What's next in motion design from School of Motion's founder

Motion design is poised to take over. 

Once a playground for marketing videos and snazzy commercials, it’s now shaping the apps you tap, the dashboards you trust, and the interfaces you interact with daily. 

Joey Korenman, the brain behind School of Motion and the popular Motion Mondays Youtube series and newsletter, has been there for every twist and turn. He’s a motion design evangelist, an accidental educator, and a futurist with a knack for seeing what’s next. 

Curious about where motion design is headed? Joey shared his predictions, origin story, and why now’s the time to jump into real-time design.

The curiosity-driven career

Joey Korenman didn’t stumble into motion design so much as he discovered it through hands-on exploration. He started his career in Boston as a video editor at a small production company and was drawn to the creative problem-solving behind making things move. 

“Back then, it wasn’t even called motion design. It was motion graphics,” Joey recalls. “I’m OG like that.”

The work fascinated him, but as Joey delved deeper, he realized his skills weren’t quite where they needed to be. “I didn’t have an art background or go to art school,” he explains. “I had to teach myself, piecing together an education from online forums like Mograph.net and by learning on the job.”

Freelancing opened new opportunities, and Joey’s expertise grew with every project. Over the next decade, he went from learning on the fly to co-founding a Boston-based studio that handled everything from editing and visual effects to high-end 3D animation. 

Running a studio was exhilarating and exhausting. “I got burnt out,” Joey admits. “It wasn’t the creative work. It was the business side, the long hours, and the juggling act of balancing projects with a young family.”

From tutorials to teaching

Teaching was never a part of the plan, but it came naturally to Joey. He posted tutorials online, inspired by early pioneers like Greyscalegorilla. 

“At first, it was to see if anyone cared. Then, I realized I loved teaching. It gave me a way to share what I’d learned while staying connected to the craft.”

His experiment paid off, landing him a teaching position at Ringling College of Art and Design. While the in-person experience was rewarding, Joey didn’t take long to recognize the limitations. “I wanted something scalable, something where I could teach without being tied to a classroom.”

That realization gave birth to School of Motion, which almost immediately found success. Over the past decade, Joey and his team have built an ever-expanding online platform with a curriculum that reflects his passion for helping motion designers grow, from mastering After Effects to exploring real-time animation tools like Rive. (Real-time animation combines traditional animation with real-time motion capture to produce cinema-quality animations quickly.)

The designer’s dual identity

“Motion design is where creativity and engineering collide,” Joey explains. “This duality makes real-time tools like Unreal Engine and Rive exciting.”

What excites Joey most about Rive is the promise of what it represents. “It’s like the JavaScript of animation,” he tells us. “A universal format that bridges the gap between design and development. It’s profound how much this simplifies workflows, especially for industries like automotive or app design, where latency and precision are critical.”

According to him, real-time tools put motion designers at the center of digital product development, unlocking opportunities that didn’t exist before.

Marketing’s loss, product’s gain

The last few years in motion design haven’t been a cakewalk between the shrinking ad budgets and fierce competition.

Yet Joey sees a golden opportunity. “Right now, most motion work is tied to marketing dollars. But product design? That’s a whole new revenue stream.” Joey explains. “If you can add interactive animations to apps or digital interfaces, you no longer compete for the same projects as every After Effects artist. You’re designing the product experience itself.”

The timing couldn’t be better. “There aren’t many Rive experts yet,” Joey notes. “This is a rare moment to stand out, expand your skill set, and double your addressable market.”

Joey’s vision for the future

What’s next for motion design? He’s optimistic.

“The next decade belongs to real-time tools,” he predicts. “You’re not only making something beautiful — you’re making it responsive. Animations that adapt, that react, that feel alive.”

Here’s his advice for motion designers ready to take the leap, “Master the fundamentals first. Then, embrace the tools. Great work comes from great animators, not just great software.” 

“Real-time skills could land you a gig with companies like Apple, Notion, or Duolingo, brands already exploring the cutting edge of motion. The opportunities are endless if you’re willing to push the boundaries,” Joey adds.

A note for the curious

Ready to explore what’s possible? Joey’s latest course, Rive Academy: Volume 1, is your guide to mastering interactivity and stepping into the future of motion design — no coding required. 

Take the leap, experiment boldly, and claim your spot at the forefront of motion design’s future.