About

Hey my name is Desmond Du, and I’m Singaporean NYC-based Motion Designer and Creative Technologist at Diagonal Media. I work at the intersection of design, animation, code, operations, building systems that help creative teams move smarter, navigate unambiguity, and scale meaningful over time. This often involves organizing shared knowledge, building reusable tools and templates, automating repeatable tasks, developing custom workflows, and conducting creative analysis to uncover value and direction.

I previously worked at WarnerMedia Studios in Atlanta. I also run NoSleepCreative, a YouTube channel dedicated to motion designers, and teach the Domestika course Advanced After Effects: Coding for Motion Design, with over 8,000 students enrolled. Occasionally, I teach in person, such as a workshop at UT Dallas and a UX design course at Miami Ad School in New York.

I’m also available for speaking engagements, workshops, and training sessions. Get in touch with me at desmond@duitbetter.com.

Interviews

Video

F9 Collective — Expressions in AE and How Coding Ties Creativity – 2026

Uneasy Ease: The Real Talk about Motion Design — Ep. 02: Design & Business – 2025

Ravie & Co. — Let’s Chat With: Desmond Du (The Daily Motion Show Ep. 31) – 2023

Motion Mondays — Inside The Life of Desmond Du – Episode 1 – 2020

Written

SCAD — SCAD Savannah Excelsus Laureate – 2023

CanvasRebel Magazine — Meet Desmond Du – 2022

Shoutout Atlanta — Local Stories: Meet Desmond Du | Motion Designer & AE Tutorial Maker – 2021

VoyageATL — Meet Desmond Du of Du It Better in Midtown – 2020

Publications

Awards Experts — How to Create a Case Film that Works For Your Team – 2026

Domestika — 3 Cheat Expressions to Save Time in After Effects – 2023

Made by Loop — How to Get Better at Motion Design – 2021

Creative Bloq — The Designer’s Guide to Becoming Adobe Certified – 2018

Press & Feature

Creative Boom — Five Creative Projects We Loved in November, dentsu Media Trend Report, 2025

LBBOnline — United Industry Leaders Propel Young Motion Design Talent with Creative Codex – 2024

Award & Recognition

Telly Award, Silver — 3D Animation, Branded Content, Paxos – 2024

Telly Award, Bronze — Documentary Short, Non-Broadcast, Breaking the Fourth Wall – 2024

Rookies Awards — Rookie of the Year, Highly Commended, Motion Graphics –2023

SCAD — Excelsus Laureate (Top Graduate Student) & Graduation Speaker – 2023

Red Dot Award — Brands & Communication Design, Student Work, Event Title Sequence, CoMotion 2023 – 2023

Communication Arts — Design Annual 64, Student Work, CoMotion 2023 – 2024

Applied Arts Magazine — Student Category Winner, CoMotion 2023 – 2023

MODE Festival — Best Title Sequence, Finalist, CoMotion 2023 – 2023

Motion Awards — Student Title Sequence, CoMotion 2023 – 2023

SCAD — Dean’s Fellow Full Scholarship – 2019

SCAD — Frances McCommon Larkins Full Scholarship – 2016

Speaking Engagements

Conferences & Panels

SCAD CoMotion 2026 — Beyond Borders, invited panelist – 2026

ASIFA-East— Social Media Panel, invited panelist – 2025

SCAD CoMotion 2025 — The Art of Freelance Panel, invited panelist – 2025

ASIFAC 2024 — Beyond Animation Roundtable, invited participant – 2024

SCAD CoMotion 2024 — Alumni Panel: Back to School, invited panelist – 2024

SCAD CoMotion 2022 — CoMotion Branding Behind the Scenes, moderator – 2022

The Creative Folks — Empower Asian America: Asians in the Creative Industry, invited panelist – 2020

SCAD CoMotion 2020 — Alumni Panel, invited panelist – 2020

Teaching

Lectures & Talks

New York is Creative 2025 | NYC Subway Bullet Keychains

Bass School at UT Dallas — Then and Now: The Creative Journey, invited speaker– 2025

Singapore Polytechnic — Beyond Borders: From SP to SCAD to Global Stage, invited speaker – 2024

Teaching

School of Visual Arts (SVA) — Intro to ComfyUI, guest lecturer for faculty development, NYC – 2025

School of Visual Arts (SVA) — Intro to ComfyUI, guest lecturer, NYC – 2025

Bass School at UT Dallas — Coding for Motion Design, workshop instructor – 2025

Miami Ad School — User Experience, course lecturer – 2025

DomestikaCoding for Advanced Motion Design, course instructor, 8,700+ students enrolled – 2022

SCAD — Peer Tutor and Workshop Instructor (20+ workshop) – 2019

Creative Resources

Tutorials

NoSleepCreative YouTube — Motion design tutorials, workflow breakdowns & industry insights, 2019–ongoing

DomestikaCoding for Advanced Motion Design

Wikis

NoSleepCreative YouTube — Motion design tutorials, workflow breakdowns & industry insights, 2019–ongoing

NoSleepCreative Docs — Motion design expressions & best practices, 2019–ongoing

Motion Design Wiki — Best practices for SCAD students, internationals, faculty, alumni, freelancers, 2023–ongoing

Creative Codex — Web-based modular resource library for motion designers, 2024–ongoing

Writings

On Graduate School · Part 2 · Academic Experience — How studying abroad influenced my life, 2024

On Returning to Graduate School — My 6-months experience on doing a MFA in Motion Media Design, 2021

Close Reading 01: Visual Composition — Comparative analysis of title sequences, 2023

On CoMotion, Being an Animation Lead and Tips — 2021

NoSleepCreative: A Year in Retrospect — 2021

Journey to an Art School Full-Ride Again — 2020

Journey to a Full-Ride — 2019