While I welcome all this work put in favor of UX/UI designers (like me), am I the only one who thinks using AE for interaction design feels a bit like a hack? Just like using Photoshop to design interfaces: sure, it works, but it puts the user too far from the interface (at least in the early / mid stage of the development).
Animation in Interface design is directly linked to interactions. If the user performs an action, something “happens”, and that transition between the user input and the result is what I would say 90% of animation is about in IXD. Now, if you start your wireframes in Sketch, then jump into AE to try some cool animations as a standalone thing, and once you’re happy you move into a “living” prototype I think those are too many extra steps. Again, what I think is that the animation should be tested while interacting with the prototype, in real time.
That’s why I think we don’t need better ways to work in Sketch and AE, but instead we need better interaction-animation tools. I can’t say much more cause I’m working on one possible solution right now, and hopefully will be ready soon :)
