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I am trying to make a bunch of images such as the one above to explain a part of my app. I would like to hire someone to make them for me but I am not sure what you call them. I have tried:
I would love to know what is the term professionals use.
Yes. It is literally an animated gif.
The person you are hiring to make them should certainly understand they need to deliver an animated gif since, like all things, there is a set workflow required to produce one.
I would stay away from the term "explainer video" in this instance, which, at least to me, suggests this style: Twitter explainer video - which is a roughly two minute long introduction/explaination to an app/concept, usually animated and with a voice over (and some cheesy music).
Of course simply saying "Hi, I need an animated gif" is not going to cover it! So perhaps the following sums it up as neatly as I can think:
Suggested (micro) brief
I need a series of animated gifs, each a few seconds long, depicting sections of my app UI in use, so that end-users can visually appreciate how various interactions work.
One example might be selecting various values from forms and running a search.
I attach an example, which illustrates the length and style I require
(Then you'd attach the animated gif above)
Are you trying to look for a describing term so that somebody can make one for you? If so as for the output there really isn't going to be a term other than animated gif. If I was hiring a professional ui designer to make what you posted above. I would ask for a ui (user interface) animation. After Effects, Flinto or Principle are three of many popular pieces of software people use to make animated gifs like the one you posted above. This website will show you animations like the one you posted and will also tell you the software used to make the animation and I am sure you could reach out to a designer there for some paid help: Uplabs.com
I think an illustrator/animator would understand that this is a "cartoon" representation of the app, as opposed to screenshot/screengrab, photo-realistic, or other representation. Another way to describe it would be to say an "abstracted representation of the app, showing animated actions like making a menu choice."
It's simply animation work.
Based on what you are looking for, I'd use "animated tour of our application"
I would call it animated... graphic. Probably animated image... I know.
Let me complement, animated flat style image.
That animated image can be delivered as an animated GIF, but that is only the file format. It can be delivered as a CSS animation, CSS sprite animation, JavaScript based animation, canvas animation, or video. This is also an animated GIF and is nothing like the one you provided, so "animated GIF" is not the best term.
It's animated graphics or motion graphics.
And you need an animation designer.
He/she is going to provide you the best format for your cause.
Probably the best format is video, then animated SVG and then the worst from many aspects animated Gifs.
