Script
When something is a little unclear - just keep asking questions! What is Mixed Signal IP? What is the work and why is it valuable? What are the roles of the people in the organization? Eventually it will come together.
And you know what? My first draft was still off target. There were a couple of audiences for this project and the first draft focused too heavily on customers. It happens. But it's always easier to bounce off of something than starting from scratch, and it's reasons like this I never get too attached to the first draft. With a little more direction and audience refocus on employees (existing and incoming) the second draft was much closer to the mark.
Storyboard
So I write the script. Do I draw the storyboards too? Why yes, yes I do.
Art Development
Adhere to the Intel brand. Check. But what else?
For MIG, I wanted to play with depth more. And part of my art development process is thinking about how I want the animation to be done - for example, if I'm going to be using more of the Camera or 3D layers, then I need to build the graphics accordingly.
So even while the static graphics had a simple look to them, I used more gradients than usual. And I knew I was going to want to use layers of texture to help accentuate the camera movements and give the viewer a sense of movement in x,y, and z.
Animation
Overlord was my best friend here. When it comes to animating that much circuitry it's a lot easier to apply "trim paths" to individual layers in a composition than to figure out how After Effects decided to break them out with "create shapes from layer." Still a little tedious, but easier. The Overlord plugin is also a godsend when it comes to moving over gradient shapes that you need to manipulate.