Tagged: gifs

Interesting that the first tip is to not use gifs at all.

Surprisingly, the lossless compression algorithm used on GIFs is so unoptimised that video formats such as MP4 or WebM will provide a smaller file size than GIF images. Because of this, one solution to the GIF performance problem is to not use GIFs at all, and to replace them with autoplaying, looping, HTML5 Video.

Al Boardman, prolific GIF-creator and expert animator, has created motion graphics for an impressive list of famous brands (including Nike, IBM, and Twitter). His signature style is simple yet sophisticated, with a color palette and a smoothness that sucks the viewer in.

Al Boardman’s GIFs are both wonderful and inspirational; after browsing his collection, I feel like I want to do less coding and more designing. I’m thinking that I might have another play with my site’s design soon. The current minimal design is nice, but not much fun.

At the start, I had no clients, no contacts and no work, but I eventually picked up a few low-paid bits and bobs from startups around the city. It didn’t lead to much, so, I decided to try a different approach, and one that I’d recommend highly. I stopped chasing low-paid work that I didn’t particularly want to do and focused on creating work for myself.

Oh, and the interview is a pretty good read too.