thomas Gugel.
three seconds.

Büro für Gestaltung & Animation

Three-seconds is the portfolio of Award winning Digital Artist & Motion Designer Thomas Gugel. He is currently working as a Freelancer with a studio in Cologne, Germany. Available worldwide.

Thomas Gugel is a design-driven Art-Director and Digital Artist based on a firm believe in the importance of concept and meaning. With almost ten years of experience in broadcast and brand-design he offers a strong foundation in the process of developing and layouting an entire crossmedia design-package & design-system. In every project he offers a deep Artistic-Research providing the client with compiled insights to help for a better communication of their message. Paired with a diploma-degree in Design, his affinity for technical details in the Animation/Production process and his increased awareness of economically & ecologically worthwhile project management, he is able to accompany projects throughout the entire process – from the first idea to the last frame rendered.

Capabilities

Process & working philosophy

The creative process isn’t mostly a way described by a straight line. But precisely for this reason, every design process needs structure upon the work and the decisions can be communicated. I understand this structure not as boundaries – more like tools offering directions.

The most accurate visualisation of my personal working philosophy is described by the Double Diamond Process published by the British Design Council. It complements the design phase with an equivalent amount of research. This first phase is about understanding the problem by discovering the field. In the subsequent design phase, solutions can be developed for the identified problem. Both phases are necessary parts in the creation of valuable design.

This process describes the structure I prefer to work with, on every project no matter what size, timeframe or budget. If you are interested in exchanging experiences, just get in touch.

Project management

In addition to years of practical experience in the Design-Thinking ideation process I am a certified Scrum-Master (PSM-I) for agile project management, to add a variety of tools to the classical PM within a design-driven environment.

Although I am not available for pure project management, this knowledge serves my belief in the importance of a content-aware PM to support the creative process and aim towards a time and cost efficient, respectful, satisfying and sustainable design development – for all participants involved.

Scalable Network

Depending on the project size, I often team up with a few very talented folks & friends with their own and unique design superpowers, I very much appreciate. Not only for the better overall outcome of the final Design & Animation – rather because design is always a team effort. And it is just more fun playing ping pong with ideas.

Tools used

3D: Maxon Cinema 4D, Side FX Houdini
Render: Redshift, Octane
Design & Layout, Animation: Illustrator, After Effects, Indesign, Photoshop
Concept & Feedback: Miro, Frame.io
Editing: DaVinci Resolve
Scripting: Visual Studio, PyCharm
Languages: python (C4D), vex (Houdini), Javascript (AE), php, C# (basics)

I’m always fond of new software to get a job done, but not using it on daily basis like such as Unreal Engine, Marvelous Designer or Figma & Adobe XD. For driving my Axidraw 2D Plotter I use Inkscape – what’s a hell lot of fun!

Press

Projects realised for

What about the name “three seconds”

Developed from the research while working on my graduation short film in 2010. There is a whole story behind it and a lot of explanation about the purely astonishing topic time – how humans percept it, philosophical theories, physical phenomena – but basically, three seconds is the maximum duration our brain can consider as timeless.