The Power of Gifs

If you’d told me 10 years ago that I’d still be making gifs in Photoshop in 2026, I wouldn’t have believed you. Our screens, our internet speeds, our attention spans — everything has changed. My career has evolved too. But for better or worse, here I am, optimizing a five-frame animation to be beautiful or under 1MB. If I’m lucky, I get both. This is a love/hate letter to the gif. I love that you autoplay everywhere. Texts, emails, websites, Slack. Seriously, everywhere.I hate that an HD video can be five times longer and one-fifth the file size.I love the dithering. Give me that noisy texture every day.I hate that I still need Photoshop to get it jussssst right.I love that I can drop a gif into Premiere, no questions asked.I hate that I can’t stop a gif on Instagram, under any circumstances.I love that you can make lenticular prints out of gifs.I hate the jagged transparency. I love the never-ending pronunciation debate. It’s a weird litmus test, and the results still surprise me.I…