Animations should be one of the first tools that you add to your design toolbox... Because, let’s face it, brands are always looking to take things to the next level with AR, 3-D, and animation.
It’s a rat race to not only meet the trend but to implement the next best things, which means if you’re not doing animation, it could mean your designs are a little lifeless (tough to hear, we know.)
What is happening in the world of animation?
One of the biggest things to note about animation that it’s truly the embodiment of creativity.
No longer are companies boxed into using specific types of animation, but are able to implement several techniques in one advertisement.
With user-friendly platforms becoming more and more accessible and affordable, just about anyone can create an animated design for their brand, which allows a lot of opportunity for experimentation (read: truly visually stunning, off the wall, amazing.)
You might immediately think of 3D animation like Mickey Mouse Clubhouse or that like you’d find at Pixar, but the good news is that animation has tons of other, less complex but equally memorable options.
Animation trends right now are diverse in how they engage your audience – here are a few that make the top of our list:
- Seamless Transitions
- Typography
- Depth
- Double Exposure
- Voice Overs
- Art animation
- Flat graphic animation
How animation is being used:
Believe it or not, animation isn’t just limited to the entertainment industry like in the past.
It has progressed into industries such as the medical field and public transportation, and even schools are offering a more interactive curriculum to better engage students.
But perhaps the biggest area being transformed by animation is UX.
According to the UX in Motion Manifesto, there are four stand-out ways where adding motion through animation supports usability:
Expectation– Expectation falls into two areas — how users perceive what an object is, and how it behaves. Another way of saying this is that as designers, we want to minimize the gap between what the user expects, and what they experience.
Continuity– Continuity speaks both to the user flow and to the ‘consistency’ of the user experience. Continuity can be thought of in terms of ‘intra-continuity’ — the continuity within a scene, and ‘inter-continuity’ — the continuity within a series of scenes that make up the total user experience.
Narrative– Narrative is the linear progression of events in the user experience that results in a temporal/spatial framework. This can be thought of as the series of discreet moments and events that connect together throughout the user experience.
Relationship– Relationship refers to the spatial, temporal, and hierarchal representations between interface objects that guide user understanding and decision making.”
Typically, the above is applied through 12 central animation principles:
- Easing
- Offset & Delay
- Parenting
- Transformation
- Value Change
- Masking
- Overlay
- Cloning
- Parallax
- Obscuration
- Dimensionality
- Dolly & Zoom
.gif)
Animation elevates UX designs. Straight up.
Simply put, the aesthetic of your design will improve when you use animation. Something as simple as the use of bold colors mixed with movement can really drive home your brand’s intention.
And no, animation isn’t meant to complicate or water-down your message or hinder the user journey.
Factors such as lighting, text, and background can be used to manipulate messages as needed. Really, animation opens up more possibilities for manipulating UX more than you ever thought possible.
If you’re worried that you won’t see the return on your investment by using animation, think twice.
We’d be lying if we said that implementing animation is cheap and easy.
It takes time, resources, and funds, but there’s a reason (and a good one) that brands are investing in it: it’s an effective tool that can make the experience you offer stronger, more absorb-able, and infinitely more memorable.
The bottom line is...
Animation brings designs alive, which can make your brand more appealing (read: more memorable, more competitive, more profitable.)
It can literally be the difference between landing a new client or not because it takes things a step further. It’s smart marketing.
And smart marketing is what fuels the longevity of your business.
.png)
