School of Motion Podcast

I’m a fitness trainer and self-taught graphic designer that is now dabbling with some motion design. This podcast has been very informative and insightful. I really like the interviewees so far. They seem not only very smart, but very humble. This goes for the host as well. Thanks a lot guys.

The School of Motion Podcast has been a constant throughout my motion design career, at least since 2018. I am grateful for the podcast, courses, YouTube channel, etc. as they are amazing resources for people at any part of their motion career. What that being said, here come my critiques because I believe this podcast has the potential to provide even more value for its listeners! At this point, there needs to be more variety in perspectives in terms of the kinds of guests that are on the podcast. Yes guests come from different parts of the industry and adjacent industries, but sometimes it feels like an echo chamber hearing the same, mostly white men, talk to each other about the ups and downs of the industry year after year. I want to know — How are people around the world creating new business models that don’t use capitalism as their basis? Are there cooperative motion design studios that exist? What does it actually mean “to stand for something” as Joe Pilger said in the latest episode? What studios can you name beyond BIEN that stand for something in terms of social good? It’s true that not everything is for everybody, but what does this statement mean when we are only hearing it from white men? What does it mean in the context of Black folks, indigenous folks, and queer folks telling their own stories? What if in addition to having an episode about how the internet needs to be weirder from the founders of 2Advanced Studios, we also heard from disabled designers and web developers on how they challenge norms on the web while keeping accessibility as a central focus. Inclusivity is just a talking point unless you actually structure your business around it in every way. In 2025, I hope for all the talk of AI to be balanced with in-depth conversations on storytelling, character design, motion trends, studio employee perspectives, perspectives from folks at different points in their careers, and perspectives from different countries that don’t place the US as the focus. All of these things are possible if this podcast doesn’t only focus on new tools and who is the most outwardly influential in the industry. They’ll need to do some more digging to understand the true breadth of experiences of this industry. I hope the 2025 round-up ends up being much more interesting than 2024 was.

I didn’t know I had patience for long podcasts! Love the episodes and perfect dose of inspiration while on commute! Keep them coming!

I’ve known about SOM for awhile from their tutorials, but I don’t typically listen to a lot of career-oriented podcasts because they’re often very out of touch or just very obviously PR fluff. This is the opposite—very honest, very candid, and the few episodes I’ve listened to have had very humble and open guests.