Finding my Vibe in Motion: 6 Days of Kinetic Typography Practice
Inspiration is a notoriously fickle houseguest. For the longest time, I used to wait around for it to knock, hoping that a brilliant logo concept or a fully formed brand identity would magically materialize in my head before I even opened my software.
Lately, though, I’ve been trying a different approach. I’ve turned daily logo animation practice in Cavalry into a creative anchor. No rigid rituals, no grand master plan. Just opening the app, sketching rough ideas, moving type around, and seeing what happens. My process usually starts with a bit of wandering - scrolling through the portfolios of motion designers on Instagram or YouTube just to get my eyes moving, and then diving straight into the canvas.
My approach is entirely fluid. I carve out quiet time each day, but I stay wide open to wherever inspiration (or the total lack of it) takes me. Without strict rules, I’ve had to lean heavily into spontaneous play rather than waiting for the "right" mood. I’ll mess with random animations and font sizes until something finally clicks and feels alive. Some days, logging the results felt tedious; other days, scrolling back through screenshots and short renders felt like reading diary entries of gradual evolution.
Here is what happened when I sat down and let type take over for six days straight.
Day 1: Use ellipse shape to form my name (caro), use sharp pink because I need something sharp today (due to the gloomy weather, and I felt so bored). Text font: Chakra Petch - gives me a sophisticated vibe
Day 2: I continued to use the file on Days and adjusted the shape to circle this time, and changed the background to blue (being inspired by the blue sky). Text font: HanziPen SC - gives me a playful & comic vibe
Day 3: Today I want to try something different to have a wavy flow. It is quite interesting to see my name coming closer and further, up and down. Text font: Arial Black - this is a very common font but I feel so cool
Day 4: I continued with the wavy flow, and just used 1 this time. Text font: Apple LiGothic - this looks like a book cover with this color.
Day 5: This reminds my school days - teachers wrote text on blackboard with chalks. The animation looks a bit rebellious, those days when being young ;’). Text font: Chalkduster
Day 6: I don’t feel like making my name but my current vibe…
This six-day sprint made one thing painfully clear because inspiration rarely arrives on command.
Waiting to feel inspired is a trap. It’s the immersion, the persistent making, that leads to those small, unexpected sparks. An accidental color combination, a weird movement style, or a font juxtaposition that shouldn't work on paper but suddenly clicks on screen. I realized that a creative ritual isn’t just about mindless repetition; it’s about showing up, being present in the session, and giving yourself permission to take messy detours. In fact, the days where I felt like my brain was completely empty ended up being just as useful. They forced me to research other designers, dig into new techniques, and radically broaden my perspective on what type animation can actually do.
Before this practice, I felt a lot of uncertainty around logo creation and personal branding. But translating my name and my moods into motion has completely shifted my fascination toward kinetic type and the emotional resonance that different movements evoke. Moving forward, I'm starting to see how type and motion can actively construct identity, e.g., how personal branding doesn't have to be a static logo stamped on a page, but an animated gesture that breathes, shifts, and tells a story all on its own.
Tool: Cavalry App
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