There were times when a webpage was just about text, a few hyperlinks, some images and perhaps a form. But over the course of time websites have evolved drastically. That’s primarily because the users’ expectation from web pages has evolved a lot. They have become overly demanding and want to have an interactive experience every single time they visit a webpage. The process of web designing has kept pace with this increasing demand by taking the visual storytelling process to a whole new level and in the process, animations have become an integral part of the whole design philosophy. Today’s animations are smoother, sophisticated, and more mobile-friendly than ever owing to the advanced ways of CSS3, HTML5, SVG elements and lightweight JavaScript.

Benefits Of Using Animations In A Web Design

Of all the visual elements present on a webpage, animations particularly stand out and helps in drawing attention onto a particular webpage element. It guides visitors from one step to another during the journey through the website. Also, animations are very effective in storytelling and in keeping the visitors engaged on a webpage. It adds to the overall user experience of visitors on a webpage or website.

Types Of Animations

There are different kinds of animations ranging from simple hover states to large ones which are almost like a video. Simple animations are more catchy and attract the user’s attention to important web page elements. That said, larger animations, when used sparingly and on the right project, can offer an incredibly interactive experience to the users.

There are many types of animations like hover effects, notifications, progression loads, form validation, parallax scrolling, typography animations, content fading, screen transitions, walk-throughs, hidden navigation menus, scrolling galleries etc. In this article, we have listed four most popular types of animations that can add a visual appeal to your website.

1. Hover Effects & Tool Tips

One of the traits of a good website interaction is that it must provide feedback to users. Simple CSS animations, like the ones that are found on animate.css, provide a subtle feedback on any type of hover action, including image or button hovers. Moreover, hover actions and tool tips add to the user experience with navigation and additional information. One point that the designers must remember is that these animations won’t work on mobile or touchscreen devices, therefore all the valuable information must be exhibited in other ways.

Check out this 3D hover effect:

2. SVG Animations

Scalable Vector Graphics (SVGs), are dynamic vector elements that are scalable, artwork-based and responsive. These are smaller in size compared to images and rasterized graphics. A lot of animated SVGs can be produced using only the CSS3 and no JavaScript. Be it a simple vector icon or an advanced illustration, everything can be animated and scaled using SVGs.

3. Parallax

Parallax animations is a great way of visual storytelling and is a very effective tool to engage users. They create depth, add layers to the design, and provide a more dynamic and interactive web experience. Take a look at the page and navigation transitions of startuplab.no.

Instead of loading a typical static new page it uses a subtle page transition effect to reveal the new page. A few of the elements are collapsed and a few are expanded, unlike typical pages that clear the screen to reload.

4. Interactive Forms

The goal of a web form is not just to encourage visitors to fill it but further engage with your brand. Interactive forms increase the possibility that users will start engaging with your brand and continue the relationship. One of the trending form designs is a single-field form interface. Instead of showing all the fields that a user has to interact with, this minimal form interface only shows one text input at a time.

It’s neat and there’s no clutter or distractions. Moreover, a few subtle visual cues like the tiny progress bar and a number that indicates the number of input fields to be completed add to the user experience.

It’s very important to keep users engaged with the brand and provide them a delightful user experience. Animations are a good resource and if used properly can elevate any web design to a next level. Talk to our design experts and discuss how you can use animations in your web design.

admin