Nicholas Horsford is a motion graphics designer and animator

Biography

Career

Computer Skills

nicholas completed his B:Tech Degree in Multimedia (Cum Laude), a national diploma in graphic design and a preliminary art certificate between 2000 and 2004.

Ambitious and eager to make a meaningful impact, he started his career as a graphic designer and animator in January 2005 at the Refinery Post Production Facility.

In March 2007, he had the opportunity to work for a startup design and animation company, FLiC. He worked there for 3 and a half years.

In June 2010, he received an offer from Ministry of Illusion to help improve their motion graphics capabilities. In 2013, nicholas was promoted to run the After Effects Suite in an online capacity where he worked directly with clients.

In his free time, nicholas enjoys photography, flamenco guitar and film. nicholas completed a BA degree in philosophy, politics and economics (Cum Laude) in 2014 and started his BCom Honours in Economics in 2015.

In April 2016, nicholas left Johannesburg, South Africa to work in London, UK and currently is available to work there.

Senior Motion Graphics Designer

Ministry of Illusion/MOI Content

August 2010 – 22 April 2016

Ministry of Illusion contacted nicholas in 2010 in the hope of improving the capabilities of their motion graphics team. After working effectively in a team, in 2013 nicholas was promoted to work directly with clients in an After Effects Online Suite while still retaining some of his duties working with a team. Ministry of illusion changed their name to MOI content in 2015.

Duties and key achievements included:

• Running an Adobe After Effects suite for online purposes communicating directly with clients.

• Developing the motion graphics capabilities at the company using After Effects.

• Creating highly technical content for projection and events.

• Reduced render time by 66% through effective file management.

• Working and collaborating well with a team of artists, both in a supporting role and taking the lead, in the creation of content.

• Creating content from Concept and Storyboard to execution and delivery.

• Played a key role in executing pitch work to attract new business.

• Use of time saving methods such as expressions in After Effects in the creation of content so as to meet tight deadlines easier.

• Effectively using Adobe After Effects plug-ins so as to avoid unnecessary expensive render time from 3D software.

Motion Graphics Designer

FLiC Design

March 2007 – July 2010

FLiC was a small production house started by Greg Meek and nicholas was the first employee at the business. FLiC has gone on to be a successful business nine years later and nicholas is proud to have been involved with the business when it was a start-up.

Duties and key achievements included:

• Managing and training junior staff members.

• Production tasks and liaising with clients.

• Modelling, texturing, rigging, lighting and animating elements in Autodesk Maya 3D.

• Compositing for content in Adobe After Effects and Visual Effects supervision for commercials.

• Photography of elements for use in commercials.

• Broadcast design.

Junior Motion Graphics Designer

Refinery Post Production Facility

January 2005 – February 2007

The Refinery Post Production Facility is one of the largest Post Production houses in South Africa.

Duties and key achievements at the refinery included:

• Support for the creative director in the creation of elements

• Support for the flame operator in generation of logos, titles and mattes

• Quality control of content.

• Effectively researched latest technology and creative developments.

• Logo Design to be used in broadcast.

• Creation of educational content using Adobe After Effects.

Adobe After Effects

Autodesk Maya

Maxon Cinema 4D

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Animate/Flash (Actionscript 3)

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Premiere

Adobe Dreamweaver

Adobe Muse

Adobe Edge Animate

Adobe inDesign

Javascript, HTML 5, CSS and basic coding

Microsoft Word

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Powerpoint

Eviews

Download CV