Sarasota, FL -- The HuB of Sarasota recently highlighted the grand opening of their new space with projected animation on the front façade of their newly renovated 40,000 sq. ft. building at 1680 Fruitville Road. Visually overwhelming over 1,200 attendees, the projection was the result of 24 students in The Department of Motion Design, at Ringling College of Art and Design, working over 5 weeks to generate the resulting animations. Direct output of the project is viewable at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfYUavbVdYM and actual event projection is viewable at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17GsrUFL6Xg.

Motion Design is a professional career field that uses competency in animation, graphic design, advertising, and filmmaking to create design solutions such as movie opening sequences, introductory graphics for sports broadcasts, interactive web interfaces and visually compelling advertising.

According to HuB founder Rich Swier Jr., “It was appropriate that the HuB, as an incubator focused on creativity as the driver of new businesses, align with Ringling College on our grand opening as Ringling is educating the next generations of creatives. The Motion Design student team was able to grasp the nuances of what we wanted to communicate and where able to express in a visually compelling manner the vitality and energy of our organization.”

The HuB is a creative and collaborative space and community where entrepreneurs come together to develop ideas and contribute toward building a new economy and culture in Sarasota, Florida. Businesses launched out of the HuB include Clinipace (a digital contract research company launched 8 years ago which just raised $50MM), Real Digital Media (a digital signage company), PROskore (an online business reputation network), Lucid Global (an immersive technologies company focused on healthcare communications)y) and Dealers United (an independent automobile dealer network). Additional growing HuB ventures include HuB Studios and the HuB Fund.

"The HuB has played a key role in helping me launch my latest venture, Dealers United,” said Jesse Biter, cofounder of Dealers United. “Already at 20 employees, Dealers United has benefited from the resources of the HuB and the creativity of its people. Our employees are thrilled to be in such an exciting environment with so much energy.”

Ed Cheetham, Motion Design Program Director at Ringling College, said that “the HuB Projection project was successful as both a final animation and educational experience. We adopted a new classroom model that turned our department into a Motion Design Studio with 24 students and 6 faculty members creating a real production environment. The students were treated as working designers and animators and faculty took the roles of art, creative and technical directors. Rich Swier from the HuB and Jeff Hazelton from Lucid Global provided the job brief and arranged weekly presentation meetings with the students. We then spent the first two weeks working on concepts and designs, the next two and a half weeks on animation production and the last few days used to polish sound design and assemble the final deliverable.”

This collaborative effort allowed students to experience not only the technical challenges of the execution, but also the pressure and professional expectations of a working studio. From client meetings and concept pitches, to daily reviews and incorporating client suggestions, to meeting tight turn-around deadlines, the students truly experienced a professional work environment.

Mike Curtis, adjunct Ringling College Motion Design instructor, said, “These are valuable experiences that are not taught in a software manual, or in online training. The ability to bring the professional workplace into the classroom with experiences such as this is why Ringling graduates are so highly sought after - it's their ability to enter the workplace fully prepared for success.”