I designed and animated a 30 second social ad for Cheerz, an AI powered multiplayer and single player quiz platform, built in 9:16 for vertical social placement to drive new user signups. I worked in Illustrator to build the vector assets, then animated everything in After Effects, staying fully in motion graphics with no live footage. The ad follows a quick, playful narrative, recreating a quiz game between friends using the app's actual UI, so viewers see the product in action rather than just hearing about it. With no voiceover carrying the piece, the pacing relies entirely on smooth, snappy animation and transitions to hold attention within the short runtime, all built around Cheerz's brand colors to keep the piece feeling native to the product from the first frame.
Reel coming soon
Process
Before animating anything, I mapped out a quick narrative beat: friends playing a quiz game together using the app, so the ad could show the product in action rather than describe it. With no voiceover and only 30 seconds, I kept the story simple and instantly readable.
I storyboarded the ad in After Effects, blocking out each beat of the quiz game sequence frame by frame. Since there's no VO to lean on, I paid close attention to pacing here, making sure the story read clearly through motion and timing alone.
I built out the vector assets in Illustrator, recreating Cheerz's actual app UI elements so the ad felt like a real look at the product rather than a generic animated stand in. Everything was built around the site's brand colors to keep the ad feeling native to the app.
In After Effects, I animated the UI recreations and quiz sequence, focusing on smooth, snappy transitions to carry the energy of the piece without dialogue or narration. Since the runtime is short, every transition had to move quickly while still feeling polished, not rushed.
With no voiceover to anchor timing, I relied on animation rhythm and sound design cues (if music/SFX were used) to guide attention and keep the 30 seconds feeling tight and engaging from open to close.
I did a final pass on color consistency, transition timing, and overall flow, then exported in 9:16 optimized for vertical social placement.
Tools
Storyboard