Motion Design : Ability for utility

When and how to make your designs move

In this article-

• Motion Design is a tool, not a skillset
• What exactly is UI Design?
• How motion design can be correctly used
• Dangerous fallouts of motion-focused designs
• Come AI, how should we be prepared

Motion Design is a tool, not a skillset

Motion Design seems to have assumed a crucial position, and rightly so, in UI design. Micro-animations directly connect to emotional design- they grab the attention of the user, create a sense of anticipation, and are elements of delight. This has proven to be beneficial for products to position important features.

However, motion design itself cannot be UI design. Also, motion design can be outsourced. This is the unpopular opinion that I bear.

In the past year or so, most of the job descriptions that I have come across quote motion design software knowledge as a key skill. All new educational material, which is not about AI, is mostly about motion design. I also heard on a podcast, one of the prominent design leaders from India announce that he would not even consider a designer who was not a motion designer (meaning one holding the skills to create motion animations), for his team. The reasoning that he gave was because in his opinion, only motion designers knew how to design for emotions.

This, in my opinion, is grossly misleading; it gives the impression that UI design is all about motion design to create ‘moments of delight’. At the same time, it gives disproportionate importance to the visual aspect of applications, thus sidelining the impact of sound and touch design, and disregarding users with visual and cognitive disabilities. In a country like India where UI design itself is still growing and relatively under-recognised, this is a dangerous message for new designers and eventually for the fate of the industry.

In reality, motion design is a tool to elevate the quality of UI. UI design is a systematic translation of solutions to user problems, aiming to guide the user through a journey by leveraging their mental models. It is not as simplistic as ‘creating beautiful screens’, but much more than that. It is such a covert discipline, that its real contribution often goes unnoticed; hence the huge lack of UX maturity that persists amongst people as well as practitioners.

What exactly is UI Design?

Broadly speaking, UI design covers four aspects-

1. Brand Identity- design tokens and patterns that etch the product in the user’s memory,
2. Ease of use- Screen designs and navigations that utilise learnings from existing mental models to create intuitive journeys,
3. Responsible Engagement- Leveraging emotional design principles to encourage users to stay longer, and
4. Subtle Marketing- Deliberate positioning of elements on screen to promote features or offerings.

Motion design elevates the quality of visual design and supports interactions on screens. However, if the entire UI is designed around animations, there can be debilitating fallouts.

UX design in India has gotten competitive, and this will continue as the industry gets more saturated. The West has already reached the peak of demand, and now UX as a discipline is evolving over there. With the advent of AI tools, designers in the West are already moving from core UI-focused skillsets to skills that require critical thinking, by outsourcing repetitive work which consists of the majority of motion design skills. This, in my opinion, is a desirable evolutionary path.

This does not mean that a UI designer today should not know motion design. Until AI becomes intelligent enough to takeover the entire weight of motion design, it is UI designers who have to create and pixel-perfect these animations. Therefore, by all means, learn Adobe After-effects; I am learning too.

How motion design can be correctly used

As described above, motion design is not entirely UI design, but a tool to elevate the experience that UI design renders. Motion design in most applications can be used in the following ways-

1. Feedback and Affordance- Micro-interactions can help provide an immediate feedback to an action. eg. subtle animation on tap or click of a button.
2. Visual Hierarchy and Focus- Bringing the user’s attention to a certain part of the screen, typically for call-to-action. eg. animated banners or cards.
3. Contextual Storytelling- To seamlessly guide the user through a journey. eg. splash screen animations, small animations on transitions or completion of a step; or subtle animation on progress bars.
4. Personality and Brand Identity- To establish brand value through subtle micro-interactions on elements and typography throughout the product. Here, motion design runs a thin line between enhancement of features and usability.

Before applying motion elements to your design, one crucial thing to consider is the need. To establish the need, ask yourself some questions-

• What is the goal of your application?
• What is the industry for which you are designing?
• How is the target user group? Their age group, background, physical abilities etc.
• What is the nature of your target demographic?
• How much is the engagement quotient for your app?
• What is the average RAM on the devices which our target users own? Animations can consume large amounts of memory too.

…and so on.

Just because you can apply motion design everywhere, does not mean you should. Motion design, if not tied closely to utility, can break your application.

Dangerous fallouts of motion-focused designs

Motion Design if used excessively can lead to bad design. As much as moments of delight are essential to emotionally connect with the user, there must be constraints regulated by three factors- need, benefits and usability. If overused, motion design can lead to the following detrimental consequences-

• Loss of Focus- Motion design tends to dominate viewports, which can distract the user or make them lose focus on important tasks, especially on applications with critical functions like payments or banking.
• Increased Cognitive load- Several random animations on a single screen can increase cognitive load and, in dire cases, encourage the user to quit the application. Thus, it could work against it’s primary intention of user engagement. Moreover, users with cognitive limitations may find it impossible to comprehend numerous animations at a time, which again defeats the intent.
• Accessibility issues- Overuse of motion design can pose accessibility challenges for users with certain disabilities. eg. users with visual impairments or vestibular disorders may struggle to navigate interfaces with excessive motion effects. Additionally, motion-heavy interfaces may not be compatible with screen readers or other assistive technologies.
• Motion sickness and discomfort- Some users may experience motion sickness or discomfort when exposed to excessive motion in UI design. Rapid or unpredictable animations, especially those involving parallax scrolling, zooming, or spinning effects, can cause physical discomfort and alienate users with motion-related sensitivities. This could also apply to users from more senior age-groups.
• Increases application weight- Intensive motion effects, especially on low-end devices or slow internet connections (both widely prevalent in India), can result in slow loading times and poor performance. This can frustrate users and discourage them from interacting with the interface, leading to a negative perception of the product or service.
• Risk of addiction- Use or overuse of motion graphics on applications especially designed around loyalty reward models, or meant for children, can present a risk of severe addictions, leading to negative impact on users.

Come AI, how should we be prepared

As mentioned earlier, the nature of motion design as a skillset is bound to change. As AI advances, the skills required to run traditional motion design software will decrease in demand. Today we don’t have to bother about creating every pixel on photoshop; Adobe firefly carries most of that weight. Platforms like Animaker, Blender, Runway, etc. are already out in the market. Eventually companies will add these to their toolkit.

The two significant areas where involvement of UX designers will (and should) increase are-

1. Designing prompts for AI models and
2. Running generative AI motion-design platforms.

Therefore, while it is essential to be well-versed with traditional motion design tools today, learning prompt engineering and Gen-AI motion design tools is equally important. Don’t worry, there are designers behind those tools as well, making them intuitive for us, their users. But staying in practice is important.

In conclusion

Motion design is undoubtedly an important facet of UI design. However, it is not UI design itself. The mark of a good designer has always been critical thinking to solve problems for the user; and this is going to become more evident as more avenues of outsourcing repetitive work get inevitably adopted in mainstream industry. Designers are there to solve problems for the user, and appealing to their emotional expectations through visual design is part of the solution. There will come a day when design is rightfully regarded for its true contribution to product success- being the users’ point of view.

Learn current motion design tools, but also keep exploring new tools and gen AI. At the same time, remember that as much as AI progresses to become General AI, it is impossible for AI to learn your innate quality as a designer- empathy. At least, that won’t happen anytime soon.

So the next time an interviewer focuses only on your motion design software skills, run.

That being said, do create good-looking apps with cute animations; it always feels nice.

Thank you for reading!