Michael Brookes is an award winning, London based design director and motion graphic designer. He is Head of Design & Motion Graphics at Across the Pond, a video production and creative agency that are also part of Google & YouTube's in-house creative team.
Graduating from Kingston University with a MA in Graphic Communication and Motion Graphics, Michael has over ten years of industry experience - from creating fully animated film to branded content, identity packages, product launch films and conference visuals. Clients he has worked with include Google, YouTube, MTV, Nike, Guinness World Records. TopShop, Open University and the Science Museum.
Michael has won awards from D&AD (Yellow Pencil) and The Type Director’s Club, and had his work featured in Creative Review, as well as Vimeo (2 Staff Picks) and Short of the Week. One of his personal projects, his film Before the Fall was featured at the Encounters Film Festival in 2015
Specialties: Motion Graphics; After Effects animation; logo design; promo design; storyboarding; Cinema 4D; Maya; Final Cut Pro; identity design; information design
www.mikebrookes.tv
https://vimeo.com/mbrookes
micbrookes@gmail.com
Projects
Work history
Head OF DesignAcross the Pond
London, United KingdomFull Time
Creative lead and studio head of a team of motion graphic designers, working in an art-director capacity to ensure a gold standard of output, providing mentorship and training where necessary.
Responsibilities include producing concepts, pitches and storyboards for a multitude of design briefs (varying from live-action branded content to full animated films).
Break down briefs with the Creative Director and collaborate in brain-storming; applying practical knowledge of design processes to creative concepts to help plan productions and guide budgets.
Oversee and maintain quality of work output in relation to brand values, guidelines & specifications (particularly in relation to Google & YouTube).
Senior Motion Graphics DesignerAcross the Pond
- London, United KingdomFull Time
Lead animator & designer for a number of high-profile conference events and global marketing initiatives for Google (WEB LAB (Science Museum), Bletchley Park, Zeitgeist, DAVOS, and YouTube SPACE LAB).
Lead User Interface designer for a number of key Google product launch & brand films(Search Stories, Google+, Google Baby, Google Glass).
Won the Nike Foundation Account for the company on the back of a film made for them for The Girl Effect (“Ni Nyampinga”).
Completed extended training in a wide range of mediums to hone technical skills in VFX & compositing, stop-motion animation and CGI animation.
Skills
- Designer
- Motion Design
- 2D Animation
- Cinema 4D
- Adobe After Effects
- Logo Animation
- Art Direction
- Pitches
- Adobe Indesign/illustrator/photoshop
Education
MA Communication Design & Motion Graphics
- London, United Kingdom
Awards
D&AD Yellow Pencil D&AD
D&AD Yellow Pencil Award for The Petard Pinch (Moving Image Category, Graphic Design)