick 19d ago
I think that says more about you tbh
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u/Quiet-Bell6227 19d ago
Bro I followed your tutorial from long ago didn't expect you to be so harsh on me.
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u/surrealstruggle 19d ago
Yeah, how dare he? You followed his tutorial, after all!
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u/Quiet-Bell6227 19d ago
Man 🤣😭 you didn't get the context I was sad like he can have said with love this thing too.
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u/Sea_Investigator8403 19d ago
Conpletely anecdotal, but ive noticed creative directors and art directors who are so far removed from doing actual design work are the ones pushing this so aggresively. It's disapointing "pulling ladder up" behavior.
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u/the_rock_licker 19d ago
holy shit yes, i feel like they get to “art direct” ai and they like it more. im coming to terms with the fact we don’t make art (unless its personal) we make essentially ads… ai gives u ability to make ads faster/cheaper. its why company’s get to save millions and pay artist less. ai will never be able touch art and i will die on that hill.
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u/Quiet-Bell6227 19d ago
Especially so called product designers they think they know it all while they know nothing
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u/Popular_Slip_5311 18d ago
i keep saying the people who's job is to sit in meetings and bullshit should have already been replaced by Chat GPT 2. but somehow they still have a job
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u/consumer_fleet 19d ago
How would these AI tools deal with iterations and feedback loops? Genuinely curious question, I'm a senior 3d motion designer myself but that question always stuck with me and made me avoid AI for the most part.
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u/Quiet-Bell6227 19d ago
Yeah currently what is flooded on the internet social media is one prompt sizzle video not a final thing which is actually an industry standard or like something inspiring 🧐. Everybody who hasn't done motion design are getting a dopamine boost oh they created a video by single prompt while they haven't touched after effects or video editing software ever. Never explored what is motion design actually is.So, it's a big thing for these guys and everybody is like motion designers are cooked.
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19d ago
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u/Euphoric-Werewolf367 19d ago
There’s 0 chance this won’t come back to bite them in the ass. There’s no way this won’t cause the quality of the work to suffer. If everybody is using the same tools and shitting it out ASAP then it’s going to look like everything else everybody else is making, which is going to look cheap. Which will hurt their brand.
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u/iantense 19d ago
it takes about as long to iterate with the MCP as it would be to just make all the adjustments by hand.
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u/Popular_Slip_5311 18d ago
way slower unless it's writing code straight into the software. otherwise you're sending screenshots.
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u/iantense 16d ago
the MCP does write code with Python, from my experience. which makes it hard to review/direct.
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u/Popular_Slip_5311 18d ago
if you put your mind to procedural animation and use AI to create your own workflows/setups for it, you will outperform your low effort colleagues in quality speed and control. they'll always be low effort. or just put the same effort in your work as your colleagues and keep the good stuff for yourself.
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u/GeorgeMKnowles 19d ago
If they're your peers, and not people under your direct supervision, you let them find their own path in their career and never think about it again.
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u/MrShelby_ After Effects 19d ago
It’s only happening on the lower sector of the market, big clients are definitely curious, but need way more flexibility.
As others have said here, I’d suggest you pick your battles, and hey, if they want you to spend your time researching rather than animating, let them! I’m sure you will benefit from that too.
Coming from someone who has been close to 15 years into this industry btw!
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u/iantense 19d ago
co-workers who spend all day worrying about what's on instagram/twitter is a growing trend. I would try to ignore it and the results will speak for themselves.
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u/Lemonpiee 19d ago
What you’re describing isn’t a new problem. 90% of clients have never heard of “motion design”… they don’t know the difference between an animator and an art director. They haven’t ever cared what it looks like beyond their initial brief. These clients also know they aren’t Apple and aren’t going to have motion like Apple.
There’s only a handful of times per year that you’ll get to make something “creative”, where someone on the client side actually cares and wants to push the work with each iteration.
Forums like these are an echo chamber when it comes to AI. Calling it “slop” just means you’re detached from the realities of the world and this business and you’re burying your head in the sand. If you don’t adapt and add this to your workflow, you will be replaced by someone who has. Our output is expected to grow substantially now that this tool is here. No one cares about your craft, they care about the end product. They want more assets and more variants and they want it sooner than ever. They don’t care about the ease or physics like you do. Learn the tool, it’s never going away.
In my line of work, 3D Motion / VFX, we’re using AI for every single project. I’m employed because I use it efficiently. The clients know it exists and they’re paying us much less because of it. We no longer hire modelers on my team, almost every model and texture is generated. Clients send us a reference and we create the model with Tripo or Meshy or Rodin. I use Astra & Blender to lay out scenes. Houdini FX mode graphs are promoted entirely by ChatGPT. Whole shots are run through Seedance to enhance elements then upressed and run through comp. A few years ago, some of these jobs would take months and a slew of modelers and texture artists to generate assets, now we have weeks and 3 artists.
Do I love this new reality? Fuck no. I miss how it was. I miss working with big teams of people. I’m sad that people I know are unemployed because they don’t know how to adapt or they don’t have the kind of portfolio needed these days to get work or their network isn’t big enough. But you have to keep hustling and learning and retooling or you’re going to be sitting alone playing with your curves in your graph editor all by yourself.
Your job is defined by your output, not your process. Good luck.
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u/AppropriateGarbage12 19d ago
That's been keeping me awake too. I just started motion design a few months ago, I think I'm good enough to atleast make money. I have a few clients too and it's relatively stable. But the fear of AI keeps me up at night, should I incorporate more of it into my workflow or perhaps calm down!? I don't know what to do.
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u/Acceptable-Tea-9811 18d ago
You should definitely incorporate AI. Everyone who doesn’t is already getting left behind. Heck, you can generate FREE images in ChatGPT as backgrounds for your animations, or device mock-ups (this is currently trending everywhere) - this costs you nothing and is a very basic example of using AI to significantly boost your output.
As a 31 y’o Senior Motion Designer, I’ve come to realise this has always been the case. New tech & trends emerge and people who want to stay competitive have to adapt. Age seems to be the driving factor - teens & 20s tend to adapt fast & excited; people in their 30s groan, 40+ outright complain and people across each group progressively drop out. And keep in mind those 30/40+ y’olds were adapting when they were younger - to the motion trends and newly-available tools back then - it simply gets more tiring for them with the years piling up, or they get lazy - in any case that’s the future for everyone in this (and similar) profession.
Idk why I went into this rant.
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u/AppropriateGarbage12 18d ago
Funny story, just yesterday I used Claude to recreate or sorta trace the UI for this app in AE via shape layers, text and the like. The accuracy was scary. And because it's layers. I can keyframe and modify them however I want. The ultimate accelerant
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u/Acceptable-Tea-9811 17d ago
Did you connect Claude to AE using Higgsfield? If yes, isn’t that pricey?
You can import images in ChatGPT/Claude directly and tell it to convert them to vectors - it will export an SVG that you can then edit in Illustrator/Figma/AE. I would actually open the svg in Illustrator and break down only the elements I want to animate. Be wary that if you have everything in shape layers in AAE the file becomes very large and slow to render - especially for detailed UIs.
The real use of direct MCP for AAE is if you plan to let it actually animate something - but I’ve not tested that yet. If your goal is assets preparation, or even expression/script/plugin coding, then you can use Claude/ChatGPT directly.
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u/AppropriateGarbage12 17d ago
I wanted to use an mcp and connect to higgsfield but I use AE 2020 unfortunately. I just did asset prep and scripts. I don trust it enough to code, at least for now
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u/Quiet-Bell6227 19d ago
Same here twin 😭
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u/Missa_avaler_foutre 19d ago
Senior motion designer and AD. Send me a PM, i can check your works if you want a feedback ;)
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u/smokingPimphat 19d ago
Use it where it makes sense, and don't use where you can do the same thing faster and better.
In production generally speed of rounds can trump quality. This is one of many reasons why stock footage and comps/project files are so popular and often used.
AI can speed up producing templates, effect stacks/presets and build ultra niche plugins/scripts that only you, your team or even your company will ever need and use.
Some projects also don't demand Buck level animation. If they did, your clients would probably just hire them instead of your shop. But you can totally leverage AI to find clever ways to raise the overall quality of what you and team are already good at doing. If your leads want you to use AI, then make a R&D plan to build out tooling that will speed up the human created parts instead of replacing the humans outright.
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u/maketheleft 19d ago
Whenever I see posts like this I wish the OP would put up a link to their work. As far as using AI, it sucks but it is a reality, have you ever tried using an MCP in after effects?
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u/Quiet-Bell6227 19d ago
Yeah I tried it myself it's not that helpful but sometimes for scripts and things
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u/the_rock_licker 19d ago
in 1 year no one will be needed to make ads/products. all will come from ai
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u/maketheleft 19d ago
And In two years we won’t need bankers, three years lawyers, 4 years doctors?!
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u/Comfortable_Law3683 19d ago
Thank god, but AI sucks at white collar work. Even coding, its only impacting front end scripting. Its just the creative roles that AI can do so well. Visual and audio production are just geometry and physics at the end of the day.
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u/maketheleft 19d ago
Visual production being called geometry and physics is like calling writing letters and spelling. Rendering was never the hard part outside of power. The hard part is knowing what to make, why, and for whom, then taking a client's vague notes and turning them into something that works. AI is good at the first pass. It's bad at the fourth round of contradictory feedback.
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u/Popular_Slip_5311 18d ago
ai always looks impressive in a field you have no idea about. i do art and design and i thin it's brilliant for coding. i make an app in 2 hours and it's perfect. it's just pieces of code
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u/Academic_Bison_1102 19d ago
Could you do a presentation showing a side-by-side comparison pointing out the level of craft you are aiming for vs what the AI lacks? Show you are still on board with using AI as tools ( you don't want to come across as too critical cuz that will probably burn you ) but show the limitations of AI. You would be making sure quality isnt being dismissed in favor of the AI easy button.
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u/Kindly_Spread8011 17d ago
Make the ai production in tandem to the good hand made production and show both to the client. They will magically choose the hand made and approve the ai as a structure but rarely as the end result.
If the job is rushed and they just need to move things along you can echo that face value to your own process and deliver what they ask.
Each client is different and we are all new to this ai world, opening up the process to whoever pays helps them understand where the value is at. So dont focus on your team, focus on the brief.
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u/Round-Baby-4756 17d ago
Let it fail and become a mess. And then show up with actual craft to solve it. It mediocre work keeps getting accepted, soon enough it will spread across the whole video content inventory and org would recognise that this isn't nice. Let it fail first!
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u/trashdvd 14d ago
Learn the tools, be quiet, act progressive, be interested in ai, keep your job, earn your money, go home and enjoy your life. The world’s changing and sadly we have to change with it or we will be replaced by others who have no problem using ai. Ai is only going to improve from here remember that.
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u/boskbass 14d ago
You could be the one making nice stuff with ai tools, new MPCs are great for optimizing workflow and make production faster.
Since as someone said it’s all about the money and the craft is not taken in consideration, I think you might need to adapt. I know it’s shitty situation but there’s a good and a bad, your decide on what to focus on
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u/bersus 13d ago edited 13d ago
I'm a creative director. I notice lower-tier companies are still chasing AI. Top-tier shops never use it for real production because can be too expensive, from quality issues, high COPQ and time spent on HITL to client's brand damage and significant studio reputation loss. Worth to mention, good studios already got the expertise, solid pipelines, and clients with standards who reject AI slop.
But you can't convince everyone of that. It's like trying to explain design theory, it's too abstract. So if your senior team still doesn't get it after 4+ years of public LLMs and diffusion models, it's probably time to jump ship.
P.S. I've used ML/DL since '13, transformers since '19, built custom tools for diffusion models in '22, fine-tuned LLMs and built "AI" bots in '23, custom MCPs and massive RAGs in '24, agents and swarms in '25. My take is based on practice, real workflows and billions of burned tokens.
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u/Green-Ad7694 19d ago
Calm down. Use shorter sentences. Also use commas and full stops. You are a designer and you should be able to communicate well with the medium. The least you can do is write a paragraph that a human can read.
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u/Latter_Necessary4445 19d ago
The wall of text critique is a bit rich when the actual problem is that your leadership can't tell the difference between a polished animation curve and whatever slop the AI spits out.
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u/Comfortable_Law3683 19d ago
This is not about feelings, just facts.
You have 1 JOB, that is to build something as quickly as possible that will get "APPROVED". 90% of people don't care about your ad and will never notice the difference between your work and your collogues. This is not about art, taste etc. Its about asset production for a business.
If that's not for you, find a new role. Because what your feeling now will only get significantly worse, as the tech starts to become usable in a years time. As all those idiots using Claude today are training it on how to do Motion design properly, how to plan out the tasks, what tool to use in x situation, what is considered janky etc etc. Check back in 12 months and you will see.
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u/Ando0o0 19d ago
All I can say is pick your battles. If client approves something that has been prompted into existence then just move on. There will be clients that push back and require a more hands on design. Not every project needs the wheel to be reinvented and most of the work we do is digital ephemera anyways.