VickyMotion design can make a SaaS product much easier to understand.
Instead of explaining a workflow through several paragraphs of copy, you can show it. A motion designer can animate product screens, demonstrate interactions, explain abstract features, and turn static UI into content that works across your website, product launch, paid campaigns, and social channels.
But not every animator or video editor is the right fit for SaaS.
If you want to hire a motion designer, you need someone who understands product storytelling as well as animation.
Here is what to look for.
First, decide what you actually need animated
Motion design covers a wide range of work.
Before looking at portfolios, define where the animation will be used and what it needs to achieve.
For a SaaS company, that might include:
- Product UI animations for your website
- A 60 to 90-second explainer video
- Short feature demos
- Product launch assets
- Animated paid social ads
- Onboarding animations
- Logo or brand motion
These projects require different skills.
Someone who creates excellent cinematic title sequences may not be the best person to animate a SaaS dashboard clearly.
The more specific your brief is, the easier it becomes to find a designer whose experience matches the work.
If you are producing a longer explainer, Twine’s guide to SaaS explainer videos covers how motion graphics can fit into the wider production.
Look for SaaS or product experience
Portfolio quality matters, but relevance matters more.
Look for examples where the designer has worked with software, apps, dashboards, or digital products.
A strong SaaS motion designer should know how to make interfaces easier to understand without overwhelming the viewer.
Pay attention to whether their work clearly shows what the product is doing.
Can you follow the workflow?
Does the animation guide your attention towards the important part of the interface?
Are transitions helping explain the product, or are they mostly decorative?
For SaaS, clarity usually matters more than showing off every animation technique available.
You can browse motion graphic designers on Twine and compare portfolios based on the style and product experience your project needs.
Know the difference between motion design and video editing
Motion designers and video editors often work together, but they are not the same role.
A video editor primarily works with existing footage, arranging clips, sound, pacing, transitions, and other elements into a finished video.
A motion designer creates animated graphic elements.
For a SaaS product, that might mean animating UI screens, typography, icons, diagrams, workflows, or data.
If your project consists mainly of screen recordings that need to be cut into a product demo, you may need a video editor.
If you need your product interface recreated and animated to explain how it works, a motion designer is more likely to be the right fit.
Many freelancers can handle both, so check what they personally created in the work shown in their portfolio.
Pay attention to how they animate UI
UI animation deserves particular attention when hiring for SaaS.
Your product may already contain movement through clicks, menus, dashboards, graphs, notifications, and transitions. Motion design should make these interactions clearer rather than inventing an entirely different version of the product.
Ask candidates how they normally work with product files.
Depending on the project, you may provide Figma designs, screenshots, screen recordings, or exported assets.
A good designer should be able to explain how they will turn those files into animation and whether anything needs to be recreated.
If the product is still in development, they may also work from polished mockups rather than the finished software.
That can be particularly useful when creating launch content before the final product is publicly available.
Assess storytelling, not just animation quality
A motion designer can create beautiful animation and still produce a weak SaaS video.
The problem is usually storytelling.
If a viewer cannot understand why a feature matters, smoother animation will not fix the issue.
When reviewing portfolios, look at how each project communicates an idea.
Does the animation have a clear sequence?
Does it give the viewer enough time to understand what is happening?
Does it focus attention on the important product action?
Can you understand the overall message without having the project explained to you separately?
For a longer product video, the motion designer may be working alongside a scriptwriter or copywriter. Twine’s product demo video production guide explains how those different production roles can fit together.
Give them a clear creative brief
Do not brief the project as simply making your product look more dynamic.
Explain what the animation needs to achieve.
Your brief should cover the audience, objective, core message, where the asset will appear, approximate length, brand guidelines, product files, timeline, and deliverables.
You should also include references.
But rather than sending several videos and leaving the designer to guess what you like, explain the specific elements you want them to notice.
It could be the pacing, use of typography, UI movement, transitions, illustration style, or overall level of energy.
This gives the designer direction without asking them to copy another company’s work.
Be clear about deliverables
One motion design project can often produce several useful assets.
For example, if you are commissioning a product explainer, you may also want short sections exported individually for your website or social campaigns.
Before work begins, agree on exactly what will be delivered.
That might include:
- One full explainer video
- Several shorter feature animations
- 16:9, 1:1, and 9:16 versions
- Versions with and without captions
- GIF or lightweight web exports
- Source files
Source files are particularly worth discussing.
If your product changes frequently, having editable project files may make future updates much easier.
Agree on ownership and handover before the project starts rather than assuming everything will automatically be included.
Ask about their process
You do not need an overly formal interview.
A few questions about how the designer works can tell you a lot.
Ask how they would approach the project from the brief through to final delivery.
A typical process may involve understanding the product, agreeing on a visual direction, preparing a storyboard or style frames, creating an initial animation, gathering feedback, and producing the final versions.
The exact process can vary.
What matters is that there are opportunities to agree on direction before the designer spends significant time animating the final piece.
Changing the visual style at storyboard stage is relatively simple. Changing it after the complete animation has been produced is not.
Agree on feedback and revisions upfront
Motion design can become expensive when revisions are poorly managed.
If five stakeholders each send separate feedback, even a simple animation can quickly turn into several rounds of unnecessary changes.
Choose one internal project owner and consolidate comments before sending them back to the designer.
Also agree on how many revision rounds are included.
Try to give feedback in stages.
Early feedback should focus on direction and storytelling. Later feedback should be about smaller execution details.
Avoid waiting until the final version to raise concerns about the overall concept.
Make sure the style fits your SaaS brand
Motion design should feel like an extension of your existing product and brand.
Give the designer access to your colours, typography, illustration style, logo files, product UI, and any existing motion principles.
If your brand is minimal and product-led, highly elaborate animation may feel out of place.
If your company has a more expressive visual identity, a very restrained corporate animation may lose some of the brand’s personality.
The right designer should be able to adapt their own skills to your identity rather than making every client project look the same.
Freelancer or agency?
For many SaaS teams, hiring a freelance motion designer works well because demand is usually project-based.
You might need significant motion support during a product launch, website redesign, or campaign and much less afterwards.
A freelancer gives you direct access to the person doing the work and can be particularly effective when your internal marketing or creative lead already owns the direction.
An agency may make more sense when the project requires a full production team covering strategy, scripting, illustration, animation, voiceover, sound, and project management.
The important thing is to avoid paying for a large production setup when the real requirement is one skilled specialist.
Start with a focused project
If you have never worked with the designer before, consider starting with a defined piece of work rather than handing them your entire motion system.
For example, ask them to animate one product feature or create a short section of an upcoming campaign.
This gives you a chance to assess their communication, attention to detail, ability to understand your product, and response to feedback.
If the collaboration works, you can expand into larger projects.
Over time, keeping the same motion designer can also improve consistency because they already understand your brand and product.
Hire for clarity, not just impressive animation
For SaaS companies, the best motion design makes a complex product feel simpler.
That is what you should be looking for when hiring.
Define the job clearly, prioritise relevant product experience, review how candidates communicate ideas through motion, and make sure their style fits your existing brand.
Then agree on the process, deliverables, revisions, and source files before production begins.
If you are ready to hire a motion designer, you can browse freelance motion graphic designers on Twine and compare specialists based on their portfolios and experience. Twine’s motion graphic designer marketplace includes freelancers working across 2D, 3D, After Effects, and other motion disciplines.
For projects that require a wider team, you can also find animators and video editors alongside your motion designer.
The goal is not to add movement everywhere.
It is to use motion where it helps customers understand your SaaS product faster.
Twine
