Wiggly, jittery text is everywhere right now. You see it in YouTube intros, Instagram Reels, explainer videos and even ads. It gives your text a playful, hand-drawn feel, almost like it was sketched frame by frame.
The good news is that you don’t need any plugins or complicated expressions to make it. In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to create a wiggle text animation in Adobe After Effects using just one built-in effect and two keyframes. The whole thing takes less than two minutes.
If you prefer watching over reading, I’ve made a video version of this tutorial too.
Step 1: Create a New Composition
Open After Effects and create a new composition. You can go to Composition > New Composition or press Ctrl + N on Windows (Cmd + N on Mac).
Pick any size you like. A standard 1920 x 1080 composition works well for YouTube, while 1080 x 1920 is great if you’re making Reels or Shorts.
Step 2: Add Your Text
Select the Text tool from the toolbar (or press Ctrl + T / Cmd + T) and click inside your composition to type something. For this example, I typed the word Wiggle.
Next, move the text to the center of your composition. The easiest way is to open the Align panel and click both the horizontal and vertical center buttons.
Tip: Bold, chunky fonts work best for this effect. Thin fonts can break apart when they start distorting, while thicker letters keep their shape and just wobble nicely.
Step 3: Apply the Turbulent Displace Effect
Now go to the Effects & Presets panel and search for Turbulent Displace. Drag it onto your text layer.
Turbulent Displace distorts a layer using fractal noise. On its own it simply warps your text, but once we animate it, that warping is what creates the wiggle.
Step 4: Adjust the Amount and Size
In the Effect Controls panel, change these two settings:
- Amount: 20
- Size: 20
Amount controls how strongly the text gets distorted, and Size controls how big the distortion waves are. Keeping both at 20 gives a subtle, clean wobble that still keeps the text readable.
Feel free to experiment here. A higher Amount makes the text look more chaotic, while a smaller Size creates tighter, more detailed ripples along the edges of the letters.
Step 5: Keyframe the Random Seed
This is the step that brings the text to life.
In the Turbulent Displace settings, expand Evolution Options and look for Random Seed. Make sure your playhead is at the very beginning of the timeline, then click the stopwatch icon next to Random Seed. This sets your first keyframe.
Now move the playhead to the end of the timeline and change the Random Seed value to 100. After Effects will automatically create a second keyframe.
Every time the Random Seed value changes, Turbulent Displace generates a completely new distortion pattern. Because the value keeps jumping from one whole number to the next, the text snaps between different shapes, and that’s what gives it the jittery, boiling look.
Step 6: Preview and Adjust the Speed
Press the Spacebar to play your animation.
You’ll see the wiggle on the text, but you’ll probably notice it’s moving too fast. That’s because the Random Seed is changing a lot over a short time.
To slow it down, go back to the keyframe at the end of the timeline and change the Random Seed from 100 to 50. Play it again.
Now the wiggle looks much nicer. It’s still lively, but it feels more natural and less frantic.
The rule is simple: a higher end value makes the wiggle faster, and a lower value makes it slower. Adjust it until it matches the mood of your project.
Bonus Tips to Make It Even Better
Once you have the basic effect working, here are a few ways to push it further.
Use an expression instead of keyframes. If you want the wiggle to run forever without worrying about timeline length, Alt + click (Option + click on Mac) the Random Seed stopwatch and type time*12. Change the number to control the speed. Lower numbers give a slower wiggle.
Try a stepped, hand-drawn look. For a more cartoon-style boil, you can use posterizeTime(8); time*12 as the expression. This updates the wiggle only 8 times per second, which looks a lot like traditional hand-drawn animation.
Apply it to shapes and logos. This effect isn’t just for text. You can apply Turbulent Displace to shape layers, icons or even your logo to give them the same wobbly style.
Combine it with other animations. Wiggle text looks great when paired with a simple scale pop or fade-in. The text animates in, then keeps wobbling while it sits on screen.
Where Can You Use Wiggle Text?
This effect works really well for:
- YouTube video titles and intros
- Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts captions
- Kids’ content and fun explainer videos
- Lower thirds with a playful style
- Social media ads that need to grab attention
That’s how you create a wiggle text animation in Adobe After Effects. You create a composition, add your text, apply Turbulent Displace, set the Amount and Size, and keyframe the Random Seed. Then tweak the end value until the speed feels right.
It’s one of the simplest effects you can make in After Effects, but it adds a lot of personality to your text. If you’re a beginner like me, it’s a great little project to practice working with effects and keyframes.
Give it a try, and if you get stuck anywhere, watch the video above to follow along step by step.