How to Create Lower Thirds: Examples & Animoto Tutorial

lower thirds graphics are a staple for all video creators. They provide context by displaying names, titles, locations, or website URLs – anything that helps viewers understand what's happening – right on the screen. From interviews to presentations, lower thirds prevent confusion about who's talking and introduce them to your audience, titles included.

A clean and sleek lower third design elevates your video's professionalism by giving you extra space to incorporate your brand colors and logos. They also make your videos more accessible by displaying speakers’ names for viewers who are hard of hearing — or viewing with sound off.

With Animoto’s text, elements, and timing controls, you can create lower third graphics that enhance your videos’s clarity, accessibility, and professionalism. In this blog, we’ll show you how to make them the easy way. Let’s dive in!

How to create lower thirds in Animoto

choose a template & customize

For this example, we’re going to be adding lower thirds to our Nonprofit About Us” template. You can browse our full template library to find the perfect starting point for your own tutorial, testimonial, explainer, about us video, or anything else you might want to add a lower third to.

Upload your media

Before we add your lower third, let’s get your media in place and ready to go.

Start by uploading your media straight from your device or the cloud. Then, just drag and drop it into your video. If you’re looking for additional b-roll style footage, you can always pull from our Getty Images library. Or, record your screen or webcam right in Animoto to create step-by-step tutorials and professional talking head videos.

This media will serve as the basis for your lower third graphic. So without further ado, here’s how to make it.

Add your elements and text

First things first – you need a background. There are two ways to go about it:

1. The super easy way: Choose a text style with a background highlight so your text stands out.

2. The “get creative with it” way: Want to make a more unique lower third graphic? You can use our collection of elements to create a background or container for your lower third graphic. Rectangles are a popular and safe choice as they provide a solid background with plenty of space for text, but you can have fun with it! As long as there is enough room for your text and you choose contrasting colors, you’re in the clear.

Here’s a preview of different lower third graphic designs to get the wheels turning:

See one you like? Check out our style-based tutorials below.

If you choose to go the route of elements, you’ll have a lot of creative options. Here are some tips to keep in mind as you design:

• Use the layer controls to position your elements behind your text.
• Place your lower third elements in the bottom left hand corner or experiment with different placements.
• Change the opacity to make your elements stand out or blend in.
• Try using two different elements together for the title and subtitle.
• Use title and subtitle fonts and switch up the font color to emphasize the most important information.

edit your timeline

Now that your lower thirds are in place, it’s time to control when your lower thirds appear, and how long they remain on the screen. That way, they will appear in sync with the person or product in your video.

Here’s how it’s done.

• 1. Open timeline view by clicking on an element or text box and selecting the clock icon. Or, click on a block in your timeline and select the timeline icon here.
• 2. Drag the playhead and mark where you’d like your first text box to appear in the timeline.
• 3. Drag and drop the bumper of your first text box so that it aligns with the playhead. If you’re using an element as a text background, drag its buffers to align and sync it with your text. Repeat these steps for your subheadline if you have one.
• 4. Mark another 4-6 seconds later with your playhead. Then, drag the rightmost buffers of your text and elements to align with this marker. This ensures that your lower third stays on screen long enough for it to be read and remembered.
• 5. Preview, adjust, and share!

It’s as easy as that! Now, you have a professional video with all the bells and whistles.

Tutorials: Lower thirds with elements

Did you see a specific lower third design that you want to recreate? Here are some tutorial videos to follow along with!

And last but not least, here are some of our most popular templates! Use these as a starting point and feel free to add your own lower thirds to make them your very own.

Make lower thirds with Animoto

Animoto takes the work out of video making for creators of all levels – no experience or credit card required! So if you want to create a professional video in a matter of minutes, not days, sign up for a free account, select a template, and drag and drop your way to your best videos yet.