The use of motion graphics and animation in websites is becoming ever more common, a fact which you’ll most likely have noticed on new website releases over the past couple of years. Motion graphics and animation can add an extra layer of visual interest to your website, making it more interesting, engaging, and user-friendly.

Motion graphics and animation can also help emphasise and reinforce the message of your website. Using it at key parts of your website will help users to understand your content, and bring your story to life in a way that static graphics and text simply can’t.

Animation can quickly explain your business process or product, and allow you to highlight elements of the page such as Call To Actions (CTA) that you are particularly interested in highlighting for the user.

Motion graphics help guide your eye through the website and naturally lead you into the next section with subtle and intriguing reveals of new areas.

There are a couple of things to keep in mind when incorporating motion graphics and animation into your website, which we explore in this blog.

Benefits of Using Motion graphics and animation in websites

Motion graphics and animation are increasingly used in digital marketing as they can lead to greater engagement and conversions. Here are some benefits of using these creative devices in websites:

A better user experience

Visitors spend more time on a website with motion graphics or animation. The average time spent on a website increases by 20% when an animated video or graphic is on the landing page. So as you can imagine the aesthetics and interaction created really boosts the overall experience of your website.

Unique brand identity

You can really bring your unique brand identity to life through intriguing animations and appealing graphics. In addition to flatter websites which conform to your brand colours and fonts, using captivating animations and three-dimensional graphics can elevate your unique visual identity further. This will help you stand out from the competition and create a solid customer base for yourself.

Explaining complex ideas easily

Explaining complex ideas is one of the biggest challenges we face in our professional lives. Motion graphic design makes that process much easier. It reduces the amount of text on a page, making it simpler for visitors to glean information at speed. It’s useful to know that studies have shown that people remember only 10% of what they hear, 20% of what they read but 80% of what they see.

Add life to your site

Animation can add more life to your website and make it more engaging for visitors. It helps visitors understand your products or services better and adds value to your brand.

Increase conversions

One of the effective ways to boost sales is by using motion graphics on websites. Since video content has become omnipresent on social media platforms, companies need to create exciting videos that attract an audience.

Types of web animations

There are many types of web animations, each with its own uses. Some improve user experience, while others are used to create a unique mood or feeling on the website.

Looped video backgrounds

Video loops are becoming more and more popular as an above-the-fold background on homepages. This example from The Yacht Club is a perfect case of of this technique can instantly immerse the visitor in your world.

3D animations

If your website is selling products, 3D modeling can bring these to life. Visitors can see the detail of the product, the ways it can move and what it looks like from different angles. The high tech perception of 3D animation can lend your product a modern, premium, and innovative feel.

We have created 3D animations for a range of brands, including Jackloc and Vectair Systems.

Semantic Animation

A semantic animation is an animation that makes sense in a context. For example, when you add an item to your shopping cart, it disappears and fades into a list at the top right corner of the screen. This kind of animation helps contextualise the action for web visitors to understand what’s happening without reading anything or wasting time searching for their items.

Parallax

This is a technique that creates an illusion of depth using movement. For example, if you scroll down a page and background images move slower than foreground images, this creates a sense of depth and makes it seem like those elements are further away from you in the scene. We love the use of parallax on Rainfall’s website.

What are the primary uses of motion graphics in web design?

Motion graphic is a new way to catch up with web design trends. The following are the main functions of motion graphics in web design:

Reveal

This function is used when you want to show specific information that was previously hidden. For example a product layout that features additional information about your services, or answers to FAQs. On interaction the information is revealed to the user. This allows you to have a clean, simplistic page whilst also having further information available, and the reveal transition will pleasantly surprise your visitors.

Emphasis

Motion can also be used to draw attention or emphasis to different elements on your website. This is commonly used with tooltips or hints, where some information will appear if you hover over or click on a particular element. You may also see elements moving across the screen or changing colours to highlight that they are essential parts of your website. An example could be a shaking call to action button.

State change

This function illustrates an object has changed its state. For example, a restaurant website may show which menu items have been selected by highlighting these with change to their colour, size or shape. In fact, where there is choice to select something, many websites will create hover states which highlight the selection you are hovering over, indicating you can select it. This kind of animation lets visitors see what they choose and what they have already selected, making their buying process easier.

Conclusion

As you can see there are ways of applying motion graphics and animations in your website design. Many of these applications make the user experience more visually appealing but more importantly, help the user to complete the actions they came to the website for.

A word of warning. It is easy to get carried away adding the latest trending animations and motion graphics to your website. We recommend you design them in for specific purposes to highlight important elements and to aid user experience. If you go too far, you could slow down your page load speed or simply have too much going on for the visitor to take in.

For inspiration, check out our favourite repository: https://www.awwwards.com/websites/animation