7 Steps to Create Promotional Animations Fast
In today’s scroll-happy world, grabbing attention is like trying to catch a cat in a thunderstorm— quick, chaotic, and borderline impossible. 🙀 But here’s the thing: animations make it way easier. They bring your brand to life, tell your story, and keep people glued to the screen. Plus, it's overall experienced across industries that people engage much more with video content than static content.
Now, let’s dive into the 7 steps to whip up those promotional animations fast!
Step 1: Align with Stakeholders on Key Message and Sub-Messages
Before you get all excited about bringing things to life, make sure you’re actually saying something important. Grab a virtual (or real, if you're feeling fancy) whiteboard and sketch out the key message you want to convey. Then, break it down into sub-messages. It’s like packing a suitcase — you’ve got to know what’s essential before you throw in all the extra stuff. Get everyone on board, so there are no curveballs from important stakeholders later (I'm sure you've tried that before, just like I have 🤭).
🎥 Example? Imagine your client is a high-end sports brand often associated with basketball player Jordan (purely a fictive example, of course). The client wants an animation that promotes their new kids sneakers. Okay, that's a clear brief, right? But while you might think that the key message is obvious, the client might sit with a different key message in their head:
You: "Obvious - the key message is that you're the cool kid on the block if you have these shoes. Everyone want's to be cool as a kid."
Client: "Clearly the key message is that you'll gain confidence enough to stand up against the self-proclaimed 'cool kids' at your school. Every kid can relate to this."
Step 2: Scripting
Now that you’ve got your messages locked in, it’s time to script it out. This is where things get fun — and hard. Work with your team and make this process as collaborative (and iterative) as possible. It’ll feel a bit like a ping-pong match 🏓, back and forth, but the goal is to end up with a clear and concise story. Keep it snappy, no one’s got time for a 10-minute animation on "why your product is life-changing." 😳
🤖 Yes, use AI. But use it smartly. I tend to prompt whatever LLM with the key message, sub messages, tone of voice, audience, and length to get started. Then be prepared to cut out half of the words because it'll always end up becoming longer than you expected. Imagine that around 60-80 words already makes up 30 seconds of video — yes, you can read it out loud faster, but if you want to make an animation that allows your audience to actually understand the message you're trying to convey then you need breaks, transitions, and time for each sentence to breathe.
Step 3: Storyboarding
Welcome to the part where you draw it all out. 🎨
Storyboarding is like creating the skeleton of your animation. Break down your script and sketch out what will be shown on screen during each part. Don’t worry, it doesn’t need to look like a Michelangelo masterpiece — at least not in the first few rounds.
I usually start with pen and paper (I know, call me old…👵🏼). But honestly, I find this to inspire me to be messy, not try to make anything perfect yet, and limits the risk of a creative block.
Then I move on to either my pen display (the digital version of pen and paper) or directly into Adobe Illustrator. This depends both on my time and how clear of a vision I already have in my pen and paper sketches.
If I am collaborating with others, I share the sketches continuously during the process to get feedback and make sure we're still aligned.
Then I start refining, noting down thoughts of movement, transitions etc.
Step 4: Illustrating Style Frames
Now it’s time to give your storyboard a glow-up. Enter: style frames. These are still images that show how your animation will actually look. Think of it as giving your client a sneak peek into the final product — the color palette, design style, and overall vibe. Style frames are the part where your creativity shines, so feel free to go wild (within reason). This helps the client or team visualize the final look before things start moving.
This all sounds like a beautiful and linear process — but of course it's not, it's still design. So don't feel discouraged if you suddenly realize by making your style frames that some scenes need to be changed, maybe so much that you have to go all the way back to your script and modify it. Completely normal! Well, at least in my process. 🧐
Step 5: Animating
This is where the magic happens, folks. Animating is a multi-step, iterative process that can be a bit like building a house of cards—you do it bit by bit, and hope it all comes together smoothly. First, focus on the big movements. Don’t worry about the tiny details just yet. Then go back and start refining. Once you've got the flow of things, add in your pacing, syncing it with the music and voice-over. Now’s when you get picky—start adding in those little details, making everything feel seamless. And finally, give it one last polish. You’ll likely go through a couple of rounds here, but it’s all part of the process!
Step 6: Sound Design
Sound is a big part of any video, though we also know that a lot of people view videos on social media without sound. So make sure that you think about which channels your audience are going to look at your video on to prioritize your efforts.
While you’re busy animating, you (or your sound designer) should be working on the sound design. This means adding a sound bed, effects, and the all-important voice-over. The sound enhances the visuals, sets the mood, and makes sure the animation packs an emotional punch.
👉🏽 I find that this often happens in parallel with step 5. Sometimes I even have a sound bed in mind before I'm done with the storyboard. Other times it's one of the last pieces of the puzzle to fall into place. So play around with the process and let yourself get inspired without following the order of the steps too closely!
Step 7: Delivery
And here we are, the final step. You’ve been through rounds of feedback, probably eaten a questionable amount of snacks, and the animation is looking slick. But there’s still room for a bit more polish. Make sure to keep your stakeholders looped in, so any last-minute adjustments won’t throw you off course. Once everything is signed off, deliver the agreed files in the formats specified. A happy ending, and you’re officially done!
That's it!
There you have it—7 steps to create promotional animations fast, without losing your mind in the process. Animations are a fantastic way to engage your audience and give your brand that extra “wow” factor, so follow these steps, and you’ll be animating like a pro in no time. Now, go make something awesome!
