For the past years a lot of my focus has been on the (PHP) community. I've spoken at numerous conferences and usergroups. And although I've been cutting down on the amount of conferences, I've done more usergroups in the past year than in the years before that.
In December 2018, I've made a decision to cut down on this a bit more. This has nothing to do with not wanting to speak anymore, but more with an opportunity that has arisen that I want to take. I want to put 110% of my effort into this, which means I have to cut down on other activities that I'm doing. Speaking at usergroups and conferences is one of those things.
PHP has been my biggest hobby for the past 20+ years. It is great that I have been able to make it my job as well. Since quite a few years, I've picked up on something I've been interested in for years. I've started doing live radio. My first radio show was on the now discontinued Internet radiostation On Air Radio, after which I've moved on to another Internet radiostation IndieXL. Both times I did everything in my own little radio studio that I had built at home. It was a lot of fun.
My interest in radio already began when I was a teen. A Dutch morning show was also broadcasting on TV, so I was "watching radio" every morning. In the 90's, the Dutch radiostation KinkFM introduced me to an incredible amount of alternative music. KinkFM was the best radiostation I could imagine in terms of music, but also in terms of DJ's. People with an incredible passion for and knowledge of music. When the station was stopped by its owner in 2011, I was incredibly sad.
2 years ago one of the original founders of KinkFM saved the brand name from the company that at that time owned the name. While he wasn't planning to restart the station, the response he got was overwhelming, so he started researching his options. I got in touch and over a year ago I started doing a Spotify playlist for them called KLUB KINK.
Late last year, the announcement came: A new radiostation focussing on alternative music will be launched. Since FM is something nearly of the past, the name will now be KINK.
I have been asked to evolve my Spotify playlist into a podcast, and next to that, present a radioshow. After giving it some thought and looking at my schedule, I have decided to take this opportunity. I love doing radio, and to be able to do it for my all-time favorite radiostation is amazing. Starting on Thursday February 7, I will be doing a radioshow every Thursday from 7PM to 9PM.
Will I be completely gone from conferences and usergroups? Of course not! But as I mentioed earlier, I really want this to succeed, I want to give it 110% of my effort, and that means making tough choices.
Motion graphics oftentimes present a chance to step out of the ordinary and let your imagination go wild. In the context of graphic design, they are oftentimes used to strengthen the idea in a way no picture can.
Motion graphics trends, on the other hand, tend to be dictated by the latest innovations in the field of technology as well as pop culture movements.
As we’ve already stepped into the new year, now seems to be the right time to take a look at some of the motion graphics trends which are likely to remain hot throughout 2019.
Of course, it’s important to note that jumping on the bandwagon of any trend blindly is not recommended.
However, being aware of what’s currently catching the eye of the mainstream can help you improve your brand and better communicate the right message to your audience.
Liquid Motion
The proper usage of liquid motion enables the motion graphics designer to add an invaluable organic feel to the design. Instead of following the pattern of having clean transitions and movements, liquid motion disrupts it by adding flow-like liquid across the screen while adding beautiful splashes of dense colors.
This enables a seamless transition and transformations into new and compelling shapes, while also delivering impressive visuals along the way.
The below video by InfoTechBuz is a brilliant example of how powerful liquid motion graphics can be.
Micro-Interactions
In continuation of the above, it’s worth pointing out that almost any motion design company looks to identify new and convenient ways to deliver a fluid user experience.
In this regard, interactions have definitely proven to be more than capable of achieving the above. We can see there’s a lot of buzz about micro-interactions and that an increasing number of proponents has started using them.
Micro-interactions are subtle animations created with the sole purpose of improving the user experience and help pin his attention to important objects.
Look at this simple example of a micro-interaction motion design by Sangmi Kim:
Naturally, this is just a very basic idea which aims to show you the concept of micro-interactions and how they can be used to intentionally navigate your user’s attention.
Dense Pastels
Pastel palettes are powerful. They invoke so much that it’s hard to encompass it into words. Their utility in motion graphics design is out of the question and is perhaps most strongly outlined by Apple. If you’ve used any of the new iPhones which have 3D touch, you’ve certainly seen this beautiful fish:
While it is, technically, a fish, you can see the beautiful job of using bright pastel palette. It creates a sense of elegance and calmness at the same time.
As soon as the animation takes place, you immediately see the gradual movement of the elements into a seamless and fluid motion.
Glitch Effects
A report by Adweek and Shutterstock outlined that glitch design has managed to enter almost every single aspect of branding, marketing, packaging, and, of course, motion design.
And when you think about it – it’s true. A broad range of different videos begins with a rather typical glitch effect such as a video stream which evokes a well-known static of your grandparents’ old TV.
The below video by Jebari Wooten perfectly exemplifies an introduction which takes advantage of motion graphics with a glitch effect.
The reasons for which it’s likely to stick around in 2019 is because it manages to encapsulate two particularly sought after vibes: these of the future and the past.
Combination of 2D & 3D
As we said in the beginning, trends tend to be dictated by developments in the field of technology. Well, 3D technologies provide creatives with opportunities which would otherwise be close to impossible to achieve.
3D is likely to be something that we will continue to see in 2019 across all industries, not just as a motion graphics trend.
However, we can definitely see motion design companies exploring brand new ways to combine 3D with 2D in order to create more complex visuals.
The following Google Cloud Navigation AI presentation outlines a successful usage of both 2D and 3D elements combined in a fluid motion to deliver a concrete point.
However, it’s also important to note that Augmented and Virtual Reality development is also something that’s likely to trend in 2019 and, as such, we expect to see more work done in this regard as well.
Conclusion
Motion graphics play an important role in any contemporary website and design of some sort. Hence, it’s important to stay up to date with what’s trending and what’s hot.
Of course, there are plenty of other interesting concepts and trends to look forward to in 2019, but the above are likely to continue occupying the central stage spots.
Visual Composer has been around for quite some time, but you might have noticed that you do not see the new name around anymore. So what happened to the Visual Composer Page Builder?
There have been some significant changes lately that have left many of our users quite confused – and rightfully so.
But where did the Visual Composer Page Builder go?
The truth is it didn’t go anywhere. It simply went and got a new name.
However, before we start explaining how the VC Page Builder got a new name all of the sudden, we want to apologize to everyone who ended up confused about Visual Composer.
We are sorry we didn’t explain earlier what was happening behind these confusing changes.
Hopefully, this detailed post will clear some light on the situation.
So what happened?
Visual Composer Page Builder was the name you saw bundled with all of the popular WP themes. That being said, it made no sense for us to change its name. But the truth is that we didn’t have a choice.
The video below explains the whole story behind the name change:
If you don’t feel like watching the video, we’ll briefly explain what happened right here:
Back when Visual Composer Page Builder was still called this way, we started developing a new product – Visual Composer Website Builder.
For the record, this new product was never meant to be an upgrade or a premium version of the VC Page Builder. It was designed from the get-go to be an entirely new tool with lots of new features and options.
We decided to create the VC Website Builder so users can build an entire website from scratch quickly and easily. However, with all the features we had in mind for this new product, we knew that we needed to adjust the development financing.
Our first product, Visual Composer Page Builder, was always an Envato-exclusive product with a lifetime license. Our new product, however, needed a yearly license model in order to support the high development costs. And that meant we had to sell it outside this marketplace.
And that’s where all our problems started.
You see, while planning the entire process, we overlooked one crucial detail. According to our contract with the marketplace, we were not allowed to sell another product under the name of Visual Composer outside their platform.
That meant we only had 2 options: We could either change the name of our first product that we were selling on this platform, or we could adjust the new product to fit a lifetime license.
It was not an easy decision to make because both options had a big downside.
However, after careful consideration, we decided not to compromise the features and quality of our new product.
And that is how Visual Composer Page Builder got a new name: WP Bakery.
Unfortunately, we were so busy with all these unplanned changes that we missed another crucial thing.
Instead of explaining to everyone what was happening, we focused on developing our new product, Visual Composer Website Builder, without notifying our users and long-term partners about the changes we’d made.
We never explained properly that WC Bakery was, in fact, the Visual Composer Page Builder under a new name.
So, naturally, people had a hard time figuring out which was our old products and which was our new one. Some thought WP Bakery was a new plugin, while others thought our new product, Visual Composer Website Builder, was a rebranding of the Page Builder.
So we want to take the time now to explain what each of these two products does and the difference between the two.
Here are our answers to your most common questions:
What is WP Bakery?
Like explained previously, WC Bakery is just the new name of an old product – Visual Composer Page Builder. All of the features you know and love remained the same.
What is Visual Composer Website Builder?
Visual Composer Website Builder is our new product for website building with drag-and-drop features. It is effortless and it comes in both free and premium versions.
With VC Website Builder, you get hundreds of ready-to-use content elements that will help you build the website you have always imagined. You can see all the changes instantly thanks to the drag-and-drop features.
Page editing can be done in the tree view or frontend editor. On top of that, you can choose from a number of WP templates and themes – including your existing theme. You can acquire useful add-ons from third-party developers or download them directly from the dedicated cloud-based Hub.
One of the best features of the premium version is the header, footer, and sidebar editor which makes the entire process a lot faster and easier.
Are VC Page Builder and VC Website Builder the same thing?
No, as explained previously, they are two entirely different products.
VC Page Builder is now named WP Bakery. It is used for content editing, while our new product – VC Website Builder – can be used to build an entire website.
What is the difference between WP Bakery and VC Website Builder?
There are many differences between the two products. Apart from serving different purposes, Visual Composer Website Builder was built from scratch with React.js and it does not use any WordPress shortcodes. WP Bakery, on the other hand, is shortcode-based.
Visual Composer Website Builder was built to best meet the needs of your users, and we used their feedback in developing this tool.
The lack of shortcodes also means two things:
You can generate clean code
You can disable the plugin at any given moment without creating a mess.
There’s a full list of difference between the two products that you can check right here.
Are we still working on improving WP Bakery?
Absolutely! WC Bakery is still very important to us and the fact that we have developed a new product does not mean we have given up on the old one.
We are working equally hard on improving both of them and providing the best user experience possible.
Thank you for reading our brief explanation and apology. If you have any additional questions, feel free to leave a comment and we will get back to you with a detailed answer as soon as possible.
