Why Hiring Motion Designers Is Way Harder Than It Needs to Be

Hiring & Resourcing
Motion Design Support
January 23, 2026

Do you wonder why every good motion designer seems booked, unavailable, or spread thin?

I’ve been a motion designer for over 15 years. Content teams, big tech, agencies, documentaries, and broadcast. I’ve worked inside studios, alongside producers, and directly with brands.

And I can tell you confidently… this problem is not about flaky freelancers.

It’s about the traditional motion design business model.

Motion needs are constant, just not predictable

Most teams do not need one big, perfectly scoped animation project.

They need lots of small things.

  • Animated titles.
  • Captions for video content.
  • Social cutdowns.
  • Quick tweaks & updates.

This work is constant, but never easy to schedule.

One week nothing. The next week five requests. Then it’s dead. Then whiplashes to chaos.

That’s the reality for content teams publishing regularly on Instagram and YouTube.

And it does not match the traditional way people try to hire a motion designer.

Day rates were built for projects, not ongoing support

Day rates assume a few things.

  1. That you know exactly what you need.
  2. That the work fills a full day.
  3. That the timeline is predictable.

But most content teams don’t work like this.

And it makes resourcing motion work impossible.

You hesitate to book a full day for a handful of Instagram captions or animated titles.

The designer can’t afford to hold time for unpredictable requests.

Small requests get delayed or skipped entirely.

The model just isn’t built for content creation.

Why the best motion designers are always unavailable

From the outside, it looks like they’re unreliable.

But it’s actually survival.

Freelance motion designers need full bookings to stay afloat.

They can’t realistically say yes to every small request.

Not because they don’t care.

Because they literally can’t build a stable business that way.

This is why teams feel stuck rotating through freelancers, even when they would rather rely on a consistent motion designer.

The real cost of small motion tasks slipping

Ironically, the motion work that causes the most friction is the fastest to get done.

  • Captions for reels.
  • Animated titles.
  • Lower thirds.
  • Thumbnail designs.

Simple animations that make content clearer and more watchable.

These are the things that improve retention and polish. But they are also the first things to get pushed because they feel small.

Over time, it becomes a missed branding opportunity.

And you end up using the same Capcut animations as everyone else.

The content of the video still works, but it never feels like you.

What most teams actually want

In my experience, teams are looking for a partner.

  • They want consistency.
  • They want someone who knows their brand.
  • They want to send a request without negotiating an estimate and timeframe.
  • They want motion support to feel predictable.

It’s a workflow problem, not a creative one.

A motion designer on demand

A design subscription can be the answer to this problem.

A subscription shifts the question from

Can we even book you for this?

👇to

We’re sending this over to you for animation.

This one shift removes a lot of unnecessary tension around availability, rates, and revisions.

It turns your motion designer into a collaborator you can rely on.

This is not the right solution for everything

I want to be clear about that.

Big brand campaigns, long form explainers, heavy 3D work, and large narrative projects still benefit from traditional scopes and timelines.

But for content driven teams who need motion graphics for social media, this old model simply doesn’t work.

Why I’m switching to a subscription model

After years of being the unavailable freelancer, I started looking for a better way to show up for the clients I love working with.

Not by starting a studio. 😬

But by rethinking the traditional freelance model.

And offering what my clients actually need.

A motion design subscription is my response to the chaos of content creation. The same high quality motion support, delivered in a way that fits how our teams work.

It is not a replacement for every motion need. And it is not the right fit for every team.

But for fast moving creator led teams, it can make motion design a seamless part of your workflow.

So that your content can perform even better (without losing your sanity).

Terra Henderson

Motion Partner