Motion and animation design
If utilized sparingly, motion in UX may be beneficial and communicative. Motion is most typically used to provide subtle feedback for micro-interactions, rather than to please or entertain consumers.
The main advantage of UI motion is that it draws the attention of the user. Motion detection is the responsibility of our human peripheral vision. The ability to detect movement outside the centre of our range of vision is, of course, advantageous in evolutionary terms: we can identify danger and protect ourselves.
However, this implies that we are sensitive and easily distracted by any form of motion. That is why motion in user interfaces may quickly become irritating: it is difficult to ignore, and if unnecessary to the work at hand, it can significantly harm the user experience. Here are some of Motion Design applications:
Transition Patterns: Users begin to lose concentration if the transition between displays takes too long. Motion design is used to assist users in understanding how the software flows between displays, making navigating easier and more appealing.
Another occasion when motion design might be used in transitions is during loading periods. Why not use an intriguing animation to cut down on the waiting time? Animations keep consumers' attention while the gadget downloads the essential data.
- Transitions based on a container
- Transitions with no container
- Flawless transitions
Micro-interactions: Micro-interactions are occurrences that are employed to create a memorable experience for the user. These micro-interactions may be found across applications and websites. The majority of the time, the animation begins with a trigger (user action) that creates a reaction, informing the user of what's going on and making navigating inside an app or a website easier. These micro-interactions might occur without the use of animation, but motion design is used to make this interaction more fascinating and engaging.
Graphic Cues: Motion design directs the user of an application by utilizing animations to signal where to concentrate, what to do next, or what seems essential on a screen. Consider employing motion to recognize user input and assist users in navigating content without getting lost. Navigation interactions appear more organic and less artificial when they are in motion. Motion breathes new vitality into the UI while preserving context.
Responsive, Fluid Motion: Users expect and have come to expect fluid and responsive UI. When people are unsure about the functionality of something, they tend to linger over it. A smart UI rewards this behaviour by offering quick feedback—perhaps in the form of animation. To ensure that consumers enjoy a continuous browsing experience, respond to any queries they may have right away. User-interface designs come up on touch-enabled devices by permitting users to build strong connections in engaging ways.
Playful branding and eliciting emotions: We may use animation to define the tone of a brand's identity, whether it's entertaining, playful, professional, or something else. The function of animation is to improve one's individuality.
Designers can elicit emotions through animation. When we think of someone, we instinctively link them with the way they talk, walk, laugh, and so on. The personality of a person is what makes him or her unforgettable. Brands follow the same principle.
Using motion design to show the personality of a user interface gets a stronger emotional reaction from users than static images. Motion design emphasizes the personality of the user interface rather than its visual identity, and so has a tremendous effect on the actions and feelings of users. In the same way that people's body language and movement reflect their personalities, so does motion in a user interface. Motion ensures that digital interactions and your brand are memorable to customers, and also make sure to also check how digital transformation can improve your product.
Just-for-fun animations: Animations can, of course, be just ornamental - as long as they do not negatively impact user experience. Decorative animations aren't necessary, but they improve the overall appearance.
Try adding a colourful animation to the basic 404 page the next time you want to play with motion design. Why not make it less unpleasant to look at as it isn't the most pleasant page to look at? We may generate a good experience for the user on a website that is intrinsically negative by employing a hilarious animation or minor interactions.
Informing consumers about a change of state: Motion can be used to signify that the interface has changed state, such as a mode shift. Modes might be difficult to express to users, but animation can help in two ways:
- by making the mode shift visible;
- by giving a conceptual metaphor for the mode transition. For example, morphing a pencil icon into a disk after it has been clicked on marks the move from Edit to Save mode rather than simply changing one icon out for the other.
Motion for spatial metaphors and navigation: It is sometimes difficult to describe the structure of a complex information space to consumers without exhausting their cognitive resources or taking up too much screen space. Scanning through navigation menus, tree diagrams, or even breadcrumbs to determine one's position in the information hierarchy is a difficult sort of cognitive effort.
Zooming out reveals less detail but more items, implying that the user is moving up the hierarchy, whereas zooming in shows more information but fewer things, implying that the user is moving down the hierarchy.
Grabbing and hijacking attention: Because the human visual system is extremely sensitive to motion, it may be exploited to capture users' attention, for good or bad. On the one hand, it might highlight a subtle marker, while on the other hand, unnecessary motion animations distract and frustrate the user. At this point, you could also consider all the possibilities in the realm of AI/ML on mobile applications from a design point of view, and if you feel overwhelmed then you should not miss this chance and just outsource.
Furthermore, employing motion to divert users' attention or instil fear of loss is a dark behaviour: an unethical use of user-experience concepts and cognitive psychology to persuade users to do something they would not normally do.
The best motion design tools: