Quickly Make Beautiful Data GIFs with Google’s Data GIF Maker

Data visualization is the best way to compare different types of data. A well-visualized data only requires a glimpse to understand the ins and outs. If you are looking to visualize data, then what can be better than creating live data graphs? Yes, with the help of Google’s Data GID Maker, you can create data GIFs without any need of prior data visualization knowledge.

Although a lesser-known tool by Google, but Data GIF Maker has been available for a long time and it’s probably the simplest tool to create beautiful data GIFs. In this post, I will show you how to use Google’s Data GIF Maker to create data GIFs.

Making data GIF with Data GIF Maker

Making a data GIF with this tool is as simple as choosing a template and entering your data. The rest is handled by Data GIF Maker. It’s true that the tool lacks some advanced options, but if you just want to compare data quickly; then it’s perfect. Let’s get started:

Choose a template

First, you must choose a template from 3 different templates, including Racetrack, Rectangles, and Circles. All these templates work fine for comparing data, but one can be better than the other depending on the data type. For example, the Circles template works better with high-contrast data, and Rectangles is good for percentage comparisons. Just click on the template you want to open its options.

Enter data

In the template editing options, you’ll see the preview on the left and the data entering section on the right. Here you can enter the GIF title at the very top that will be shown on the top of the GIF wherever it will be posted. The title can be up to 28 characters, which should be sufficient to create a clear title.

Afterward, you need to select the data value type. It can either be in percentage or numerical. The buttons to select the data value type are right below the title field.

Now enter the name of the first term and its value in the next field. Depending on the template type, you can select up to 4 terms. You can also click on the paint box button at the start of a term to select a color for it.

Save the GIF

To see your creation, click on the “Preview” button at the top, and the GIF will play in the left column. If you are satisfied, hover the mouse cursor over the “Save GIF” button and select GIF quality.

It can take a bit of time to create a GIF. For me, a low-quality Racetrack GIF took almost a minute to be ready to download. Although, a high-quality GIF took nearly 5 minutes. The only difference I noticed between these two qualities was the size, HQ size is 1024 x 768 and LQ size is 500 x 375.

Once the GIF is created, you can either share it directly or download it. To download, click on the download button and the GIF will open in another tab. Right-click on it and select “Save Image” to save it. The file will be downloaded with the .gif extension.

Ending words

Google’s Data GIF Maker definitely makes it very easy to quickly create data GIFs with reliable quality. Of course, it’s very limited in features, but its strong points are its simplicity and quick creation of beautiful data GIFs. Do let us know in the comments if you find Google’s Data GIF Maker useful.