Top 5 animation types to improve your website and web app

Great graphic designer Paul Rand once said: “Design can be art. Design can be aesthetics. Design is so simple, that’s why it is so complicated”.

This quote rings true for the web design, especially when this is referred to the animation. Good web animation is always simple and user friendly. Helping users to navigate, it fulfills an aesthetic function as well as a pragmatic one.

Umbrella mobile app development company would like to share with you their professional experience in designing clear and sophisticated animations for web projects and show some examples.

Let’s check the top 5 animation types:

1. Visual feedback

Visual feedback means a website or a mobile app capacity to respond to user interaction by visual means. In our case what this means is an animation that is the key project performance indicator.

In the first example, the navigation elements сhange their colors upon the user’s action indicating that the user’s input is being responded:

In the second example, an automatic slideshow with a possibility to swipe images in a certain direction upon the user’s action demonstrates that the site is active and working properly:

2. Easier navigation

Modern websites and web applications have a complex structure consisting of multiple navigation layers. The animation is an effective way to simplify the web navigation and make it more user friendly. Check for example the animation of a hidden menu:

3. Structure and interaction

The animation is a perfect way to form a structured and intuitive web design. Each element has its own purpose and the right animation helps a user to understand how elements work.

For example, if there is a button that activates an additional pop-up menu, this menu should appear from this exact button rather than from the left edge of the screen as a slide-out menu. Otherwise, a user won’t notice the pattern and won’t understand that these two elements - a button and a menu - are connected.

A perfect example of this case is a card that provides mobile app users with different options when they press it. Basically, all we can see is the same object but with the varying level of detail:

4. Visual hint

The animation is often used as a hint to emphasize a certain menu option or to help a user to navigate on site.

In this case, the animation is used as a hint on how to get a full information on the relevant matter.

5. State of the system

A set of unseen processes is performed during a page or an app load. All these processes take time. One of the oldest tricks to distract a user’s mind from this weary wait on your site is to make loading animation.

In this example, the loading animation indicates that an app or site is active and didn’t crash. On top of that it makes the design a little more refined and entertains a user during the dead time:

And, as always, Umbrella can’t leave readers without the signature bonus point which they would like to share with you:

6. Unique animation

Animation can improve your web or app project or ruin it. Undue visual elements complicate the navigation and tend to overwhelm a screen as much as a user. But fine animations highlight basic features, improve the usability of hidden or controversial menus without limiting their option and help to create a recognizable brand.

In the first case, a pretty ordinary headquarters map in the footer is visualized extraordinary. This map will undoubtedly draw your attention:

In the second case, minor background motion of the home page adds something extra to your site’s fine design. This sort of animation has hardly any practical benefits but makes your site more enjoyable.