No matter what the topic, motion designer Stephanie Fung’s work focuses on balance and composition

“Learning in motion design never stops and it is a challenge that I enjoy,” states London-based motion designer Stephanie Fung. “Just when you think you have learnt everything – something new comes along.” A recent graduate of London College of Communication’s graphic design course, it’s not just the constant challenge of motion design that Stephanie thrives on, but the medium’s absolute flexibility.

“Motion design is so broad and fluid, there's not a one size fits all,” she continues. “Traditionally, motion design was just seen on screens, now I am seeing lots of motion design move into code and interaction design in industry especially in AR, VR and machine learning. It's exciting times because it's a new way to play and present motion design.” Currently, Stephanie is able to do this through her job as motion designer for Selfridges’ digital design team, as well as through personal projects, and she’s previously freelanced for The Face and Studio Moross, as well as completing an internship at The Mill.

It was while studying on her foundation course at LCC that Stephanie knew she needed to work in design. At the time, she had given herself the year to decide whether she would pursue an arts education or economics at a different university. “Turns out I enjoyed the foundation course so much that I carried on studying graphic design at LCC for BA,” she recalls. It was then during the second year that she discovered a love for moving image: “I was fascinated by moving image and animation and began to watch countless Youtube tutorials on Cinema4D and After Effects. I realise now that perhaps it was due to my love of watching animations and cartoons whilst growing up, which has influenced me to do what I am doing today.”

A staunch member of Digi-Gxl, Stephanie’s work is impressive for someone so early on in their career, and she often posts experiments or smaller works on her Instagram account. These kinds of experiments are part of her ongoing process to discern who she is as a designer, something she’s come to realise “doesn't happen overnight,” she says. “However, I do recognise that a lot of my work focuses on balance and composition regardless of the topic. There is great satisfaction of shape and form being in equilibrium with each other.”

Titled Duality of Culture, it was one Stephanie’s projects produced during her final year of university which initially drew us in to her portfolio. The project began when she realised she wanted to learn how to merge her motion skills with another medium, and she set her sights on virtual reality. A medium which is perhaps uncontested in regards to its ability to let you inside the mind of another, Stephanie created an experience based from the view point of a British-born Chinese person. “The aim was to educate people how bi-cultural people feel whilst growing up, drawing from the realms of food, culture, education, entertainment and language.”

Working alongside sound designer Jake Jones, Stephanie enjoyed the freedom the medium provided to explore the non-sensical. “Things did not have to make sense in virtual reality - objects can be floating above, below or even from behind you,” she adds. In turn, Duality of Culture sees the user floating in the air whilst the story unfolds, while food and other objects take on a larger-than-life scale. “Visually, the project is not my best but my achievement in learning a new skillset in coding and VR is invaluable and that is something that I am proud of,” she explains. “I hope to continue this venture of combining motion graphics to interactive mediums.”

Since graduating, Stephanie has not slowed down and she was a key part of Digi-Gxl’s The New Order campaign for Selfridges. And, with recent experiments showing her tests with motion tracking in Cinema4D and lighting in 3D space, we’re more than excited to see what this designer does next.