How to Design and Animate a News Ticker in Adobe After Effects

Introduction

A news ticker is a popular element used in broadcast design to display breaking news or continuous updates along the bottom of the screen. In Adobe After Effects, you can create your own custom ticker using simple shapes and text layers, then animate it to scroll smoothly across the screen. This guide will walk you through each step to build and animate a professional-looking news ticker bar.

Step 1: Create a New Composition

Start by going to Composition > New Composition. Set your desired resolution (e.g., 1920×1080), frame rate, and duration. Click OK. This will serve as the base for your news ticker design and animation.

Step 2: Create the Ticker Bar Background

Select the Rectangle Tool (Q) and draw a long, narrow red rectangle along the bottom of the composition. This will be the background for the scrolling text. You can adjust the color and size in the Fill and Transform properties.Step 3: Add a Header Rectangle for the News Label

Still using the Rectangle Tool, draw a smaller white rectangle on the left side of the red bar. This will contain the news category or label, such as “Breaking News.” Keep it proportionally smaller than the ticker bar for clarity.

Step 4: Add the News Header Text

Select the Type Tool (Cmd/Ctrl+T) and click inside the white box to type your label, such as Breaking News. Choose a bold, readable font and center it within the white rectangle.

Step 5: Add the Scrolling Text

Now create a new text layer using the Type Tool and paste in your scrolling news content. This should be a single long line of text. Position it so that the beginning of the text starts offscreen to the right.

Step 6: Animate the Scrolling Text

Open the text layer’s Position property (press P), set a keyframe at the beginning of the timeline with the text placed far to the right. Then move forward in the timeline and set another keyframe where the text has fully scrolled off to the left. This creates the leftward scrolling effect.

Step 7: Apply Easy Ease

Select both keyframes, then right-click and choose Keyframe Assistant > Easy Ease. This smooths the animation for a more professional flow.

Step 8: Preview and Adjust

Press the spacebar to preview your animation. Tweak the timing, text speed, or layout as needed. You can also loop the ticker by pre-composing and applying the Loop Expression to make it continuous.

Conclusion

Creating a custom news ticker in Adobe After Effects is simple and effective for delivering headlines and alerts in motion graphics projects. With basic shapes, text layers, and a smooth animation, you can build a professional ticker bar for broadcast-style visuals or social media content.