Create with After Effects Lower Thirds Templates

While a lower third template may not seem like the most essential component of your video, a lack of or poor use of lower thirds can throw your video off track.

Use lower thirds to highlight important information – like names, locations, or themes, and incorporate your colors and branding to drive recognition throughout your video.

After Effects templates are an easy way of developing consistent and eye-catching lower thirds. Visit Envato Elements for an awesome selection of unique After Effects lower thirds templates to suit any kind of creative project.

What Are Lower Thirds?

A lower third combines text and graphical elements which typically appear in the lower area of the screen when a viewer is watching a video in order to provide more information. While they may seem simple, if you get lower thirds wrong or they are missing, you could unintentionally confuse your target audience.

Lower thirds help viewers keep track of who is being interviewed or the theme of the segment of the video. Typical elements included within a lower third template are: typography, shapes and logos, color, size and position and animation style.

Benefits of Lower Thirds Templates

Save time

Lower thirds are critical for providing context. Using templates saves time as you don’t need to render them separately. 

Drive visual consistency

Using a lower thirds template can help you maintain visual consistency throughout a video by maintaining a single style.

Easy-to-read visual cues

Lower thirds are consumable visual cues. Our library of templates has been created for clarity and a seamless experience.

Provide context

Showcase relevant background or supporting information at the right time without disrupting the flow of your video.

Professionally produced

Crafted by video professionals, our lower third templates blend seamlessly into your project, without causing unnecessary distraction.

Flexible

Placement of your lower thirds is completely flexible. Simply drop them in the most ideal spot to accommodate your footage. 

Who Uses Lower Thirds Templates?

Any video creator can use After Effects lower thirds templates to create consistency and add context.

Lower thirds templates are for virtually anyone creating video projects—from absolute beginners to seasoned professionals looking to accelerate their workflow. After Effects lower thirds templates are used for a range of project types: anytime additional context should be provided to the viewer in a minimally disruptive or seamless manner.

YouTubers often utilize lower thirds to create visual consistency across channel content and to provide cues during interviews and talking head content. You’ll commonly see them incorporated into news broadcasts, documentaries, and other informationally-driven content so viewers can easily keep track of subjects or speakers. Lower thirds also mean you don’t have to verbally introduce people each time you change clips or switch between different footage.

Trending Lower Thirds Templates

Keep the process of producing lower thirds simple with the help of a handy AE templateready to download and customize.

You simply can’t have a YouTube channel without killer lower thirds. This template is suitable for a variety of projects and features full color flexibility to match your branding.

Get your lower thirds in shape with this modern After Effects template. You can easily add your logo and brand assets to create a cohesive look and feel across videos.

A pretty and stylish lower thirds After Effects template with easy to edit controls. We think this one would be great for social media video, including vlogs, interviews and tutorials.

How to Make Lower Thirds in After Effects

Free After Effects Course

In our free beginners After Effects course over on Envato Tuts+, we’ve got a whole lesson dedicated to the art of creating a lower third in After Effects. Following along with the video, you can build a lower third from scratch, which is a great way to get to grips with the Adobe software.

Alternatively, lower third After Effects templates can be cost-effective, provide creative control without the need for software expertise, as well as a welcome dose of inspiration. To learn more, follow our how to use lower thirds templates in After Effects tutorial for our top tips.

Lower Thirds Collections

These After Effects templates top our lists for producing professional lower thirds in a flash.

We’ve curated a collection of the 10 best lower thirds templates from this year to help you share key information with viewers.
Building a broadcast? If you’re producing a news segment, documentary, or show, these lower thirds templates perfectly suit the brief.
Wondering how and why to use a lower thirds template? This article takes you through the essentials and shares some tips to get started. 

Lower Thirds FAQs

Due to the graphics contained within lower thirds, these templates can be used to convey information quickly to an audience. To use them properly, it’s important to keep lower thirds simple and clear, be discerning about what’s included, and carefully consider placement over your footage—despite the name, lower thirds can be positioned anywhere on the screen.

Opening and using lower thirds templates in After Effects is easy. Simply double click to open via your Downloads folder, or drag and drop into the Project Panel in After Effects. Your template will open and you’ll be able to view all layers in the Timeline panel. You can then use this to edit your lower thirds.

Lower thirds templates can be edited via the Timeline and Text panels in After Effects. When you open these panels, you’ll see all the layers of your project in a list.

From here you can click to edit text, placement, font, animations, and timings of your lower thirds template. To learn more about how to edit in After Effects, check out our beginners guide on Envato Tuts+, including lessons on text, animation, and creating your own lower third.

More After Effects Templates

Level up your project with the pick of the best After Effects templates, from slideshows to video openers. Learn more about how to use After Effects Templates.

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Video intro templates, or openers, can help set the scene give you a head start on your After Effects project.

Make your logo move with a logo reveal animation for After Effects that will become instantly recognizable with your brand.

A picture speaks a thousand words, but sometimes words are exactly what you need. Whip your text into shape with text effects templates for After Effects.

Start spreading the news, and attracting a captive audience with our pick of the best broadcast news templates for Adobe After Effects.

Used With Lower Thirds Templates

Lower thirds templates are often paired with other assets to give your footage that flawless finish.

Looking for a collection of visual details that will level up your video project? Broadcast packages help you nail each element—including titles, transitions, and lower thirds.

Lower thirds are typically made up of graphics, text, and animation. Edit and add new graphics that ideally suit your brand to create a unified presence in your video.

Your lower thirds should align with your brand. Incorporate your colors, logo, graphic elements, and other visual cues to provide consistency and reinforce your branding.

Ensure your lower thirds don’t get missed by pairing them with an impactful sound effect. From soft and subtle to intense and dramatic, there’s a sound effect for every scene.

Typography is everything when it comes to lower thirds. Your font choice can make or break your video, with readability topping the priority list for a seamless viewing experience. 

The ultimate mood-setter, music can take your video up a notch. To not disrupt the audience and destroy the mood you’ve set, use lower thirds to credit tracks you play during the video.

Alternative Lower Thirds Templates

After Effects not your go-to editing application? Our library contains lower thirds templates to accommodate your preferred production software.

Don’t confine yourself to the limited library of lower thirds templates in Premiere Pro. We’ve got hundreds of templates to power any project.

Adding lower thirds in Apple Motion is as effortless as possible, with hundreds of templates available to complement your footage.

Producing in Final Cut? Put the final touch on your project with hundreds of lower thirds templates, ready to provide context. 

Save time in production with our library of professional lower thirds templates, specifically designed for DaVinci Resolve.

Why Video Creators Love Envato Elements

“Envato Elements definitely comes in handy and makes my work so much easier when I need to tackle bigger projects that involve commercial work because the wide variety of video templates that are available are super easy to use. The main benefit is being able to download a video template that can be manipulated into my vision on either Premiere Pro or After Effects.”

Atzimba Palomares Barriga, Digital Program Director

“We recommend Envato to colleagues all the time. It is a great library of mockups, unique fonts, presentation templates, and After Effects. We love the time it saves us and the files are well built.”

Rebecah Beauchamp, Brand Designer

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