It's a constant creative challenge that motion designers face: making work that has a strong aesthetic but is also clear enough for an audience of untrained eyes to appreciate. But it's an entirely different beast altogether when the audience for a designer's work is comprised solely of other esteemed artists.

That was the situation faced by Madrid-based freelance motion designer Helio Vega when he was invited to create the opener for international design conference MadinSpain. A hub for the design community, this year's September event featured talks by Alberto Corazon, Joshua Davis, Farfar, and AKQA among others.

Vega, who began his career at Zapping/M&C Saatchi, with a stint at Toronto-based Big Studios, decided to connect with his audience via the place they'd feel most at home: their work spaces.

"The designer's work space is an important part in the creative process," says Vega, who has worked for clients such as MTV, Microsoft and Discovery Channel. "The elements [in that space] have their own life. They still live in that place even though the designers are not there."

To illustrate this concept, Vega incorporated work from the featured designers into the opener, which is set in a design studio. As the sun sets over a city, pieces of work, and the tools that allow the designers to create it, shift subtly or move restlessly, as if waiting to be completed.

Working in Photoshop, After Effects and Cinema 4D, Vega spent a month in post-production, animating these movements with the help of fellow designers Mr. Oso and Holke79. A variety of media were employed. For example, one scene depicts a 2D illustration by Joshua Davis vibrating in a live-action picture frame. Another finds a 3D fish, which Vega took from interactive designer Carlos Ulloa's ocean life screensaver, swimming through a wireframe box.

The live-action shoot took place over three days at two locations: the offices of MadinSpain organizers Domestika and Zapping/M&C Saatchi.

"I used an HD camera for the initial three-day shoot," says Vega. "But I reshot over the following weeks because at times I didn't feel comfortable with the results."

Vega's eye for the perfect shot resulted in the piece's visually stunning sequences, but the film's opening and closing scenes - a sunset and sunrise - proved to be tough to capture.

"I shot for three weeks, at the beginning and end of each day," reveals Vega. "You cannot control the sky or the colors, so I repeated the scene until I found the correct one. I now understand why National Geographic crews go to Africa for one month to shoot, because it's difficult enough for normal people to shoot a good sunrise and sunset!"

Helio Vega http://www.heliovega.com
MadinSpain http://www.madinspain.com