I’m happy to announce that the YouTube video I’ve been working on for the past seven weeks is officially live and ready to watch! This week was all about preparing my video for launch and capping off this journey.
If you’re new here, I’m working towards creating a comprehensive animated infographic centering around the topic of reproductive rights in the United States. I’m calling my project The Statistics of Autonomy: Reproductive Rights by the Numbers. This is week 7 of 7 of that journey!
Prepping for Launch
My main tasks for this week were getting everything together so I could hit post on YouTube. That included:
Title Optimization
I played around with a couple of different title variations for my YouTube video. I was thinking of variations I could use that included more keywords, prompting the video to appear in more searches. I ended up going with my original title.
It’s best to have titles under 75 characters, according to Sprout Social. This keeps the full title visible to the viewer, with nothing getting cut off. Adding anything else to my original title would’ve put it over this mark, so I decided to keep it the way it is.
Creating Chapters
I went through the outline I made in Week 3 and noted down the natural subcategory switches. I scrubbed through my video and jotted down when each of these switches occurred and labeled them, trying to add in keywords whenever possible.
Writing the Description
Next, I wrote the description. I included hashtags, a summary of the video, links to all the resources I mentioned at the end of the video as well as my sources, the video chapters, credits, and links to my socials, contact info, and portfolio.
After writing the description in a separate document, I posted an unlisted test video. This is my first time writing a description for YouTube, so I wanted to ensure everything came out how I intended.
After looking at this test description, I learned:
- I needed to verify my YouTube account to include links in the description
- All links need to be the full URL starting with “https://”
- To make bullet points, you have to add a dash in front of the line
Thumbnail
After all the written work was done, it was time to create a thumbnail. I wanted something visually appealing that would grab the user’s attention while still feeling like the video it would lead to. I included several graphic elements I used in the video itself as background elements, and the logo I created at the forefront. I used the same textures I layered in the video last week to create that same rough feel.
What I’d Still Tweak
The video is posted now, but that doesn’t mean there are still things I wouldn’t change. If I had more time to work on this project, I would’ve adjusted the timing a little more. Last week, I tweaked the timing so parts were easier to read, but I know my video is still on the faster side, making it more difficult to read in full.
From this, I learned why information-heavy motion graphics like this are typically slow: so you have time to read the actual content. I tried to toe the line between fast, engaging content and text-heavy content, which was trickier than I anticipated. This experience taught me why videos are made the way they are, and gave me insights into how I’d attack text-heavy content in the future.
Looking Back
At the end of these seven weeks, I can look back and say I’m proud of what I’ve created. From this experience, I created my longest and most complex motion graphic project to date. I grew my skills in After Effects, learning new techniques and strategies for animation. I learned what goes into creating video content for YouTube. I pivoted when things weren’t working. I created something new through blending deep research and thoughtful, intentional animation that I am excited for people to see.
Thanks for coming on this journey with me! Check out The Statistics of Autonomy: Reproductive Rights by the Numbers on YouTube.
Life: Designed 
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