When you hear the word ‘animation’, do you think of cartoons? Animation can mean characters, but it also refers to artwork or text that is drawn and moves. UX and UI Designers use animation to help people navigate through and interact with websites, so it is an important skill to have.

What Are UX and UI Design?

What is often called UX and UI design or development stands for User Experience and User Interface. UX designers study psychology, marketing, data analysis, design, and technology to create website designs that provide users with as seamless and pleasant an experience as possible. From a client standpoint, the website also needs to drive sales.

If UX designers work in a visual environment, that is even more true for UI developers. The UI field is responsible for how users interact with the product or website. This includes clicking buttons, swiping on a phone, scrolling with a mouse, and any number of other possibilities. Interfaces should be intuitive; you shouldn’t have to stop and think about how to use it or look for something that is not there. If users are frustrated, they will leave.

How Is Animation Used on a Website?

Early animation was often overdone and annoying. It could give a website the feel of a carnival midway with lots of movement and bright, flashing colors. Eventually, designers realized that animation overkill was driving users away, and they began to rethink their approach.

Animation was originally used purely as a decoration, but designers eventually recognized the potential of animation to guide users through the website and it took on a function. Buttons that get larger or change color indicating that the user should click on them, and the spinning circle indicating the user should wait are examples of functional animation.

Successful animation mimics the interaction between humans and objects. It leads the user through the website without having to stop and think. This also causes much less stress and makes the experience more pleasant. Websites that are easy, even enjoyable, to use are the essence of UX and UI design.

Different kinds of animation

Animation is used in different ways in website design: to let users know they need to do something, to let users know something is happening, to tell users where they need to go, and to tell the story of the company and enhance branding.

Micro-interactions

Whether it’s a toggle switch to turn something on or off, a color change, or a checkmark that appears when an operation is finished, all of these are examples of micro-animation. They let the user know that a task was successful or wasn’t, and most people don’t really notice them unless they don’t work.

Loading and progress

Progress bars, timelines, and revolving balls let users know that something is happening. This relieves stress as long as it doesn’t go on too long or appear to have frozen.

Navigation

Navigation elements tell users where they are and where they need to go next. Hamburger menus, dropdowns, and navigation bars are all examples of navigation elements.

Storytelling and branding

This function is a bit different than the others. While the previous functions help someone use the website, branding animation helps the company connect with the user. Animated logos strengthen brand identity and help tell the company’s story. They are amusing and make the website memorable.

The Principles of Animation

In order to be successful, animation needs to appear to move naturally and in a way that doesn’t feel wrong to users. Good animation follows a set of principles developed by Disney Studios and laid out in a book by Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas called The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation. The principles cover movements like squashing, stretching, or arcs, as well as timing. Some of the principles apply mostly to characters to make them feel real, but this idea is useful for website animation, too.

Animation Software

UX and UI Designers use animation software to create the effects they are looking for. The software you choose depends upon your design and the tasks you need to accomplish. Two popular programs are Animate and After Effects from Adobe Systems, Inc.

Adobe Animate

Adobe Animate can create dynamic, interactive animation using vector graphics. You can bring animated characters to life for games, cartoons, infographics, ads, or avatars, then publish your creation to many different platforms in numerous formats. Animate works with Adobe Fresco and Sensei AI to provide powerful tools that let you draw as easily on a graphics tablet as with paper and pencil.

Adobe After Effects

After Effects is a motion graphics, video compositing, and visual effects program. It is part of Adobe Creative Cloud along with Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, Audition, and others. After Effects lets you fix errors during video post-production, fill in elements after the shoot is over, remove items you don’t want in the shot, and let your creativity flow freely with a huge collection of animation libraries.

Both Animate and After Effects are part of Adobe Creative Cloud, a collection of applications for all aspects of image and sound editing. As part of the Cloud, Animate works well with other Adobe programs like Adobe Fresco, a drawing and painting application that gives you the power of Artificial Intelligence to control digital painting tools. After Effects also works with other parts of the Creative Cloud like Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premiere Pro.

How to purchase Adobe Animate and Adobe After Effects

Adobe offers a monthly subscription to After Effects or Animate with a 7-day free trial available before purchase. This allows you to experiment with creating animation before deciding if you want to pay for the product. For a few dollars more a month, you can get the full Creative Cloud, which includes access to other Adobe applications like Photoshop, Illustrator, and Fresco, plus storage as well. The cost of a monthly subscription to After Effects or Animate is $20.99. A monthly subscription to Creative Cloud is $52.99.

How to Learn Adobe Animate and Adobe After Effects

Hands down, it is much easier to learn Animate than After Effects, which is probably Adobe’s most complicated software. While there are still many techniques to master in order to create good-looking animations, and the vector graphics tools take practice to be able to use them effectively, it is possible to learn Animate by watching tutorials and practicing on your own. That is much more difficult with After Effects, and many people find it easier to learn through classes.

You can choose classes that meet in-person or online to learn After Effects. Some people prefer to attend brick-and-mortar sessions when learning new information, but that isn’t always available. Live online classes have a similar set-up with a real-time, remote instructor who can answer questions and take control of your monitor—with permission—to show you how to do things. Training is part or full-time and available weekdays, weeknights, or weekends.

The best way to prepare for a career shift to a technical field like Motion Graphics Design is to enroll in a bootcamp or certificate program. These are intensive training courses that run from a few weeks to a few months and will cover motion graphics and animation in much more depth than tutorials can. Another plus of training is that you will leave class with a professional-quality sample video portfolio that you can show to prospective employers.

It’s easy to learn Adobe After Effects and start a new career. Check out Noble Desktop’sAfter Effects courses. Choose between in-person sessions in NYC at Noble’s location or sign up for live online After Effects courses and attend from anywhere. Use Noble Desktop’s Classes Near Me to find other courses in After Effects in your area.