Nexus unveils new venture Nexus Design Studio, headed by motion whizz Harry Butt

Today, 22 February, the global creative organisation Nexus Studios announced the launch of its new division – Nexus Design Studio. This new venture is to be firmly rooted in motion design, and will focus on graphic aesthetics and typography, and work across social media, website design, product launch films, among many areas, thus diversifying and expanding upon Nexus’ already broad animation remit. It will be led by Harry Butt, a motion designer who until recently ran his own independent animation studio, completing projects for the likes of Nike, Boiler Room, Sony Music and Instagram.

On the new venture, Chris O’Reilly, co-found and CCO at Nexus Studios says that “we’ve always had a love for motion design”, citing the team's work on the titles of Catch Me If You Can, and more recently the Lord of the Rings TV series and projects with Headspace, Apple and Google. “So this area is very familiar to us and our existing talent,” Chris expands. “We have worked often with many of our brand clients on projects where design, perhaps more than narrative, was the core and we were working across broader platforms than simply commercial film.” And so now, Nexus Design Studio aims to offer Nexus’ clients a unit focused entirely on motion, offering them the best of both worlds – “a design partnership invested in their needs, but also, of course, stand out world-class narrative directors, storytellers and visual artists through our roster of award winning talent,” Chris details.

Discussing his new role, Harry Butt summarises the new studio as providing a way to “utilise motion design in a meaningful way to create distinct campaigns through craft and experimentation”. He continues: “Nexus Design Studio is drawing on Nexus Studios’ history of crafting beautiful stories but applying it in a bold, graphic and punchy way.” Harry’s certainly psyched himself up for the new career path, and intends to apply his many learnings from the years of running his own studio, both in his practice and dealings with clients. “Previously as an animation director, I’m used to covering all bases – from bringing cute smiles to a client call at 8am on a Monday to late nights in the animation dungeon shifting keyframes until the early hours,” he says.

The studio will exist as a unit within the larger studio structure, and will focus on the fast-paced production of artwork and animation. The new bespoke team is one that Harry has great faith in too – from “VFX gurus” to “animation queens” – that while working amongst a larger organisation, has the feel and flexibility of a small independent studio. “The safety of having so much talent around us means that we can push the industry and format into new exciting places with the confidence to take on big jobs and steer people into exciting motion design executions,” Harry says.