Motion First: Developing Identity Systems Workshop with Menno de Bruijn

In this two-day workshop, you will learn to treat motion as a core part of a brand’s identity by focusing on the creative strategy and behaviors behind how a brand moves. You will develop a structured system of motion principles for your own project, creating a conceptual roadmap that can guide your future designs or serve as a professional brief for a motion designer.

Upcoming workshop dates

Choose the session that fits your schedule. Live & online. We believe in the power of real-time collaboration, so no recordings—just hands-on learning. Limit: Strictly limited to 15 participants to ensure individual mentoring.

If you have any questions about the course, feel free to email us at franziska@schoolofsystems.org.

Date: TBA

Location: Live online, Google Meet
Please note: This workshop will not be recorded.
Language: English

Price: 250€ + VAT

About the workshop:

Motion is often treated as the final layer of a visual identity. In this creative workshop, we’ll approach it as a core part of the identity itself. Rather than learning animation software or technical execution, we will focus entirely on the creative thinking behind how a brand moves.

Discover how designing with motion in mind from the very beginning can shape a visual identity and lead to more cohesive, expressive and flexible systems. Through examples from professional projects and guided exercises, you will use typography, logos, color and graphic elements, translating them into a coherent motion system. Working from your own project, you will define motion principles, behaviours and rules that can guide future animations or serve as the foundation for collaborating with a motion designer.

Outcome: By the end of this workshop, you will understand how to integrate movement into the early stages of the creative process, translating core brand values into a structured motion system. You will develop a comprehensive framework of principles, behaviors, and rules of play that define exactly how a visual identity behaves across different platforms. These tangible outcomes provide you with a clear conceptual roadmap to guide your future work or to hand directly to a motion designer for seamless collaboration.

Audience: This workshop is designed for graphic and brand designers who have a foundational command of standard software like Illustrator, Figma, or InDesign and are looking to evolve their creative process. While it is not intended for complete design beginners, no prior experience with animation software is required since the focus remains on conceptual strategy rather than technical execution.

Required:

• Laptop
• Adobe Illustrator / Photoshop or similar

About Menno:
Menno de Bruijn is a designer and creative director based in The Hague, and co-founder of the Dutch Design Award-winning studio Lennarts & De Bruijn. For over a decade he has built visual identities, campaigns, and art direction for clients across museums, music, fashion, and sports.

He works hands-on through the whole process, from first sketch to final execution, and treats every project as its own problem rather than a chance to repeat a signature style. His approach is concept-first: he designs rules and systems — frameworks flexible enough to carry a single idea across any medium — held together by simplicity, recognizability, and a sense of play.