What are the current and emerging trends in animation for web and mobile platforms?

1 The benefits of animation

Animation can be used in creative concept design for a variety of reasons, such as attracting attention, providing feedback and guidance, enhancing storytelling and emotion, and adding personality and differentiation. For instance, subtle animations can be used to highlight important elements, transitions and loaders can show the status of a process, illustrations and characters can help tell a story, and custom animations, colors, or shapes can help express a brand identity and make it stand out. Furthermore, motion and sound can create a mood or tone, humor can create a memorable impression, and surprise or delight can be used to capture the user's attention.

2 The principles of animation

Animation is more than just making things move; it's about making them move well. To create effective and appealing animations, you should consider two key principles: timing and spacing, and easing and curves. Timing refers to the duration and speed of an animation, while spacing refers to the distance and direction of an object's movement. Easing refers to the acceleration and deceleration of an animation, while curves refer to the shape of the path that an object follows. Additionally, staging and composition should be taken into account when creating animations. Staging refers to the arrangement and presentation of an object or scene, while composition refers to the balance and harmony of elements within it. By using these principles, you can create animations with a sense of urgency or calmness, anticipation or completion, importance or order, or balance or tension.

3 The tools of animation

Animation is much more than making things move. To create efficient and flexible animations, you need to use some of the best tools available, such as CSS animations and transitions, JavaScript animations and libraries, and animation software and tools. CSS animations are native features of web browsers that allow you to animate elements using keyframes and properties. However, they are limited in functionality and control. JavaScript animations and libraries are external features that offer more functionality and control but are complex and heavy to implement. Animation software and tools are standalone applications that allow you to create animations using graphics and timelines, though they can be expensive and time-consuming to use. With these tools, you can create basic effects such as fading, sliding, or rotating, as well as advanced effects like scrolling, dragging, or animating SVGs. You may also need to export your animations as GIFs, videos, or spritesheets for web or mobile platforms.

4 The trends of animation

Animation isn't just about making things move, it's about making them move in style. To create trendy and innovative animations, you need to consider the latest trends of animation, such as minimalism and simplicity. This involves using subtle and smooth animations that don't overwhelm or distract the user, such as soft colors, shapes, and shadows, or fade-in, fade-out, or scale effects. Interactivity and feedback is another trend that increases engagement and satisfaction by allowing users to interact with your product and receive immediate responses. This could involve dynamic and responsive animations that adapt to user input or behavior, such as hover, click, or swipe effects, or loaders, spinners, or checkmarks. Storytelling and emotion are also important design trends that convey your message and connect with your user through narratives, characters, or emotions. This could include expressive and immersive animations that create a mood or tone, such as illustrations, icons, emojis, motion, sound, or color effects.

5 The best practices of animation

Animation is not just about making things move, but also making them move wisely. To create successful and effective animations, you should consider your goal and audience before starting. You should plan and prototype your animation, sketching the idea and testing the concept. Additionally, you should optimize and test the animation to refine the quality and performance. This can include improving timing, easing, and curves of the animation, as well as size, format, and code of the animation to make it more smooth, natural, efficient, compatible, accessible, and inclusive for your product.