00 / About me · Prepared for Shopify

Hi, I'm Desmond.

Motion designer and technical director in New York. I build the systems behind the frames.

Portrait of Desmond Du
Singapore → New YorkMotion Design × Technical Direction × Code
Ex WarnerMedia Studios

Background

Image · on set / client work

Brands

Meta, Snap, Google Play, Disney+, Colgate-Palmolive, NBA, MTV, PGA

Image · teaching / lecture

Teaching

Domestika course, 9,000 students. NoSleepCreative on YouTube. Guest lectures at SVA, UT Dallas, Miami Ad School.

Image · SCAD / studio

Education

SCAD, Excelsus Laureate 2023. Singapore Polytechnic.

Project Stories · Brand Design Studio, Event Design

Systems that make
the story easy to tell.

Five stories, each in the look of the brand it was made for.

How I work

01

Structure before pixels

Map what changes before designing anything.

02

One source of truth

Script → sheet → slides. Nobody retypes.

03

Build for the next person

Tools that others can drive safely.

01 / Snap Inc. / 2026

SPECS

Reveal & launch

Role
Technical Director + Motion Designer
Production
FutureDeluxe
Brand
CLOSER
Playback
Creative Outbox
SPECS launch on stage at the Wallis
SPECS launch detail

The brief

Two stages.
Three months.
One system.

Revealed at AWE 2026, launched at the Wallis. 100+ slides, and a script that kept changing.

The pipeline

Script to LED wall, no retyping

  1. ScriptAs written
  2. SheetSingle source of truth
  3. Figma pluginGenerates slides from CSV
  4. After EffectsBuilds named comps
  5. Queue SegmentsPulls only needed frames
  6. KeynoteAppleScript, multi-screen
AWE 2026 production pipeline diagram

Tools I built

Project setup script output
Setup script · ~4 hrs saved per keynote
Queue Segments script in action
Queue Segments · lighter Keynote files

By the numbers

100+slides on LED screens
~4 hrssaved per keynote
6912×3270LED wall
2keynotes, 3 months apart
SPECS launch SPECS launch SPECS launch SPECS launch SPECS launch

Why it matters here

When the script is data, a late line change is one edit, not a hundred slides.

02 · Meta · 2026

Connect 2026
Developer State of the Union

Glasses wall shot from the keynote
Muse Spark title shot from the keynote
Role
Senior Motion Designer, on site
Identity & CG
FutureDeluxe
Show & playback
Done & Dusted

The brief

One keynote.
Five sections.
Each with its rules.

Animated the AI, Phoenix and wearables sections, ready for Apple Keynote.

Two sections, two visual systems

AI Models & Tools

Dark slate, framed type, connecting lines. Strict rules.

Contributor tier slide from the AI section

Phoenix & VR

Warm gradients, product first. A deliberate contrast.

VR glasses glow shot from the Phoenix section

Frames from the show

Glasses navigation shot Cooking HUD shot Billions playing together shot The future is for everyone closing shot
The team on stage
Behind the scenes, Menlo Park

Why it matters here

At this scale, consistency comes from a system everyone can read.

03 — Google Play Games

A localization toolkit that anyone can drive

Role
Toolkit Artist
Agency
Omelet
Studio
State Design
Google Play Games campaign frame

The problem

Every change,
multiplied.

IPs × 2 platforms × 3 ratios × 6 scripts. One text change meant dozens of comps by hand.

× every game IP

The insight

Only the middle changes.

Introfixed Main Sequencethe only part that changes Outrofixed
Spot structure diagram

The architecture

Controls up front. System out of reach.

One control panel per scene: swap, edit, preview everything.

The outcome

1 day → <1 hour

to version a new script or title.

This is the deck-template problem.

Disney+ DOOH campaign on a city screen
Close view of a New York placement

04 · Disney+ · BIEN

Three campaigns.
Every screen a different spec.

Times Square, JFK and LA. Motion design + pipeline.

The friction

The system

Naming conventions

Written into callout sheets.

Folder structure

Shaped by the sheets.

Asset Wrangler

Pre-renders shared pieces.

Callout sheet Workflow diagram 3D file organization

The outcome

3 → 5

artists, still consistent.

Governance lets a team grow without drifting off-brand.

Times Square placement Los Angeles placement New York placement

05 / Lab / AI & automation workflows

From a sentence
to a layout, safely.

AI works inside guardrails I design.

Prototype · ChatCanvas, a Figma agent

Plain English in. Approved actions out.

1 · Prompt
2 · Model → one JSON object 

      

      

        3 · Plugin → canvas
        

      

    

    
  


  

    

      

        
Studio automation · sheets2fcpxml

        
A status change builds the first edit.

        
Built at DGNL: the tracker sheet becomes a Final Cut timeline, automatically.

      

      
    
        
  1. Monday.comStatus changes
    2. 
        
  2. ZapierTriggers
    3. 
        
  3. PythonRows → titles
    4. 
        
  4. DropboxFile saved
    5. 
        
  5. Final Cut ProTimeline ready
    6. 
      

    

  


  

    

      
Converting a video to HEVC with a right-click Quick Action
From the onboarding deck

      

        
Playbook · Keynote Ops Toolkit

        
So everyone on the team renders the same way.

        
    
          
  • Shared render presets
    • 
          
  • Render Array + Time Array scripts
    • 
          
  • HEVC Quick Actions, ~90% smaller files
    • 
        

      

    

  


  

    
Why it matters here

    
Design the system first. Then a fast deck is also an on-brand one.

  


  
  

    
What I'd bring to Event Design

    
The role, mapped to the work.

    

      
Presentations as a product
Script → Figma → Keynote.
SPECS

      
Systems for every skill level
Toolkits anyone can drive.
Google Play Games

      
Governance & standards
Naming, specs, wrangling.
Disney+

      
Executive stage craft
Strict systems, live on stage.
Meta Connect

      
AI-assisted workflows
Constrained LLM-to-Figma agents.
Lab

      
Coaching & playbooks
9,000 students. Onboarding decks.
Teaching

    

    
desmond@duitbetter.com · duitbetter.com