From Static to Dynamic: Elevating User Experience with Animation
Motion is an essential addition to the designer’s arsenal.
Animation is already part of your day. A scroll, a swipe, a notification: each one tells you that something just happened. Animation guides people through an app or a website, carries a story, and gives a brand its personality. That is why motion has become a core part of a product designer’s toolkit.
Why motion matters
The digital space is overflowing with information, and attention spans are shrinking. To hold someone’s attention, designers need content that responds to them. That is where animation earns its place.
A recent case study by growth.design explored the mental model: how people think things work. It found that people use their real-life experiences as a shortcut to judge whether an online interaction can be trusted.
People use their real-life experiences as a shortcut to judge whether an online interaction can be trusted.
growth.design, on mental models
The human brain is used to a world in motion, from trees moving in the wind to vehicles on the road to a person’s mouth as they speak. That bias towards movement becomes a mental model, and it is the designer’s job to bring the design to life so that it feels alive.
Design with empathy
To pull that off, designers need to be well-rounded. Understand the basics of storytelling, and how to bring still objects to life. Above all, practise empathy: imagine yourself in the user’s shoes, and you will understand their journey and how they interact with their environment.
A human-centred approach is key to a product’s success, and animation plays a big part in it. A well-designed product sits where how the product works meets how the user’s mind works. The website for Qore.inc is an example: it was built to communicate the business offering and brand outlook in a way that relates to real life. You can read how it came together in the Qore case study.
When building a digital project, think about how all the elements would interact if they existed in real life.
Tools worth learning
The learning curve varies from tool to tool. Pick the one that works best for you, and learn progressively.
Interactive design also shows the relationship between elements on a page and the actions a user takes. Telling people that something worked, or didn’t, has never been easier, and that is a big part of why Lottie has changed UI design.
Usability has the last word
Animation gives designers endless creative possibilities, but there is a catch.
The success of animation in a user interface ultimately hinges on usability.
