Watching geometric shapes snap and slide into place with dead-on precision triggers a very specific kind of brain itch.
It’s snappy, rhythmic, and deeply satisfying.
It’s the visual counterpart to a perfectly weighted Swiss dial clicking into place.
UK-based director and animator Al Boardman has turned that exact feeling into an art form.
His motion work bridges mid-century print sensibility and sharp digital motion. Think flat color planes, hard edges, and clean geometry, but completely devoid of the heavy 3D rendering cluttering up a lot of modern motion design.
Boardman keeps things flat, bold, and quick on their feet.
What stands out most is the visual shorthand. A circle isn’t just decorative, it snaps into an eye, spins into a wheel, flattens into a globe, and opens like a camera lens across a two-second loop.
For the walls and the desk
Prints and objects chosen the same way we choose the art we feature.
His architectural animations strip towering urban landmarks down to their core structural silhouettes, giving heavyweight brutalist and modernist buildings an unexpected, bouncy lightness.
Every still frame looks like a screenprint you’d actually want on your wall. But once the timeline starts rolling, the real cleverness is in the transitions—shapes don’t just move from point A to point B; they fold, tuck, and rebuild themselves with zero wasted motion.
It’s smart, concise design that happens to move.
Check out more of his loops and commercial work on Al Boardman’s site and Tumblr.
Motion graphics used with artist’s permission.
