Motion Promotion: Tania Goffredo

Continuing with our Motion Promotion interview series: next up is a conversation with John Palowski & Tania Goffredo.

Our Motion Promotion interview series is here to spotlight stories, insights, and creative journeys from the very first cohorts of our Motion Design course.

John Palowski, Shillington’s Director of Curriculum, is joined by Tania Goffredo, a recent Motion graduate. John shares his vision behind building the Motion course from the ground up, while Tania reflects on what it was like to dive into motion for the first time and how it’s already reshaped her creative practice.

From balancing life and learning to navigating After Effects for the first time, this interview is packed with reflections, takeaways, and inspiration for anyone curious about adding motion to their design skillset.

Stay tuned, this is just the beginning.

John Palowski:

So, Tania, this is about your personal journey. If you could tell us all, what were you up to before you studied on the Shillington Motion for Graphic Designers course?

Tania Goffredo:

Well, at the moment, my husband, son, and I are actually on a bit of an adventure down under. Our main base is usually in Oslo, Norway, where our son Max will start school in August. But until then, we have the flexibility to travel and move around. I'm working as a freelance graphic designer, with my main client base in Oslo. Currently, we're living in Noosa on the Sunshine Coast in Australia. It's pretty, pretty, pretty fab.

JP:

Looks lovely. Okay, so what was your motivation for doing the course?

TG:

I've been interested in learning After Effects for a long time. I really wanted to add motion to my skill set, and the timing for the course was perfect. I hadn’t taken on a lot of work, and we had just signed a one-year lease on a house here in Noosa after traveling for about eight months. My son was absolutely loving his new kindy. The stars really aligned for me to set aside some time for myself and my career goals.

JP:

Did you consider any other routes to learning design while you were considering Shillington for motion design?

TG:

Yeah, I looked into many courses, and I couldn't believe my luck when I found this one advertised on the Shillington website. I had gone in, had a look around, and I really love the Shillington way of learning. It's fast-paced, practical, and it really suits my personality.

JP:

So could you go into a bit more detail and tell me about how you found the course experience overall?

TG:

I absolutely loved it. The course material was so well thought out, the approach was typical Shillington, and the teachers were just fabulous. I was also with a really great group of students, and I was so inspired to learn alongside them.

JP:

What was your experience learning After Effects and Motion Thinking?

TG:

My experience learning on the course was just amazing. I got so much out of it. There was a lot of information to take in at the start, really a lot of learning. But by the end of the course, working in After Effects felt so natural. It's now my favourite design program. In terms of motion thinking, I now approach design through a different lens. The possibilities feel endless.

JP:

That’s so cool. How did the course compare when you first studied at Shillington?

TG:

When I first studied at Shillington, I studied full-time on campus in London and it was in 2012. So it's like comparing chalk and cheese really. I took some time off work and I was actually sponsored by my employer at the time to go study in London for three months. My husband stayed in our apartment in Oslo while I rented a room with a lovely American girl. She's now actually one of my best friends and I was just starting my journey into design. Everything was so new and I didn't have the confidence I do now. But that being said, the way of learning was the same and I was just as inspired on both courses.

JP:

Nice. So, for your major project, you did some work for your client. And it was quite a nice gesture, actually, I remember you saying. What was their reactions to the motion work that you did for them?

TG:

They thought it was really great. They were perhaps a little bit confused as to why I'd spent so much time creating a promo video for an already published report. But yeah, they do hope to have the opportunity to use my skills at some stage along the line!

JP:

Great, great. And have you completed any motion work since graduating from the course?

TG:

Well, it's annual report season for many of my clients at the moment, so I've been busy working on these. But in the coming weeks, I do actually plan to make a couple of promo videos for a few of the reports that my clients can use on their social media and on their website when the reports are published. I did actually recently make a little promo video to show my new skills to one of my partner agencies. I'm also working on bits and bobs for my website upgrade.

So stay tuned.

Check out Tania's website for more work, and her Linkedin.