Hand-made GIFs for the right moment.
“Oooo...there’s a perfect GIF for this. If I could just find it...”
Someone says a thing in the group chat and you can see the GIF. The exact reaction. The thing you’re trying to say without having to say it.
So you tap the GIF picker built into your phone, because it’s right there, and you type a word.
- But what word? You’re not picturing a word.
- Then you get 500 results. Every one a different size, a different speed, blurry, grainy, colors like an acid trip.
- Is there one from the right movie? With the right actor? Making the right face?
- What the hell is this... wait, what was I even looking for?
- Is anyone still reading this group chat?
The chat moves on. You send the second-best one, or you just “HA HA”.
It’s not a big deal. A little annoying.
But you know the right one is out there. Sometimes you know exactly which one. Sometimes it’s just a feeling.
You had it in your head, just no way to get it.
Try QUALiTY GIF.
A library of GIFs I cut out of movies and put on shelves. Good ones. Find one, send it, see what they say.
Hi, I’m Zach.
I make every GIF in here by hand using the movies that I love.
Which mostly means watching a lot of movies and waiting for the part I want. Then trimming it, cropping it, putting the text on, timing it so everything lines up. Then trying to put words to what that face is doing and what the thing is actually saying (which is harder than all the rest of it, but it makes the search so good).
I’ve done it enough now that I can eyeball milliseconds. Not a useful skill anywhere else in my life.
I love GIFs. A few seconds of somebody’s face can say something it would take you a paragraph to write, and it says it better. The cleverness of it makes me happy.
What I’m really after is making people happy. Getting a reaction. Sparking something. Putting a little creativity into boring old text.
What’s in the catalog.
Right now, a couple hundred GIFs, made from a lot of different movies. Lots of comedy, plus some animated films, a few superheroes, and lots of good reaction pieces.
Played end to end, the whole library is thirteen and a half minutes long. Months of work. Thirteen minutes.
It’s laid out like a video store. New Releases is what I just put out. Flying Off the Shelf is what everyone’s sending. Hidden Gems is the ones nobody has sent yet. And Your Greatest Hits is just yours, the ones you keep reaching for.
There’s a search too, for when you know what you want. Most of the time I browse.
But the count isn’t the point.
They’re all short. They all move at the same speed, so nothing stutters. They’re all the same shape, which is the shape that actually works in a text message.
I know that doesn’t sound exciting, but it’s the reason they look so good.
I also tag them by how they feel, not just what’s in them, so you can search smug and actually get somewhere.
About half have a line of text on top. The other half are better clean.
And if the one you want isn’t in there, there’s a request form. Tell me what it is (the wrench scene in Dodgeball, whatever) and I’ll try to make it.
What it’s for.
The group chat, mostly. Somebody’s late again, somebody got a promotion, somebody said something completely insane and it needs an answer that isn’t words.
It goes wherever you already talk. Messages, Slack, Discord, WhatsApp, even GitHub, when a pull request needs something a comment can’t do.
And the one you send to one person, in the middle of the day, for no reason. That’s the best one.
Like this:
lunch?
can’t...meeting still going 😩
lol! nice.
What members say.
I used [to use] the one built in Messages. I think [these] are funnier and you can request what you want, which I really like.
Went through the iMessage app, but it is not as good as the QUALiTY GIF app. Makes texting more fun and interactive.
I usually just used Giphy. The GIFs [here] look hi-def instead of someone using their phone to video record a VHS playing on their CRT!
A few things people ask.
- Why do I have to sign up?
- For people, not for bots. I want the library used by real people who actually send GIFs to other humans.
- What does it cost?
- Nothing. It’s free.
- Can I ask for a specific GIF?
- Yes, that’s what the request form is for. Once you’re in, tell me the scene and I’ll try to make it.
- How many people are helping you make these?
- It’s just me. But think about how much more special they are.
- Do you take the whole thing seriously?
- Yes, and I know how that sounds.