Styleframes
Headspace - Room to Breathe
2d Motion: Gyu-Yong Lee
3d Motion: Owen Hudock, Belle Duffner
UI graphics: Lara Kim, Tan Tan Nguyen, Fiona Tan
Problem
A team of UX design major students from Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) approached me to join on their collaborating project with Headspace, as a motion designer. The challenge was to present their newly developed app in a way that aligned with Headspace’s calming brand identity while effectively showcasing the app’s key features.
I created a 2D animation in After Effects, ensuring that the visuals felt seamless and in harmony with Headspace’s signature soft colors, fluid motion, and minimalist design. By closely studying the brand’s existing visual language and incorporating smooth transitions, gentle animations, and intuitive UI highlights, I crafted a video that clearly demonstrated how the app works while maintaining a relaxing, meditative tone.
Process
May 5
Research and Storyboards
May 12
Design Start
May 25
Animation
June 4
Final Publish
Design References
Color
#ff8635
#ff9d2a
#64a0ff
#1e4e9b
To ensure brand consistency, I gathered reference materials from Headspace’s official animations, their motion principles, and other mindfulness-focused UI videos. My goal was to make the demo both informative and emotionally engaging—giving viewers a sense of ease and clarity as they explored the app’s features.
Since I came onboard after the project had started, I wasn't fully aware of what the team was doing. Consequently, I spent time researching what they were actually designing, and how they wanted the motion video to appear. It was also important to work well with the other motion designers on the team, making sure everyone had tasks that suited them.
As the concept of the motion design were not confirmed during the early phase, I had to build rough videos/styleframes to set the tone of the artwork. Below are the examples, including designs that were not used in the finals.
One of the early ideas was using black & white to represent depression. However, the lack of color diminished audience attention, also didn't match the reference images.
After multiple amendments were the clients finally satisfied of the outcome.
Styleframes
