The word GIF is abbreviated as Graphics Interchange Format, which is mostly used to create short animation loops, or any other informational clip. GIFs are highly effective in conveying emotions, and concepts, as compared to other visuals. You can add more details in it as compared to images such as you can show multiple sides of a product, define multiple steps of a process, etc. Businesses can use professional looking GIFs to enhance their marketing strategies to attract more customers. Below we have mentioned some different ways to create animated GIFs for marketing and promotions.
How to Create Animated GIFs in Adobe Photoshop?
Adobe Photoshop helps you to create GIFs easily by adding multiple infographics and other images or elements, that you want to animate. These are the stepwise instructions on how to create an animated GIF in Adobe Photoshop:
- Open Adobe Photoshop.
- Click on Files and go to Scripts from the drop-down menu.
- Click on Load Files into Stack.
- A new dialog box will appear.
- Click on Browse and pick the files you want to use in your GIF file.
- Click on the OK button.
- Assign the names to all the layers by going to the layer panel from the bottom right corner of the screen.
- Open the timeline by going to Window > Timeline from the main menu.
- A timeline window will be opened.
- Click on Create Frame Automation from the timeline window.
- Go to Select > All Layers from the top menu bar.
- Click on the menu icon present in the top right corner of the timeline screen.
- Select Create a New Layer for each new frame from the dropdown menu.
- Open the same menu from the timeline screen and click on Make Frame from Layers.
- Click on the time of every frame.
- Select the number of times you want it to loop from the bottom toolbar of the timeline screen.
- You can click on Other to customize the number of repetitions.
- Click on the play icon to preview your animated GIF.
- Go to File > Export > Save for Web.
- Select the type of GIF in the preset dropdown.
- If the GIF contains Gradients, you must select Dithered GIFs.
- Click on the Save button to save the file.
- Your GIF is ready to use for marketing purposes.
How to Make Animated GIFs in Canva
Canva is an online graphic designing tool that lets you create attractive multiple designs with numerous file formats. You can easily create a professional-looking GIF file from its easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor. Here are the complete steps on how to create animated GIFs in Canva:
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- Login to your Canva account.
- Search for the appropriate design template from the search bar.
- Choose the template according to your requirements.
- Customize the template to make a professional design.
- Create multiple layers of images by adding text and other elements in separate locations.
- You have to create multiple pages in the Canva project.
- Click on the play icon to preview your GIF file.
- Click on the Share icon and select Download from the dropdown.
- Choose GIF file from the File Type option.
- Click on the Download button.
- It will be downloaded to your device.
Making Animated GIFs in Adobe After Effects
After Effects is used to make motion graphics, video composing, and visual effects. It also allows you to create effective GIFs by adding multiple elements, and motions in it. It can be easily integrated with Photoshop and Illustrator, to import multiple images and layers. Here are stepwise instructions on creating animated GIFs in After Effects:
- Open Adobe After Effects on your computer.
- Click on a New Project.
- Click on Composition > New Composition from the top menu bar.
- Go to File > Import > File to import the relevant assets for your GIF file.
- Right-click on the timeline panel.
- Select an appropriate layer to add in your design.
- Add keyframes via choosing the layers you want to animate and press P key from the keyboard.
- A position property will be opened and set the element’s start and end positions from it.
- To add a keyframe, click on the stopwatch icon.
- Press the spacebar key from the keyboard to preview your animation.
- Navigate to the Composition > Add to Render Queue from the main menu.
- A render queue will open.
- Set the file format and output source and click on the Render button.
- A video file of your animation will be created.
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Tips On Creating Animated GIFs for Marketing
- You must make sure your GIFs are simple and short, and limit the length of the file from 3 to 10 seconds for entertainment, or marketing and 30 seconds for instructional purposes.
- Your GIFs should contain high-quality visuals to look clean and professional.
- It is effective to add text or captions to your GIFs, to present the brand’s purpose clearly.
- You can reduce the GIF colors, to maintain its quality and minimize its size.
Conclusion
GIFs play a crucial role in promoting brand messages in the form of visuals, and attracting customers in just a few seconds. You can easily add them to your social media strategy, as these are extremely cheap and easy to create. You can get more user engagement from GIFs as compared to images. These files are highly effective in modern marketing, from which brands can make a long lasting impression on their target audience.
