Intro & Outro Cards in Zella

Quick answer: an intro card or outro card is a full-screen coloured card with your text on it, added before or after your footage. Zella inserts both the card and the extra seconds of timeline to hold it, so you never have to make room first. On the Mac, pick the colour and the words in the title editor and the text colour follows the card automatically. On iPhone, the Full-screen cards row at the top of Studio → Titles adds one with a Dark, Light or Brand style, a 1 to 8 second length, and an Add music toggle. Both platforms grow the timeline for you.

On this page: what they’re for · add one · change the colour · on iPhone · why a card is more than a title · impact · FAQ

What intro and outro cards are for

Most videos want somewhere to put a name and somewhere to say goodbye, and neither belongs on top of your footage:

Intro card - open on your title, your handle, or the question the video answers, before the first frame of video.
Outro card - end on “thanks for watching”, a link, or a call to action, after your last frame.

The point is that the card is its own moment. A title laid over your final frame competes with whatever is in that frame; a card gives the words a clean surface and a beat of their own.

How to add an intro or outro card

Open your recording in the editor.
Add the card from the Text tab (or ask the Assistant for an intro/outro card).
Zella does three things in one step:
- builds a solid-colour clip of the length you asked for (3 seconds by default),
- inserts it at the very start or the very end, extending your timeline to fit,
- drops a Text Card title onto it and opens the editor so you can type.

Because the card brings its own time with it, an outro card genuinely lands after your last frame - you don’t have to trim, extend, or make space by hand.

Changing the card colour and text

Select the card’s title and use the Text panel:

Background - the colour of the whole card. Changing it recolours the card itself, not a plate behind the words.
Text Color - your words. Leave it on white and Zella keeps it readable for you: on a dark card the text stays white, on a light card it switches to near-black automatically. Set a specific colour and Zella uses exactly that.
Start / Duration - how long the card holds. The default is 3 seconds.
Font, size, alignment - as any other title.

Gradient Fill. Turning Gradient Fill on fills the letters with a gradient and suppresses the plate behind them. If you switched it on and your card’s background seems to have disappeared, that’s why - switch it off to get a solid card back.

On iPhone

Cards work the same way on the phone, and the reason they exist is the same: a title is an overlay on video, so a title dropped past your last frame composites onto nothing and never appears. The timeline has to grow, and that’s what a card does.

Open Studio → Titles. The Full-screen cards row sits at the top:

Tap Intro card to add one at the start, or Outro card to add one at the end.
Text - anything you like. Leave it empty for a plain card: a breath, or a slot for a logo.
Style - Dark, Light or Brand. Each style carries its own text colour, so a light card never ends up with unreadable white text. This is the touch answer to the Mac’s colour picker plus automatic ink, with no way to get it wrong.
Length - 1 to 8 seconds.
Add music - lays a mood-matched bed under the whole video if there isn’t one already. A card sitting in silence feels broken, and this is one tap instead of a trip to the Audio tool.

An intro card pushes the rest of your edit right automatically, so nothing needs re-timing. Once it exists the card is a normal clip - trim it, recolour it, or delete it like any other.

That Add music toggle also removes the Mac gotcha further down this page. On the Mac you add the card then the music, because audio placed beforehand won’t stretch to cover the new end; on the phone, ticking Add music while you create the card handles it for you.

Full detail: captions, titles & arrows on iPhone.

Why a card is more than just a title

A title floats over whatever video is playing underneath. A card is a piece of video:

	Title overlay	Intro / outro card
Sits on	your footage	its own clip
Timeline length	unchanged	grows by the card’s length
Works before/after the video	no	yes
Background	a plate behind the words	the whole frame

That difference is exactly why “put a title at the end” never worked the way people expected - there was no end to put it on until the card made one.

What impact cards have

Length. Your video gets longer by the card’s duration. A 3-second outro on a 45-second recording exports at 48 seconds.
Audio. The card clip carries no sound of its own. Music or a voiceover placed under it plays normally.
Export. Cards are ordinary clips, so every export target and platform preset handles them without special cases.

Intro & outro cards FAQ

Can I have both? Yes - add one at the start and one at the end.

Can I use an image instead of a colour? Yes. A Text Card accepts an image background, which fills the frame behind your words.

How long should an outro be? Three seconds is enough to read a short line. Give it four or five if you’re asking people to do something.

Can I put music under just the card? Yes. Drop the audio on the timeline over the card’s range like any other clip.

Why is my white text showing as black? The card is a light colour, so Zella darkened the ink to keep it readable. Pick a dark card colour, or set the text colour explicitly.

How do I add a card on iPhone? Studio → Titles → Full-screen cards, then tap Intro card or Outro card. Set the text, pick Dark, Light or Brand, choose a length from 1 to 8 seconds, and tick Add music if the video has none.

Can I pick any card colour on the phone? You choose from three styles - Dark, Light and Brand - and each brings its own readable text colour, so the ink is never wrong. The free colour picker and Gradient Fill are Mac controls.

Pro tips & gotchas

Say one thing. A card is on screen for three seconds. One line, big.
Match your look. Reuse a colour from your background or brand so the card doesn’t feel bolted on.
Outro first, music second. Add the card, then place the music - the card extends the timeline, and audio dropped beforehand won’t stretch to cover the new end. On iPhone, tick Add music while creating the card and it’s handled for you.
Check it in the preview. Scrub across the join to be sure the card starts exactly where you meant.