Ghia Koussa

Meet Ghia Koussa, a motion designer at Landor’s London office. Her work spans brand films, type animation and more, driven by the desire to tell stories through motion. A true believer in staying curious, Ghia also draws inspiration from her team, industry events like Nicer Tuesdays and Pinterest mood boards. Here, she shares why understanding emotion is key to her practice and why Roald Dahl’s Matilda would make a brilliant motion designer.

What I do

Tell us a bit about yourself and where you work!
Hi, my name is Ghia. I’m a motion designer at Landor, a global branding agency with 35 offices worldwide.

How would you describe your role?
Being a motion designer means I make designs move, and my job is to tell a story through motion. It’s adding that extra dimension to a design.

What does a typical day-to-day look like?
Typically, my day-to-day work might involve anything from a brand film to motion guidelines, and tasks could be anything from a logo animation to type animation and editing.

For example, if you were working on a brand film, you’d be briefed in by senior designers and design directors. There’d also be a script or even a storyboard.

What do you like about working as a motion designer?
The people. It’s a privilege to be able to work with such amazing and talented people, but also to be able to hang out with them. We’re really close, and always try to go to anything motion-related, whether that be events or anything that keeps us curious and wanting to learn more.

What are your influences as a motion designer?
The team and I have a great network. We share things daily, attend events and use Pinterest. If I’m on Pinterest for a project and something catches my eye, I save it and build mood boards to keep ideas and sparks flying.

Do you do any creative work outside of your job?
Sometimes I pick a random object and start a tiny photograph series of it, and whenever I see that object when I’m out and about, I take a picture of it and then compile them all together as a collection.

How I got here

What skills do you think are needed for a motion designer?
Number one would be time management. Understanding how long it takes to plan out projects definitely helps. Number two would be organisation. Having some sort of labelling system and keeping your files in order. You never want to give another team member a nasty file. Number three would be the ability to understand emotions, as that could really help you become a better motion designer.

It’s never really about the technical skills of moving something from point A to point B, it’s more about how that makes you feel when it moves from point A to point B. Emotions really drive the mood and tone of what you’re doing.

Have you faced any challenges in your career so far?
The transition from being a student with endless time to create to balancing a work routine was a challenge – I struggled to find time to create on the side. What helped was making it a daily habit to stay curious and inspired, so when I do have time, I’m already in the groove and ready to create.

What fictional character do you think would be good at your job?
Matilda for her telekinesis. She can just make things move and doesn’t really need to visualise how it moves, it’s just done!

My advice

Are there any any resources you would recommend to emerging creatives?
Nicer Tuesdays is a good event that we usually go to. There are also really good resources for networking and getting involved with other creatives, such as the Creative Lunch Club. It’s really helpful to talk to other people and express your concerns as a creative.