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Meet the team that brings us Alive – Em

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Meet the team that brings us Alive – Em

He’s our super organised, detail orientated motion designer that always has a smile on his face. Even when he’s not working he’s experimenting and learning. Meet our design ninja, Em…

What did you do before joining Alive?

I was a 2D Animator at a small animation studio, doing similar work to what I do now at Alive, and also doing little bits of freelance graphic and motion design. Unfortunately, despite an initial boom of work due to Covid, this suddenly died down towards the end of last year and I was made redundant.

For the past couple of years I’ve worked in motion/animation roles, but before that I was a Production Assistant at a 3D animation studio. I really enjoyed it due to my organised nature and eye for detail, and I learnt so much about working with creatives and clients – but after a while I really wanted to get back to my roots and get my hands dirty.

 

When did you first decide you wanted to be a Motion Designer? still from egg animation: Egg in eggcup with hat on

I first really discovered my passion for motion while at university. I studied Graphic Design, but the course was very broad so we worked on all kinds of projects. At the end of my first year, I was set a project to create a small animation in a team. We made a stop motion piece using an egg with a face drawn on it as the main character (it looked better than it sounds, I promise!). I absolutely loved it. *watch it below*

From then on I started to experiment with hand drawn animation, then computer animation using After Effects. I fell in love with the idea of telling stories and communicating through motion.

By the time I graduated I was sure that motion was for me. Unfortunately, graduating at the start of covid meant there weren’t many jobs around – that’s why I turned my hand to production for a while.

 

What do you most enjoy about your job?

So many things! The two biggest things are probably the variety and the technical elements of it.

I love the fact that one day I can work on a really comical character animation piece and the next be editing video footage and creating lower thirds (that’s designer speak for when text appears over video to introduce someone). As someone who can get bored doing the same thing over and over, the variety keeps me interested and passionate about what I do. I also really love the fact that I’m always learning. There’s so many different ways of doing things and so many techniques to try in motion design, so there’s always something new to learn with every new project. I really enjoy experimenting with different effects, plugins and expressions to push the quality of my work and improve my knowledge.

Working at Alive, I also really love the fact that my work makes a difference. Whether it’s reassuring kids about a procedure they need to have or recruiting social workers, knowing that I can make positive change doing the thing I’m most passionate about makes me feel really proud. Black and white fluffy dog image

 

Where are we most likely to find you outside of work?

I’m a very simple guy, so you’ll find me either cuddling my dog, playing video games, or animating (I love my job so much I do it for fun sometimes!).

My fiancée and I adopted a dog last year – he’s a 4 year old cockerpoo named Cooper, and I love him to bits. He was a failed foster as we just couldn’t let him go to anyone else, so I spend a lot of time playing fetch or walking him.

 

Finally, something we’d never guess about you? Drake haired man white skin un front of screen presenting in university setting

For a pretty quiet person, I’ve actually really gotten into public speaking and often volunteer my time to help the next generation of creatives at my old university, NTU. Over the past year or two I’ve given talks about how to get into the creative industry and my journey into motion design specifically, and I’ve mentored a few current students and recent graduates. It’s really nice to give back and help people who are in the same position I was in 3 or 4 years ago.

 

 

Watch Em’s yolk joke video

“The guys at Alive understand the complexities of our business which means we don’t need to explain the detail of every project or design piece – they’re already on it, which keeps things moving and delivers the results we need.”

Emily Stoten — Head of Marketing, Selecta

“I feel like they own and care for the project as much as we do! I would not use anyone else for my creative work and think Alive is ahead of the game.”

Jo Hobbs — Communications Manager

“Thanks for all your help. We are delighted with the campaign, both in terms of the creativity and messaging but also the thought taken over the rollout of the materials. All looks absolutely fabulous!”

Sarah Crowdy — Campaign and Media Officer Communications, South East Water

“We went to ‘Alive’ for ideas on how to run a specific employee program in Europe. Alan and his team were brilliant in coming up with fresh, creative and practical approaches. The team took charge and executed brilliantly. We are pleased with the progress made so far and hope to have the same level of partnership and commitment going forward.”

Sobha Varghese — Tata Consultancy Services

“We had the privilege to work with the Alive team. It was our first time to be involved in creating an animation for our patients within paediatrics. The team were approachable, friendly, creative and very accommodating. Your vision for what you want to create, is at all times acknowledged, appreciated and accommodated by the team. They worked effectively and with great passion towards our project and worked not only alongside health professionals but also our patients who really enjoyed the experience of working with the Alive team. It has given our team the confidence and inspiration to do further projects in the future. We highly recommend Alive and their exceptional team.”

DR ELENI ATHANASAKOS, Lead Paediatric Clinical Scientist — NHS Barts Health

“‘The short animation developed in co-production with clinicians and young people is outstanding! Informative, developmentally appropriate, vitally fun and engaging. We are really grateful for the expertise of the Alive with Ideas team for their innovative approach in building children’s health literacy.'”

Kath Evans — Director of Children’s Nursing at Barts Health

“Our mission was to update our brand visuals to better reflect our innovative and forward-thinking organisation. After receiving numerous pitches from different branding agencies, Alive stood out with their clear passion and understanding of our identity and goals. We thoroughly enjoyed working with the Alive Team to create an engaging new brand that we are immensely proud of.”

Lianne Springer — Communications and Engagement Lead

“Alive wowed us during the pitch process and they didn’t stop wowing us throughout the whole project. Every person we worked with at Alive were so friendly, knowledgeable and clearly passionate about what they do. They have worked with us to really understand what we do and have created a new brand and website that really stands out from our competitors. Thank you!”

Louise Burnard, Head of Marketing and Communications UK — Be | Shaping the Future

“I think the team have done such a brilliant job, particularly with responding to our requests. It's one of the best mental health videos I've ever seen. Very proud to be associated with your exemplary work. Thank you so much.”

Dr Anna Batho — Clinical Psychologist – Critical Care, UCLH

“We have worked with Alan, Caroline and the wider Alive With Ideas team for many years. In that time, they have provided a dedicated service that is second to none. We appreciate their attention to detail and creative approach to bringing our brand, communications and stories to life. And would recommend them to anyone looking for creative communications support.”

Georgia Beech — Internal Communications Specialist, Ocado Group

“This is brilliant. I wanted to give my heartfelt thanks to all of the team who worked on this. You all understood exactly what we wanted to communicate and why, and then managed to do it in a way that was far better than anything I could have imagined. I’m a bit choked up to be honest!”

Sarah Wright, Head of Communications and Campaigns — NEA

“Each time I work with the team, I am always stunned at the effort and creativity that goes into each detail and am always eager for the end result. The team is extremely accommodating and always provide a fresh approach to our projects that elevates our communications materials!”

Alana Khaytin, Communications Specialist — Braskem America

“What I really appreciate about Alive is that they work with us as partners, and care as much about getting it right for our patients as we do.”

Sara Langston, Patient Engagement & Marketing Manager — italk

“Alive are unique in how much they deeply listen and invest in you and your ideas. I have not come across a company that listens as much as they do to ensure your needs are understood and met (actually - they always exceed my needs and expectations). Everyone I recommend Alive to has an equally brilliant experience. When you work with Alive, you are not only getting some genius creativity brought into your life, you are also hanging out with some of the best examples of human beings I’ve ever known.”

Steph Tranter, Hybrid Exec Coach & Psychologist — StephTranter.com

“Alive helped us create a video of our response to the floods of winter 2019. Our Chief Officer received messages from all round the country praising us for it and was really pleased with both the video and the response to it.”

Alexander Mills, Communications Manager — South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue

“Alive were professional, friendly and great to work with. Most importantly they were creative, helping us to bring an extremely important safety campaign to life.”

Jack Grasby — South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue

“The (Alive) team were able to creatively pull together and document (in just over 2minutes) everything our service has achieved over the last few months, from thousands of prescriptions deliveries to hundreds of phone calls made to the vulnerable. The final product was so powerful and reflective of what our service has and continues to achieve. It couldn’t have been better received within the service – thanks Alive for once again helping us to communicate our vision!’”

Emma Wright — South Yorkshire & Rescue

“We worked with the team at Alive to create our staff recognition video.
At a time like this, its never been more important to share the amazing work that our staff have done and continue to do on a daily basis under very difficult circumstances. We wanted to shout about this and recognise that when the time came, South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue stepped up to the plate. We didn’t want an ordinary thank you post on social media or a basic email sent out internally, we wanted something special. Enter Alive. ”

Emma Wright — South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue

“This looks amazing - brought a smile to my face scrolling through it :-)”

Jack Ford, Head of Marketing — streamGO

“Our company is fun, we have great brands, but most importantly we’re all about our people – and I wanted an agency who would understand that and help us bring it to life through our website and other comms. Straight away I felt that Alive ‘got’ us and provided the creative inspiration exactly where we needed it, as well as the technical expertise to deliver a well-functioning website.”

Keren McCarron, Head of Corporate Affairs & Communications — KP Snacks

“Boom!
Thank you so much. Incredible work done at incredible speed by incredible people.
Outstanding work as ever and what a turnaround. As for the concepts – wow. These are that good it would be an insult to describe them as just good. It’s a joke, quite frankly. This is exactly the Alive effect I was after. Right now I feel like I am living in an Alive With Ideas wonderland. Thank you!”

Jack Grasby, Campaigns Manager — SYFR

“If you are looking to improve creativity and build teamwork, I highly recommend a session like this for your team. No matter where you are in your creativity journey, a workshop like this can give your team a boost of energy and ideas to invigorate their creative thinking.”

Amy Lilja, IC Manager — Hennepin Healthcare

“Alive were there to help when we were working every hour to respond to the coronavirus outbreak. They gave us the creativity, ideas and support we needed to deliver campaigns which empowered our residents in the most difficult time most of us have ever seen, personally and professionally. The team understood what we needed, worked closely with us and delivered fast without any compromise on quality. Working with Alive has been a joy in the darkest of times and I have no doubt will have helped to save lives. Thanks team x”

Julie Odams, Assistant Director of Communications & Customers — Derbyshire County Council

“We got 'Alive' involved to help us shift mindsets across our organisation and they delivered! Using simple, clear and creative ideas the team have delivered us a campaign which has seen a dramatic increase in idea sharing and development. They’ve also played a significant role in creating a culture of shared success. I wouldn’t hesitate to work with again, in fact, we already are!”

Gavin Buckle — B&Q
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