How to Make an Animated Logo: A Step-by-Step Guide

All good brands need an eye-catching logo that helps everyone remember who they are and what they do. But we’re here to show you how to take your logo designs to the next level and add a fun new dimension: animation.

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to make an animated logo, the best tools to make a free animated logo, and some examples of animated logos for inspiration before you get started on your own.

Whether you want your logo to spin, bounce, fold, or flip, our instructors will demonstrate how easy it is to transform flat designs and create animated logos in a few simple steps.

Why You Should Use an Animated Logo

Back in the early days of advertising, brands were only focused on one thing when they designed their logos: how good does this look on printed materials like brochures and business cards? We’ve come a long way since then, and having a strong digital identity is just as, if not more, important for businesses to think about.

While a static, one-dimensional logo is still necessary, digital media gives you much more room to play with your branding visuals and create something unique that will stand out to your audience. These visuals are a great way to build connection points with your customers, make your brand instantly recognizable, and help to distinguish you from your competitors.

There are plenty of great animated logo makers out there, and many of them free or easily accessible regardless of your design skill level. Now you know why they’re useful, it’s time to start learning how to make animated logos!

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Animation for Graphic Designers: How to Animate A Logo

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How to Create an Animated Logo

Step 1: Start With Research

prompt — Working from good research is the best way to get started on your logo design.

Before you start working with an animated logo maker, you’ll want to take some time to think about what exactly you want your logo to look like. What kind of message should it send to your audience? Traditional? Classy? Fun? Whimsical? This will all depend on the type of brand you’re designing for, the products and services you sell, and the mission and vision of the company.

If you’re not sure where to begin with your research, take a look at some of the examples below. It’s also helpful to check out what your competitors are doing and if any are using animations in their own branding materials. Take some time to go through their social media channels, look at other brands in your industry, and talk to your customers about what they love about your company.

Step 2: Work on Your Sketches

Using a tool like Procreate on an iPad, it’s easy to start drawing your own logos from scratch. Your logo could be simply your brand name in a creative font, or it could include visual elements like shapes and lines.

This is the step where you’ll want to make sure you’re happy with the final static drawing before moving onto the next stage, where you’ll create an animated logo. This will be the image you’ll be using on your website and printed materials like business cards or print ads, so take your time here.

Step 3: Animate a Static Image

Once you have your static logo, you can start to work on basic animating elements like looping and turning your image into a video sequence. There are different ways to do this depending on the tool that you’re using, so play around with different software to see what works best for you as you learn how to make an animated logo.

Animation in Procreate

If you’ve been working in Procreate to create a free animated logo, trace your static design twice so that you have three versions of the design.

Trace your logo three times to create overlapping layers for looping.

Turn on the Animation Assist option in the action settings, tap “Add Frame,” and begin tracing. This will form the overlays you need to create your animation loop. From here, change the settings to 12 frames per second (FPS) to start with and hit play to see your logo design wiggle. You’ve just made your first animated logo!

Once each looped layer is combined into a single frame, your static image will have a wobble or vibration effect.

From here, you can add in any other details and embellishments that you’d like to include in your animation that may not be present in the static image.

Add in various layers of each design element that you want to animate, like lines or shapes, and loop those individually before saving. When saved, all of your layers will play together to create one continuous animated logo.

Add small details at the end as separate layers so that they can be easily edited.

Animation in Adobe After Effects

Adobe After Effects is used by both amateur and professional graphic designers to create moving graphics like GIFs and logos for all kinds of uses. It can seem a little overwhelming at first, so if you’re not as familiar with this program, take a look at some beginner classes before getting started. These will help you to find your way around the software before diving into your first project.

First, import your logo with a clear background (usually the PNG file version rather than the JPG version) into After Effects. If you want to animate certain elements of the image only, keep the layers option on when you import. If not, you can import the whole design without the layers and the animation effects will be used across the full graphic.

Add in any effects you’re looking for in the display panel, whether that’s looping (causing it to repeat) or any other kinds of movement. Use the timeline panel to decide when you want your animation features to begin and end. You can shift these left and right until you find the timing you’re looking for and play everything back before you render and save the final graphic.

6 Example Animated Logos for Inspiration

Need some inspiration to get you started? Take a look at some of the best designs from our Skillshare instructors and students who are also learning how to make animated logos.