EASY WAYS TO MAKE GIFS FOR NON-DESIGNERS
GIFs are a fun, quick way to add personality to your messaging and visual content. They capture our attention, make us laugh and engage us in a way that is very different from static images or videos.
And the best part is that we can use GIFs in many places: from emails to messenger apps, blog posts, direct messages, comments and replies, stories, social media posts and more. In fact, GIFs have become so popular that they have become a well-loved feature of just about every social platform. As such, most of your favorite social networks now include ways to post and share GIFs, often integrating with Giphy, the largest online GIF library.
Today, the use of GIFs is so widespread that it is used by people from all walks of life. The internet is flooded with movie promotions, teasers, product releases and comedy all represented through GIFs. If you were to ask GIF creators about the responses GIFs receive, you may just be surprised. The results are much more substantial than average content or videos that are put out there.
9 EASY STEPS TO DESIGNING A GIF – TRICKS THAT NON-DESIGNERS CAN USE
Are you ready to get started? You’re going to love these templates that our design crew has prepped for you. Here are just a few ways that you can create GIFs to take your designs to the next level:
1. CREATE GIFS WITH A SHRINKING DESIGN ELEMENT
In this first example, we’ve created a cool GIF effect that will instantly catch the attention of users and followers. It works really well with any image placed inside a graphic shape. And of course, you can use text too!
2. MAKE GIFS USING STACKING TEXT
In this next example, we’ve created a GIF that brings in the text, line by line. Then we make it disappear again. This style is HOT right now, but is so easy to create!
Hot Tip: When working with animated text, it’s always best to add each line or section of text into its own Text Box. This makes it easier to remove elements with one click in order to create the stepped GIF animation.
3. BUILD GIFS USING GLOW EFFECT
It’s time to light up your graphics with a bright, flashing glow on your text and background! This neon ‘glow’ GIF is perfect for Black Friday Sales or any time you want to catch attention:
Hot Tip: To use your GIF on Instagram Stories, you’ll need to convert it to video first. Use a free tool like EzGif.com to transform your GIF into video in seconds.
4. MAKE GIFS WITH MULTIPLE PEOPLE OR PRODUCT SHOTS
In this next example, we’ve used the popular cut-out or ‘sticker’ images that you’re seeing everywhere from YouTube thumbnails to websites. This is a perfect style to create a ‘Meet the Crew’ GIF
5. CREATING CUT-OUT PEOPLE OR PRODUCT IMAGES
Firstly, you need to create the images you will use in the GIF. In this case, we needed to remove the backgrounds and replace them with a fun gradient image from the Canva library:
To create individual cut-out images like the ones you see above, follow these steps:
- Go to the My Images tab on your Workspace. Click Upload to upload your images.
- Scroll to locate the newly uploaded images. Click on the drop-down arrow to the right of any image you want to edit. Choose Remove Background.
- A pop-up box will appear. Confirm Remove Background. Note that Credits are required to use the Remove Background tool, and are included on paid Easil plans. Receive 5 credits each month on Plus plans, and 50 credits each month on Edge plans.
- To use your new images on a design in Easil, open a new design or template in the Editor, navigate to the Images tab in the SideBar and click or drag to add the image to your design. You can also add your images to folders to find them again easily.
- Now let’s take those images and add them into our GIF!
6. CREATE THE GIF FROM THE SERIES OF IMAGES
To create this GIF design, we used our transparent images and the following steps. Make sure you refer to the images below to see a visual overview of how each text slide should be edited.
7. CREATE GIFS WITH MOVEMENT INSIDE TEXT
Sometimes, less is more. In this example, we’ve already got some stand-out text, so all we needed to do was add a little movement. The following style can be used to make your text dance on the page:
8. MAKE GIFS WITH MOVING GRAPHIC ELEMENTS
The beauty of using Canva’s GIF Maker is that you can animate any element. You’re not restricted to animating the text. In this example, the graphic elements do the dancing:
Moving Elements GIF example – Learn how to make a GIF by moving & rotating elements
To create this effect, we used the following tricks. Make sure you refer to the images below to see a visual overview of how each text slide should be edited.
- Used a ready-made ‘discount template’ from our Canva templates.
- Duplicated the image 2 times for a total of 3 pages.
- On Pages 2 and 3, moved and rotated the 4 x graphic elements to slightly different positions as shown below.
- Clicked Download to publish the GIF and chose Medium Speed.
- Saved and shared!
- Like our design? Click here to use our ready-to-go template!
Hot Tip: Get creative with shapes and graphic elements when creating GIFs. They can rotated using the Rotate button in the ActionBar, expanded or retracted in size, or made to appear and disappear. Try different ways of manipulating them to create your GIF.
9. CREATE CROSS-PLATFORM GIFS
Think in terms of efficiency (as well as creativity) when you create your GIFs. In the next example, we’ve created a GIF that will catch attention in your email campaigns, as well as on your Pinterest feed with a tall image. This GIF is optimized for both!
YOUR TURN
Tell us, what animated GIF Tricks did you like the most out of this article? Do you have any questions about how we created some of these GIFs?
