A great mobile app boasts a great interface design, engaging user experience, and smooth navigation. Animations can tick all the boxes. Apart from making an app engaging, it eases cognitive load; attracts the user’s attention; simplifies navigation, and creates a smooth flow.
This way, it is important to use some form of animations to create an engaging app. In fact, it has become one of the most important tools for effective interaction.
Here we have rounded up some important types of in-app animations to improve your user experience with your mobile app.
Table of Contents
Visual Feedback Animation:
Visual animation is used to inform a user if a certain action was successful or failed. It is important for any user interface. It’s so obvious for us to feel that things respond to our interaction in the real world. An efficient animation designer is able to imitate interaction with real objects in a mobile app. What do you feel when you turn on a light switch?
You must have felt the intensity put into this action and the resistance of the button. The same effect can be used in-app animation which will evoke the interest of the user. Interacting with sensor screens we experience vibrations and visual signs to get the response from the app. Animated switch, color, or a tick can help a user feel and understand that the “job” is done. For example, the button can shine or create vibrations whenever it is tapped.
On-boarding Animations:
A new user needs some instructions to get started with your app. They suppose the navigation to be user friendly or look for some hints on navigation. For example, they expect pop-up instructions on how to utilize the key features of the app.
The on-boarding stage can be used to make a good impression that will convince the users to keep utilizing your app.
For example, on-boarding animation can be used to provide a quick tour of the app or to highlight the main features. An animation can also guide on how to use the app and what to do next.
A good onboarding animation integrates pure design with a comprehensive walkthrough. The transition is obvious and shows how app elements interact.
Navigation Animations:
The minimalist trend has paved the way for plain designs to cover almost all navigation components. Most apps are equipped with a complicated hierarchy that is not visible to the users. Mobile app animation can be used to show hidden elements.
The way you place those components in the animation can simplify the navigation and make the UI intuitive. By animating important elements, you can let the users know where to locate the features they require.
The right navigation animation facilitates transition across the app as well as takes users between the navigation contexts efficiently.
An app can hide its huge functionality behind a user’s gesture. For example, Pinterest doesn’t show the options until you tap and hold a post in the feed. Below, you can view a Pinterest-like hidden menu. What about using the tap-and-hold expandable menu to hide multiple options behind one tap?
Progress Animations:
It takes time to load some in-app actions. However, a user wants everything quick and a loading action might look like it’s stuck. It is frustrating to experience the “loading bars” on the screen. If you can’t shorten the loading time, make it engaging for your users to wait.
Therefore, it’s a good idea to use a progress status animation so the user sees the app is performing. Such animation informs the users that the app is running smoothly and how much longer they require waiting.
This way, this animation assures the users, making them aware and confident in the process of utilizing the product. And a confident user translates into positive users, keeping them loyal to your app. Progress animation can be used in progress bars, timelines, and other dynamic components.
Animated Transitions:
Animated transitions have been in vogue for a decade or two. They simplify the interactions, add fun to the interface, and make an app look engaging.
From the functional viewpoint, such animations often mimic interactions in the real world: for example, when you flip pages in a reading app, they respond if they were real.
Transition animations visualize the changes in the app as well as highlight connections between elements, thereby enhancing the app interface.
Splash Screen Animations:
A splash screen is a screen that appears right after opening an app.
Generally, it showcases the logo of the company or app. Although it doesn’t contain any function, it can entertain the users.
Splash screen animation can distract them and ease the pain of load time. Plus, a splash screen stands for the first impression as soon as a user downloads the app. It also facilitates a smooth transition to the login page.
An ideal splash screen animation is 1-3 minutes long and leaves a great first impression.
Understanding the Key Principles of Mobile App Animation Design
To make truly efficient and engaging app animations, here are some key rules of animations for a mobile app to consider.
- Define the trajectory of movements. Inanimate mechanical objects are likely to have a straight trajectory of movement, whereas real objects have a more flexible and less straight trajectory. So you need to decide on the right impression for your UI. Timing is also an important factor for animated design. Real objects don’t move according to the linear motion as they require time to accelerate and slow down. Curves can be used to make the objects move in a more natural way.
- Bringing attention to a specific area of the screen can be done with a blinking icon that prompts the user to press it as there is a notification.
- Duration is also the key thing to make a great animation. Ideal animation time ranges from 250ms to 900ms. It should be fluid and help visualize the transition in the state of a system.
So you must have understood the types of app animation. What do you think? Let us know by commenting below.
Author’s Bio:
Helen Wilson is a marketing manager at Savah. She is a keen follower of technology and loves to write about latest trends and tips from the tech industry.
