How to make and animate a product announcement

Announcing a new product, an upcoming event, or a special promotion? Animated posts can significantly amplify your message’s impact.

Standing out on social media is more crucial—and challenging—than ever. As brands and creators vie for the fleeting attention of their audiences, there’s a growing need for marketers who can create engaging content.

Enter the power of animation.

Animation empowers you to transform a static announcement graphic into a captivating visual story. And it can be surprisingly simple.

In this guide, we'll walk you through creating an informative and attention-grabbing animated announcement post in just a few minutes. We’ll use a tool designed for both the seasoned graphic designer and marketing teams alike: Linearity Move.

Ready to set things in motion? Let’s get started.

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Setting the stage for impactful announcements

Before diving into the how-to, let's explore the foundation of what makes an announcement noticeable and impactful.

Define your objective and audience

Start by clarifying what you want to achieve with your announcement. Is it to drive pre-orders, increase brand awareness, or inform existing customers about a new feature? It’s also important to understand who your announcement is for. Tailor your message to their interests, needs, and the platforms they frequent.

Craft a compelling message

Highlight the key benefits and features of your product. Focus on what sets it apart and how it solves a problem or fulfills a need for your audience. Does your product make life more convenient for the user? Does it have an ingredient in it that is interesting, or that offers potential benefits? 

You should also try and ensure your message aligns with your brand’s voice. Whether it's professional, friendly, or playful, consistency is key to building brand recognition. 

Design engaging visuals

Leverage Linearity Move’s pre-animated templates to get started quickly. These templates can be customized to fit your brand’s style and message.

Make sure to include your logo, brand colors, and typography. Consistent use of these elements builds a visual connection to your brand. Use animation to highlight important information or features.

Movement can draw attention to specific parts of your message, making it more likely to be remembered.

Simplify the animation process

Utilize Linearity Move’s drag-and-drop functionality to add animations without needing complex software or skills, saving you time and budget. Also learn how to fine-tune your animations with easy timeline adjustments, controlling the duration and timing of each element for maximum impact.

Optimize for different platforms

Different platforms have different requirements. Optimize your announcement's format and dimensions for social media, email, or your website. Take advantage of platform-specific features, like the Instagram Stories swipe-up feature, to add interactivity to your announcement.

Include a clear call to action (CTA)

Make your CTA stand out with animation or a contrasting color. It should be immediately visible to viewers. Make sure to be clear about what you want your audience to do next. Whether it’s "Shop Now," "Learn More," or "Pre-Order," your CTA should be concise and to the point.

Let's put these principles into practice. Follow our step-by-step tutorial below to learn how to create and animate an announcement post in minutes.

Launch Linearity Move on your MacBook

Let's make a product announcement animation quickly and efficiently by working with one of Linearity's animated template files.

Here's how to get started:

Open Linearity Move: If you haven't already downloaded Linearity Move, click Get Started below to create your free account.

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Download the template: Head to our Templates Library and browse for a template you think will work for your project. We'll be using the Thrift Shopping template for this tutorial. You can download it below:

Get this template

Open your template: Once you've downloaded the free template, head to your Downloads folder and double-click the template file to automatically launch Linearity Move.

You’ll see the template’s Move Project in the platform’s Homescreen Gallery.

Customize your announcement animation

Navigate to the Timeline space of your interface, where you will find your animation Scene. Navigate to the Timeline area at the bottom of your screen and double-click on the Scene to enter Scene View.

Now, it's time to harness the power of Linearity Move's different modes: Animate and Design Mode.

With Design Mode selected you can experiment and play with design using graphic-designer-friendly features that allow you to edit scene assets without affecting animations.

Basically, in Design Mode you only make changes to an object's appearance. You can also create new assets from scratch in this mode without much effort. You can then use those assets for intuitive scene editing and smooth animation creation in Animate mode. 

Update the template colors

In Design Mode, head to the Style Tab on the right-hand side of your screen and change the background color by first toggling Background Fill to the 'on' position.

Select a color from the Color Picker Popover, or manually set a specific color using the Hex Code, Color Space and Alpha values.

We went with a dark olive green.  

Customize the text

Use the Selection Tool to customize your template text by selecting any word on the template, which activates the Text Tool in the Toolbar. The content-aware Text Panel will then appear in the Style Tab. Type your new text.

Experiment with font styling in the Inspector,  such as Bold, Italic, Underline, and Strikethrough, along with tools for text alignment, adjusting letter spacing, and setting line height.

Import and update the images

Let's update the template to represent your new look and feel by importing assets and adding them to your template file.

To do that, head to the Assets tab of the left Toolbar. Here you’ll find assets from your previous designs, such as your brand elements and logo.

If you haven’t added any Assets yet, click on the + symbol at the top and import your brand assets. 

Once you've added your asset to the Asset Library, double-click on it to automatically add the element to your Artboard.

The element will most likely appear above everything else on your board, so head to your Layers Stack in the Timeline area and drag it above the existing image layer. This will automatically apply the masking layer to your image, creating a frame around the image in the form of the mask shape. 

Animate your call to action

Let’s encourage viewers to buy your product with an animated call-to-action (CTA). To do this, stay in Design Mode and use one of the Shape Tools, like a circle, by selecting the Shape Tool in the Toolbar. The Shape Tool allows you to create geometric shapes, such as rectangles, lines, ovals, polygons, stars, and spirals. 

Clicking on the icon once will select the tool. Clicking a second time will open the sub-menu, where you can select which shape you would like to create. Click and drag on your artboard to create the shape. 

Once you’ve made your shape, let’s add some text inside of it. Use the Text Tool in the Toolbar to add text into your shape. You can add text to your document by clicking the Text Tool  in the Toolbar, or by pressing T on your keyboard and clicking anywhere on the canvas.

A bounding box will appear on your canvas, containing the word Text. The content-aware Text Panel will then appear inside the Style Tab. To add text to the box, just start typing.

Now, toggle into Animate Mode to start animating your CTA circle. Drag the Playhead in your Timeline to the start of the animation. Then select your text and circle layer together in the layers stack and head to the Presets area in the Toolbar. 

Linearity Move comes pre-loaded with a wide selection of animation presets to streamline your animation process. To apply a preset animation to this CTA circle simply click the preset animation button you want to add (it’s really that easy). 

For this, why not try one of the In Animations, that will move the CTA circle into your canvas in various ways. The From Left preset will drag your circle and text into the canvas from the left in a smooth line, with a subtle fade in, making for a dynamic announcement.

You could also fade your CTA circle out toward the end of the animation by selecting one of the Out Animations from the presets, such as Fade Out.  

Preview and export

Have a last look at your animation before we export it. Click on the Play icon in the center of your screen to see your product announcement come to life. Ensure you’re getting your message across and that your animation transitions work smoothly. 

To export your product announcement animation, click on the File menu item in the Top Navigation Toolbar and select Export. Or simply select the Export icon in the Top Toolbar.

Once the export modal appears, double-check your video export settings and click the Export button when you’re done.

Spread the word

Linearity Move is designed to elevate your announcements, and we want to make the animation process as straightforward and accessible as possible. 

Features like drag-and-drop animation widgets, pre-animated templates, and easy timeline adjustments allow you to bring dynamic elements into your designs. It's super easy. No extensive animation background is needed. 

With flexible plans starting at just $7.99/month (billed annually), you can access powerful animation tools without a significant investment—the perfect solution for tech startups and marketing agencies alike.

Designers and marketers need design tools that work fast and help them create impactful content. Choose Linearity Move.

With its user-friendly features, affordable pricing, and the power of animated content, your announcements will make a lasting impression.

Bring motion in-house

Animate marketing assets in seconds with Linearity Move.

Get started

Frequently asked questions