🎬 Project Overview

Telegram Bot Animation v5.0* was designed to engage new users the moment they interacted with the bot. The challenge began when stakeholders requested a single, content-heavy video to explain the feature in detail. Delivering this inside the bot was impossible due to Telegram’s strict 1MB GIF limit.

My solution was to split the deliverables into two purpose-driven versions:

• Short Welcome Animation: Fully optimized under 1MB for fast, smooth playback as the bot’s greeting message.

• Extended Promotional Animation: A richer, more detailed piece that could be used across social media and as additional content within the bot, but not as the initial welcome.

This approach met both the technical requirements of the platform and the content demands of the stakeholders, while keeping the user experience clean and engaging.

💡 Deliverables

• Short-form onboarding animation (GIF and MP4 master)

• Long-form promotional animation (GIF and MP4 master)

• Internal technical documentation

👩‍💻 My Role

• Motion Designer

• Refined UI assets in Figma for clarity and brand consistency

• Applied updated brand guidelines from the Art Director

• Led animation optimization and deployment for the short version inside the Telegram bot

• Coordinated delivery of the promotional version for multiple platforms

⚡ Challenges & Process

This project demanded solving two problems at once: meeting Telegram’s strict 1MB file limit for in-bot onboarding, and fulfilling stakeholder requests for a longer, content-rich explainer. The solution required both creative restructuring and technical innovation.

1. Understanding the Constraint
   Telegram’s onboarding GIFs have a strict 1MB size limit, which severely restricted animation length and complexity.
   
   

2. Strategic Content Split
   Instead of forcing all content into one compressed piece, I proposed two versions: a lean onboarding animation for inside the bot and a longer promotional animation for broader use.
   
   

3. Motion Design Adaptations
   For the onboarding piece, I replaced heavy gradients with motion cues, refined pacing to reduce file size, and optimized shapes for clean compression. The promotional piece retained richer visuals since it was not subject to the same technical constraints.
   
   

4. Technical Breakthrough
   Midway through production, Telegram removed MP4-to-GIF auto-conversion, breaking the upload process. I reverse-engineered a new compression and deployment workflow, which I later documented for internal use.
   
   

✅ Outcome

Delivered a smooth, optimized onboarding animation under 1MB that loads instantly in Telegram

• Produced a longer promotional version adaptable to social media and as in-bot support content

• Created a documented workflow for future Telegram bot animation deployment

🧰 Tools Used

• Figma

• After Effects

• Telegram BotFather

  
  
  

  
  

🧠 Takeaway Block

“Good design solves a brief.
Great design reframes it.”