Animated Twitch Overlays: Look Like The Pros

With over 2.2 million streamers on Twitch, it’s really important to find ways to stand out from the crowd and make your own stream as exciting as it can be. While your unique personality and gaming approach are, of course, the most important things when it comes to attracting large audiences, the visual stimuli are essential as well.

One of the best ways to attract an audience on Twitch is through animated overlays. They add that little extra something that improves your overall appeal, managing to keep the old viewers and appeal to the new ones.

Let’s first take a look at why animated overlays are important, then we can divulge into how to actually make an attractive one.

Twitch Overlays And Animation

Well, first thing’s first, go back to that number of streamers mentioned, 2.2 million! That’s quite a competition you’ve got there! There’s only so much you can do with your gameplay to truly stand out.

However superficial it may sound, a great deal of your appeal lies in the appearance of your stream. While your existing viewers have probably gotten to know you by now, and have probably stayed on your channel because of their emotional investment in it, all new viewers lack that emotional connection.

This means you need to grab their attention with your “looks”. Speaking of attention, it’s said that our attention spans have gotten shorter over the years. That means you have a very limited amount of time to truly connect with the new viewers.

Animated overlays tend to be fun and eye-catching, giving you more time to draw a new audience in, then use your charm and gameplay to keep the new viewers.

Creating a Killer Twitch Overlay With Motion Design

None of the benefits of animated overlays will be worth much to you if you don’t design them just right. There are many factors that can influence your design, primarily your own taste and the audience’s preferences.

However, regardless of those 2 factors, there are some things that are common to all well-designed animated overlays, so have a look:

Sticking to Your Established Brand Identity

Building your own brand identity on Twitch is a difficult task, but a rather important one. Your brand identity is how your audience recognizes you and any visuals and sounds you use in your streams should build a unified brand image.

When designing your animated overlay, you should try to stick to the same colors and fonts that you use on your channel. Keeping them in harmony will instill loyalty among your viewers, and you’ll appear more reliable.

Keeping It Simple

There’s kind of a fine line between being boring and being overwhelming. Without any overlays or any visual stimuli, you run the risk of being too simple and dull. Too many animations, colors, pop-ups, and all, and you run the risk of being overpowering.

This is why it’s a good idea to start simple. You don’t have to use all the exciting available fonts, images, and all that, just pick a few things you like.

Keeping the Right Focus

Speaking of gameplay, you should make sure that your overlay doesn’t cover any important details of the game. Ensure that your face cam is in the right place, that any alerts you get don’t cover the game, and that all the important information is clearly visible.

Designing an animated overlay shouldn’t be difficult if you keep these things in mind. So, go ahead and create your custom overlay and notice the benefits immediately.