How to Use Animations in Mobile Apps
Visual Feedback
Visual feedback is crucial for any user interface. In the physical world, objects respond to our interactions with them. People expect a similar level of responsiveness from app elements. Visual — as well as audible and haptic feedback from an app — makes users feel in control. Visual feedback also serves a more simple function: it indicates that your app is working properly! When a button grows in size or a swiped image moves in a certain direction, it’s clear that the app is “doing something,” that it’s responding to the user’s input. In the example below, when a user checks the box to indicate that the task is complete, the block containing this data shrinks in size and changes its color to green.
Fun Animations
Animation in a mobile app can be used not only to induce interaction, but also to create a certain atmosphere. In such a way you can make the product more fun for users, evoke certain emotions and promote the formation of an identifiable brand.
Animated onboarding screens
Software developers understand the importance of the onboarding process. This helps first-time users to become familiar with the app — there’s a real risk people will abandon the app if they do not understand how to work with it.
Showing static slides to users is a common approach to the onboarding experience, but animated walkthroughs are much more engaging.
Progress and Loading Animation
Animation of progress bars, timelines, and other dynamic elements can do more for the success of the overall app user experience than you could imagine. Progress animation helps to inform a user that he is moving forward in the process. Moreover, it helps to provide psychological comfort for a user while waiting.
When you let a user understand the level of progress and what’s going on at the moment, it helps to eliminate the negative user experience. Besides this, progress animation makes a process of waiting more pleasant being itself the entertainment element.
Navigation animations
The minimalist trend has led to plain designs that hide almost all navigation elements. A lot of apps have a complex hierarchy that users don’t see. You can present hidden elements with the help of mobile app animations. The way you arrange those elements in the animation can make even the most complicated in-app navigation clear and make the UI intuitive. By animating key elements, you can show users where to find the features they need.
