Elespacio experiments
Having a ball with Google Web Designer
October 2020OK, let’s talk about banners. That’s a bad start already.
Creating banners isn’t usually the most interesting bit for a designer or animator. Adapting them to impossible sizes, having to keep to the kb limit, technical limitations and so on. But, as with everything, there are two ways of doing things: well or badly.
Working with Google Web Designer
Anyone who’s done any work with this software since 2015 will know it’s hardly an enjoyable experience. Inflexible workflows, technical limitations and the restrictions of the media itself made it really hard to achieve an attractive result that would stand out from the rest.
In 2020, things are different. A range of improvements have gradually been added to all levels, making this tool much more powerful and easier to use.
Image Effect component
At the beginning of the year a whole series of new components were included, and the one I want to highlight is the Image Effect component.
Basically, it’s a tool that lets you apply a series of effects to organically alter an image. Almost all the animations included in the video above are generated by applying wave and breathe effects to very basic image assets; lines, triangles and simple illustrations.
But can working with Google Web designer be fun?
I think so. In its current state and with the improvements we mentioned, you can create really interesting animations with a workflow that’s not a nightmare.
I think the limits we had difficulty with before have been overcome and it’s now possible to create animations that flow and aren’t limited by the limitations of the software. It feels like now we can play with it. We can have fun.
OK, it’s just a banner, but it’ll be a banner that looks great. If you have to do it, do it right.
