Unlearning video editing muscle memory. Most motion design courses start with tutorials — we start with a mindset reset. This week is about breaking the instincts that will hold you back.
- Why video editors struggle with motion design
- The 5 mental shifts that separate editors from designers
- Motion design thinking vs. edit-bay thinking
- ISOM's modified animation principles: introduction
- Your first After Effects composition — done the right way
3 "reset" animations demonstrating you're no longer editing — you're designing motion. Each must show intentionality in timing and space.
AE interface, composition settings, layer management done properly. Every professional working in After Effects has a system — this week is where you build yours.
- Composition settings, frame rates, and resolution strategies
- Layer types and when to use each one
- Keyframe types: linear, ease, hold
- Timing curves and velocity — a first look
- Pre-composing logic and project hygiene
- Render queue vs. Adobe Media Encoder workflow
3 short motion pieces built entirely with shape layers. No footage, no plugins — pure geometry and timing.
The emotional weight of motion. This is the week that changes everything. You'll learn why some animations feel alive and others feel dead — and how to control that feeling with precision.
- The physics of emotion: what makes motion feel heavy or light
- Bounce, anticipation, and follow-through in motion design
- Overshoot — when to use it and when it kills the piece
- Squash and stretch in a digital context
- Reading references: how to watch motion with new eyes
- The ISOM feel framework: 5 emotional weights
5 micro-animations, each communicating a distinct emotion (confident, playful, elegant, urgent, calm). No text, no brand — pure motion language.
Graph Editor mastery. This is the week most people skip — and why most motion design looks amateurish. The graph editor is not a feature, it is the instrument. Learn to play it.
- Speed vs. value graph: understanding the difference
- Custom easing from scratch — no Easy Ease
- Velocity curves and what they actually mean
- Matching curves to brand personality
- Isolating axes for complex multi-property animation
- Building a personal easing library
Recreate 3 premium brand animations (Apple, Nike, Stripe-level) using only the graph editor. No presets, no expressions — pure curve control.
Expressions: wiggle, loopOut, time, index. Most motion designers treat expressions like magic spells — copy-paste and hope. ISOM teaches you to write them from logic, so you can build anything, not just repeat what you've seen before.
- JavaScript in After Effects: the mental model
- wiggle() — beyond random: making it purposeful
- loopOut and loopIn: building seamless loops
- The time expression: clock-driven animation
- index: staggering without keyframes
- Linking properties: building connected rigs
- Null objects as control layers
Build 2 procedural animation systems using only expressions — no timeline keyframes. One loop-based, one index-driven with at least 6 layers.
Typography in motion. Type is not decoration — it is the message. This week teaches you to treat letterforms as objects with weight, momentum, and personality.
- Kinetic typography: the fundamentals
- Font pairing for motion: contrast and harmony
- Text animators in AE: the proper way to use them
- Word-level and character-level control
- Stagger, blur reveals, mask wipes
- Matching type animation to brand voice
- Reading a brief and translating it to motion type
30-second kinetic typography piece for a real brand of your choice. Must include at least 3 distinct type animation techniques and demonstrate a clear creative point of view.
Scroll-based UI animation and Lottie export. The web is where most motion design lives. This week closes the gap between AE and the browser — where your work actually runs.
- UI animation principles: micro vs. macro
- Designing for scroll: parallax, fade, transform
- Lottie: how it works and how to export properly
- Optimising AE for Lottie (what breaks, what doesn't)
- LottieFiles workflow for client handoff
- App onboarding animations from concept to file
- Collaboration with developers: handoff standards
Full product or app UI animation sequence (min. 60 seconds): loading state, hero transition, feature reveal, and CTA animation — exported as Lottie + MP4.
This is the week that separates hobbyists from professionals. Not more techniques — better systems. How to build workflows that cut your production time in half without cutting corners. This is the speed studios pay for.
- Deep Glow: professional glow that doesn't look like AE default
- Motion Tools Pro: the keyboard-driven workflow
- Animation Composer: when to use presets, when not to
- Custom shortcuts and preset systems — built for speed
- ISOM's 3-pass review system: how studios quality check work
- Template thinking: building reusable motion systems
- Client-ready render settings and file naming conventions
- Delivering a full brand animation package in 48 hours
Full brand animation package (logo animation, lower thirds, social format cutdowns, 3 transitions) — designed, animated, and rendered within 48 hours.
Pre-production, briefs, styleframes, and client management. Great work starts before After Effects opens. This week teaches the professional pre-production process that studios use on every project.
- Reading a client brief: what's said and what's meant
- Styleframes: why they win projects before a frame is animated
- Storyboarding for motion design (it's different from film)
- Moodboard methodology: finding references efficiently
- Scope creep: how to prevent it with the right documentation
- Revision rounds: the right way to handle feedback
- Pricing a project: the ISOM freelance pricing framework
Complete pre-production deck for a fictional brand campaign: brief breakdown, moodboard, 5 styleframes, storyboard, and timeline. Presented to batch for critique.
Showreel editing, portfolio setup, cold outreach, and the discovery call framework. The final week is the beginning of your career. Everything ISOM taught you comes together in one launch moment.
- Showreel theory: why most reels fail and how to fix yours
- Editing your reel: pace, order, and the first 5 seconds rule
- Portfolio setup: Behance, personal site, or both?
- Cold outreach that works: the ISOM email framework
- LinkedIn for motion designers: profile and content strategy
- The discovery call: how to run it without sounding desperate
- Proposal writing and pricing conversations
- Capstone live presentation to jury panel
Your final showreel (90–120 seconds) + live batch presentation to the jury panel including hiring managers. This is your graduation moment.
AI is not replacing motion designers. It's replacing the ones who never learned to think. This week covers the full AI stack — generative and programmatic — composited and finished inside After Effects. The result: a pipeline that delivers in 24 hours what used to take a week.
- Seedance 2.0, Higgsfield AI, and Kling — footage generation with consistent character and image references
- Remotion and Hyperframes — programmatic workflows that cut production time in half
- HeyGen — AI avatar and video workflows for client content
- Compositing AI footage inside After Effects — the professional pipeline
- When to use AI vs. when it hurts your work
- Building a 24-hour delivery pipeline for client projects
- Using AI without losing your creative voice
A fully composited motion piece built using at least 3 AI tools from the stack — generated, refined, and finished in After Effects. Must be indistinguishable from traditionally produced motion design.
After your 10 core weeks, Divyansh sits with you — one on one. Your reel. Your pricing. Your pitch. A proper mock client interview with someone who's been on the hiring side of the table, evaluated hundreds of designers, and closed real deals.
- One-on-one mock client interview with Divyansh (1 hour per student)
- Honest reel feedback — how it reads to someone with budget to spend
- Where you stand and exactly what to fix before going to market
- Pitch practice: how to walk into a room and own it
A clear, honest assessment of your market readiness — and a specific action plan to close the gap before your first real client conversation.
Two weeks of group sessions on the stuff no one teaches. How to price without second-guessing yourself, find the right clients, have the rate conversation without flinching, and build the kind of confidence that shows up before you open your mouth.
- Pricing your work: how to stop undercharging
- Finding and closing the right clients — not just any clients
- The rate conversation: how to have it without flinching
- Sales fundamentals for motion designers who hate selling
- Building confidence that shows up before you open your mouth
- Introductions to ISOM's studio and brand network
By Week 12, you're not just done with a course — you're ready to work. You have a reel, a rate, a pitch, and a network. Go.
Choose your path
Both plans include the same 10-week core curriculum. Career Launch adds the placement layer.
- Full 10-week curriculum (W1–W10)
- 2 live sessions every week with Somrat
- ISOM's 8 modified animation principles
- Graph editor, expressions, shape layers
- Phase 06: AI in Motion (W11)
- Pro Stack — plugins, workflow, AI tools
- Capstone showreel & portfolio
- Project files, AE templates, briefs
- Private ISOM community
- Certificate of batch completion
- Everything in Career Core
- W12: One-on-one mock client interview with Divyansh
- W12: Career launch group sessions
- Pricing, pitching, and cold outreach workshops
- Placement support & introductions
- Honest reel feedback from the hiring side
- Access to ISOM's studio & brand network
Ready to start?
Applications for Batch 01 are open. Limited seats — once it's full, it's full.