Animation in Mobile App – Exploring UI Animations to Improve Mobile UX

A great mobile app is a perfect combination of good UX, interactive UI, flawless code, and highly advanced features. Designers and developers put their best efforts into making the user interface design stylish and functional at the same time. Adding animations to your mobile app design is a sensible approach to improving the UX and bringing UI to life.

If you are one of those app designers who think that app animations are decorative elements, then think again. App animations act as a functional element that has the power to create smooth interactions and maximize user engagement. Animations play a crucial role in modern mobile UI design due to their outstanding functionality and unmatched usability.

Animations have been one of the top mobile app development trends for many years. Many app designers and developers intelligently combine different types of animation and development techniques to come up with an intuitive mobile app.

If you have recently launched a mobile app or are working on a mobile app development project, it is the right time to add animation to your mobile solution. If you are wondering how animations can make your app a big hit, how to integrate animation correctly into your app, and what are the different types of animations, here is a detailed guide on using animations for your mobile app.   

Mobile App Animation – Why It is Important?

Maximize User Engagement

When it comes to creating a user interface design, and an animation plays a crucial role in creating smooth interactions. Mobile users are visually driven species that can easily be attracted by animations. Adding animations to your mobile app can help designers to create functional interfaces for the users that can be used to guide them and take the desired action.

Make Navigation Easier

Adding animations to your mobile app can make it easier for users to easily understand how to navigate the app. These visual elements guide users on how to connect with different interface elements. The instant visual feedback allows users to understand what is happening. With animations, designers can set the hierarchy of the screens and get users to notice important features and design elements.

Create an Outstanding User Experience

Delivering a lasting, memorable user experience allows users to take the desired action and become your loyal users. Adding motion effects to your mobile app can help you create a solid brand identity while clearly conveying the brand values to your customers.

Other Benefits of UI Animation

•         Save mobile screen space
•         Lowering the cognitive load
•         Providing system status updates to users
•         Convenient and easy interaction
•         Increased usability
•         Providing clear visual feedback to the users

Types of Animations for Your Mobile App

•         Visual Feedback Animation
•         Progress Animation
•         Scroll Animation
•         Onboarding Animations
•         Transition Animation
•         Marketing Animation
•         Animated Notifications
•         Navigation Animation
•         3D animations
•         Functional Change Animation
•         Notification Animation

 Visual Feedback Animation

Using feedback animation for your mobile app is an effective strategy to inform users whether the action is completed or in processor failed. This animation type is used to maintain effective communication between the users and the app. When users try to perform a certain action, they want a quick response from app elements.

Feedback animations such as animated buttons, switches, tick or cross, pop-up notifications, toggles, or color changes can be used to inform users about the status of the action. Visual feedback animations can deliver a better UX, make users feel in control, and enhance the sense of direct handling.  

•         Progress Animation

Mobile users are impatient. If the process takes a bit longer to complete and users have to wait for long, it will make users anxious. They want to know what is happening and how long do they wait?  Implementing progress animation to your app user interface design can make users aware of the process. When a user knows the level of progress, remaining timing, timelines, and the amount of work done, it will calm the user when they wait. Progress animations can make wait time fun for app users, so no one can get bored by watching the status of the process.

•         Scroll Animation

Scroll animation is one of the most common types of animations that are used in web and mobile user interface design. It is a great way to make the scrolling process stylish and elegant. Scrolling animations are used when a user scrolls up and down. It can also be used in horizontal directions, depending on the app requirement.  

•         Onboarding Animations

Delivering a flawless onboarding user experience can retain users and encourage them to take a certain action. Explaining how your app works through onboarding animation can help users understand the process easily. Onboarding animations engage users by telling them the most significant functions and helping them navigate the app easily.

Make sure onboarding is easy, user-friendly, increases user engagement, and delivers a great UX. Onboarding animation can help users understand the app structure and create an intuitive mobile app design.

•         Transition Animation

Users want a smooth and effortless user experience. When it comes to moving from one screen to another, they want a frictionless experience. With transition animations, you can ensure a smooth transition and help users understand where they come from and how to go back. A well-designed transition can help users understand which area needs their special attention.

•         Marketing Animation

User interface design, if designed well, can have a major impact in creating brand awareness. Many brands use logos, mascots, and other design elements to promote their brand. Marketing animations can serve best when it comes to garnering the attention of app users. Through visual elements of a brand, you can self-promote your brand, making it look attractive and functional at the same time.

Make sure the marketing animation is eye-catching so that it can attract the target audience. The goal of using marketing animations is to increase brand awareness, make sure to use design elements that align with your company’s mission.

•         Navigation Animations

Animations can make navigation easier and help users understand the connection among different interface design elements. With navigation animations, you can guide users on how to go through the menu and move from one feature to another.

•         3D animations

Incorporating 3D animations into your mobile app design is a great idea to make your app more intuitive. 3D modeling allows designers to create realistic images, scenes, and objects. There are a number of different animation, modeling, and rendering tools that can help designers add 3D animations to gaming apps.

•         Functional Change Animations

When creating mobile app interfaces, app designers put extra effort into creating buttons that perform dual functions. For instance, back/hamburger, and play/stop are switchable buttons that change their functionality when needed. Adding animations to switchable buttons when users interact with them keeps them engaged with the app.

•         Notification Animation

App designers use motion objects to attract users’ attention to a specific task. You can also make your user interface design appealing by adding notification animation to shift the attention of users towards an important feature or update.  

Concluding Note

Here you go. These are a few benefits of integrating animations into your mobile app and how it can improve the overall user experience. Choosing the right type of animation for your mobile app is the key to making your mobile app successful. When app designers know which animation type is the perfect fit for their mobile app, it will help them catch the users’ attention.

Remember, animation works best when used in a sophisticated manner. Use animation with a clear purpose and encourage users to complete what they want to do. Hopefully, this post will guide your mobile app design and development team to choose the best animation for the user interface design.  This way you can easily come up with a mobile app that can solve users’ problems and help your conversion goals.