In 2019, I collaborated with RealBar, a startup offering freeze-dried fruit and nut bars made from 100% organic ingredients, to create a series of short motion ads for social media. They provided a logo and product photos and needed a visual identity for their videos that communicated freshness, simplicity, and the wholesome nature of their brand. My work introduced their audience to a new product line through approachable, clean motion design rooted in natural cues.

RealBar was a brand-new company with no visual guidelines, no established color palette, and little direction beyond “introduce our organic bar to the market.” They needed short video ads for brand awareness on Facebook and Instagram, built from minimal assets and without an existing motion style. The challenge was to craft a cohesive visual language that felt natural, organic, and calm, without overwhelming viewers or deviating from the brand’s simple, earthy personality.

I worked directly with the founder, Adam, who gave me freedom to interpret the brand visually. With limited guidance and only a handful of product images available, I took full ownership of the creative direction, visual system, animation style, and final production. I handled design, animation, and delivery for all ad variations.

With no brand guidelines, I used the RealBar website as a starting point to identify colors, textures, and visual cues. I also researched how other organic food brands communicated freshness and quality through motion, especially those using real product photography. The product itself became a major source of inspiration: clean, natural, and uncomplicated.

I combined Photoshop for preparing product imagery with After Effects for animation. Illustrator was used minimally for vector cleanup. Because the provided photos were central to the ads, I relied on parallax setups, light movement, and subtle depth to bring the compositions to life without adding distracting complexity.

I first delivered a logo animation to set the tone. After that, I completed the ad variations and sent them to Adam in two rounds. The project moved quickly, he requested only a few adjustments, and after the second delivery, everything was approved. It was a hands-off collaboration where I had space to guide the creative.

I developed a clean motion direction rooted in simplicity, focusing on smooth easing, subtle depth, and floating fruit elements that complemented the organic feel of the brand. By pairing real photography with restrained movement, the ads felt polished and sophisticated instead of cartoony, aligning with the product’s wholesome, honest positioning.