Iskander Krayenbosch is Verve’s Senior Motion Designer. With his expertise, we can make brands fly, glow, spin and come to life in an infinite number of ways.
While studying at HKU University of Arts Utrecht, Iskander created his video thesis that unpacks the Hero’s Journey. This celebration of narrative structure earned a coveted Vimeo Staff Pick, which became the foundation for a decade of commissions by brands like Uber, Indeed and Rituals. Check it out below.
Iskander knows, better than most, the emotional power of motion branding to achieve all kinds of creative and commercial goals. So, we asked him all about it.
What role do you think motion plays in shaping a brand’s identity?
Motion’s role in branding is on a case-by-case basis. I work with fantastic brand designers who create the core concept. For some brands, like Kinsta and AliceNet, movement is key to everything they do. There are plenty of Verve projects, before my time, that do this too. Flutterwave uses motion to show things flowing and connecting, while Juni uses it to show the struggles new businesses face.
We use motion design to make the brand better by bringing ideas to life and adding some energy. It's like the next step in building the brand, making sure everything feels consistent.
Can that contribute to a brand’s emotional resonance with its audience?
Totally. Brands build stronger emotional connections when they feel alive. Seamless micro-animations in UI design create a sense of control, making the experience feel familiar and welcoming.
Just take Duolingo’s popularity, which comes from their ability to connect emotionally with users through a gamified, living world. People seek connections with things that seem to have a soul, and Duolingo’s cute, animated owl mascot really resonates with audiences. While their product might not be the most effective way to learn a language, their app is a household name because the emotional connection it creates for its users is very strong.
At Verve, we hear a lot about “humanizing” a brand. How do you approach that challenge?
Injecting character into your brand, or “humanizing” it, fosters deeper connections and sustained engagement. By giving your brand a distinct personality, you enable people to feel more fulfilled and develop a stronger affinity.
If you think about the Nintendo Switch, its logo animation and the clicky tactility of the iconic controller that instantly transports you back to your earliest gaming memories. That nostalgia is the power of brand humanization. But it’s also something that’s hard to quantify.
How can we quantify the impact of motion on user experience? Is that even possible?
It definitely is. Giant companies understand the commercial impact of user engagement and prioritize its growth. Major tech companies have lots of ways to test and refine the effectiveness of design elements, but motion is a big weapon in their arsenal.
Consider Tinder’s vibrant animations – they literally created a moment to celebrate every time you get a new match. Similarly, the Dutch grocery app Picnic incorporates all kinds of micro-GIFs to maintain user attention. And it works.
We know that engaging animated visuals encourage users to spend more time on any platform. Video simply makes people stop scrolling.
When working with brands that are skeptical of motion’s value, how do you reposition it from “nice-to-have” to essential?
In today's competitive landscape, standing out is more difficult than ever. It used to be that a solid, trustworthy name was enough. But today’s market demands that brands leverage every possible edge. Identifying and prioritizing these advantages requires a deep understanding of your target audience, both demographically and their core beliefs.
To capture attention and effectively connect online, its essential that brands use motion in a compelling way. Integrating motion into your brand's communication is one powerful strategy.
How should digital teams find a balance of motion as a functional UX tool and as an emotional storytelling device?
Motion should never become a distraction. That makes me immediately think of all those pop-ups that clutter your screen and make it impossible to click the close button.
Good animations should be short and sharp. For the work we do at Verve, overdoing things with (for example) a 10-second logo animation right as users are at checkout, might disengage users at a critical moment.
Of course, all animation should also align with the brand’s narrative. For a luxury brand, a subtle, elegant, or confident motion works best. On the other hand, a video game for kids might benefit from more playful and attention-grabbing visuals.
What is your creative process for distilling a brand’s essence into something kinetic?
At Verve, we strongly believe in developing design systems rooted in a central core idea. This foundational concept, whether it's friction, a butterfly effect, lightning, should ideally be a simple idea that influences all visual elements.
Consider our recent rebrand for Inriver. The core idea was “controlling the current”, reflecting Inriver’s ability to manage vast amounts of e-commerce metadata.
We developed a visual language based on this concept, literally depicting a stream of data in the form of a river evolving over time. This translated into animation where light was used to emphasize specific aspects of the data stream, also showcasing its movement. Then we developed a suite of patterns, including a logo animation and guidelines for typography within this visual framework.
Nailing the right look and feel takes more time and iterations than most people would realize.
How do you future-proof your motion systems in a landscape that constantly evolves in format and platform?
The world is constantly evolving, so you simply have to adapt. Typically, a company needs a brand refresh or a complete rebranding every four to five years. Design and motion trends shift so rapidly, so it’s too hard to guess what will remain relevant. I’m focused on producing my best work and just hope it will stand the test of time.
If motion is the language, what kind of stories do you believe brands should be telling right now?
Telling any story consistently is what branding is all about. Brands try to connect with their audience through all kinds of means, taglines, photography, mascots, logos, and motion – always fighting for relevance and attention.
Not unlike the hero’s journey, our goal is to captivate the audience and convince them that the brand’s narrative is actually worthy of their attention
Motion stands out as a really powerful tool in the attention economy, bridging the gap between a brand and reality more effectively than a static logo ever could.
