Insomniac Creative

First, let's start with the logo design.This logo was created for a creative agency with an insomnia-inspired theme. I asked myself, “What or who best represents the concept of sleeplessness?” After some brainstorming, I thought a bat would be a powerful symbol for this type of work. After sketching hundreds of ideas (no joke! 😅), I finally landed on this design.

In this blog, however, I’d like to shift the focus from logo stories to animation. The reason? I'm still not as confident in animation as I am in logo design—yet. This is a note to myself as much as it is a small spark of inspiration for anyone else who might need it.

Alright, let’s dive into the animation part.

The name Insomniac had to carry meaning in the animation. My goal was to create story-driven logos, brought to life with striking animations. So, how could I tell the story of sleepless creativity? Naturally, through an "eye." It’s obvious, right? Imagine an eye starting to look around. Why? Because it can’t sleep, and it’s searching for something...

But before landing there, I toyed with the idea of veins stretching out from the eye and transforming directly into the logo. A shortcut, you know? It sounded tempting—I won’t lie! That’s how the initial GIFs came to life.

Then I realized something: I needed a proper storyboard. Something drawn out, detailed, and visual. Otherwise, it’s nearly impossible to tweak and refine ideas. So I started sketching. And sketching some more. You can see the storyboard below.

Of course, one storyboard wasn’t enough. I kept thinking about the process, refining it, and that’s when the second storyboard came to life. This one felt right. Let me explain what I mean by “felt right.” This is why I spend countless hours, pouring my thoughts and energy into these projects. Is it the joy of creativity? Maybe. I don’t want to sound pretentious, but there’s a moment when you just go, “Voilà!” And honestly, it’s one of the most satisfying feelings.

Next came the rough animation phase (you’ll see it below). Rough animation is absolutely essential in any animation project. No matter how much you imagine something or sketch it out as a storyboard, it’s still just a picture—it’s not alive. The moment you try to move even the smallest object or a human figure, you realize what I mean. You think, “Wow, this is not as easy as it looks!”

Take typing on a keyboard, for example. While I’m doing it now, I don’t think about the intricacies of movement. But if I were to animate it—study the motion and dive into the details—I’d start to notice things I’ve never paid attention to before. That’s the nature of movement, and honestly, I think it holds the biggest secret to great animation. We can talk about the philosophy behind this another time, if you’re up for it. 😉 Anyway, here’s the rough animation for you.

Finally, everything came together in the clean-up phase. This step is both the easiest and the hardest. Why? Because at this point, the animation is done—not officially, but mentally. Yet, how good it looks depends entirely on this phase. Nobody cares about an amazing idea hidden inside a rough animation—except maybe me! 😂 It has to look polished. We don’t want broken frames or choppy transitions, right? Timing, spacing—everything starts here. These are the elements that create context and flow. (Philosophy chat postponed again, right? 😅) Anyway, here’s the final version of the animation.

And with that, I’ll wrap up this post.

I’m not sure if anyone will actually read this, but that’s okay. I want to leave pieces of myself and what I’ve learned here.

Take care, and see you around. 👋