Top 5 UI Animation Tools in 2024
UI animation is a popular and indispensable part of any app. UI animation tools are accumulating a huge user base. It is because designers know the importance of UX animation tools to attract eyeballs to their app design.
If you’re new to the world of UI animation, you’re probably wondering what the difference is between animation and motion graphics. A quick Google search will show you that these terms are often used interchangeably, so what’s the distinction?
Motion graphics are a type of animation. While motion graphics describes moving or animated graphic design, the animation is an umbrella term for the whole field of moving imagery, including everything from cartoons to claymation. Motion graphics focus on giving movement to graphic design elements but tend to have less of a concrete storytelling aspect than other types of animation.
Why is UI animation important in app development?
With the number of websites and apps increasing tenfold every day, users have come to expect powerful, functional, and unique interfaces that are easy to navigate. Today’s digital products have to be human-centered, intuitive, and responsive. UI animation deserves your attention if you plan to make a successful app. History is proof that every chart-topping app has a stunning app design layout. You must hence consider UI animations for the following reasons:
- Portray a strong brand voice & image.
- Make the app visually appealing.
- Highlight app features intuitively.
What are the different kinds of UI animation?
Every designer has their own way of categorizing animations, and there are 4 types of most common UI animation:
- Micro-interactions
- Loading
- Navigation
- Storytelling
Micro-interactions
Micro-interactions are contained product moments that revolve around a single use case—they have one main task. Every time you change a setting, sync your data or devices, set an alarm, pick a password, log in, set a status message, or favorite or “like” something, you are engaging with a micro-interaction.
Loading
Loading animation is one of the most popular types in motion design for UI. Waiting is one of the most annoying things we all experience daily, both online and offline. Any factor making it not that boring is precious – and loaders are on top of the wave when it comes to interaction with apps and websites.
Navigation
Navigation is key to ensure that you are moving on the right path. Be it on the road or while accessing a digital platform, proper navigation design ensures that the user can effectively and efficiently move through the website or the mobile application. Even when we as users are on any technological platform, the inability to find the proper directions or steps to follow not only frustrates but reduces the number of customers accessing the platform. A study suggests that 50% of the visitors look for the navigation menu to orient one and reach the homepage.
Storytelling
Storytelling is a method of narrating a story to the listers or readers in an engaging manner. Some stories are informative, while others are meant for enjoyment. But the core purpose is to connect with the reader and leave a mark on his mind. And this is why it's important in UX design. A UX designer's purpose is to connect with their audience and make them understand the product in the best possible manner. And storytelling helps designers achieve the same thing.
Top 5 UI Animation Tools in 2023
1. Wondershare Mockitt
Wondershare Mockitt is definitely the best UI animation prototyping tool and the first choice for app design mockups. With cloud collaboration and an easy-to-use interface, it has millions of users from the design community.
Wondershare Mockit empowers people to make stunning app layouts and wireframe them without any prior knowledge of coding. It’s a feature-packed design tool and editor’s choice. (There’s an exclusive step-by-step tutorial, in the end, using Wondershare Mockitt).
- Stunning app design mockups in minutes, not months!
- Prototype creation for web, app, smart devices like TV, watch, etc.
- Industry-specific widgets in its extensive library of elements and templates.
- UI animations are effortless to make with screen linking.
- UX testing is convenient with preview mode.
- Import and integrate with other software like Google Suite.
- Team collaboration option with real-time feedback.
- Coding use is 0%!
- Cross-platform operation.
- Enterprise management features for easy team collaboration and project management.
- Hand-off mode for easy code and design sharing. The code can be directly downloaded in HTML/APK format.
2. Adobe After Effects
Adobe After Effects has the trust of many from the design community. It has garnered the trust of the design community for many reasons. The Adobe UI animation software has several easy to use features like the following:
- Free trial for 30 days.
- Cloud collaboration features with synchronization.
- Integration with other Adobe family software like Adobe Spark, Adobe Fonts, etc.
- Create stunning animations using only in-app features.
- Designers with experience can use it easily.
3. Origami Studio
Origami Studio is a free UI animation studio that came into existence by the FaceBook developers team. The interface is a drag-and-drop one, which added to its popularity. Its features are as follows:
- Extensive library of UI components.
- Free to use.
- Quick animation creation with a drag and drop interface.
- Create repeat animations.
- The splitter allows users to incorporate various data types.
- Open-source software, which is available on GitHub too.
4. Flinto
Flinto is a free UI animation prototyping software. It is lightweight, and one can create prototypes for both web and app. Designers like the Flinto app because the learning curve for this tool is natural.
- A free trial is open to download for all.
- Easy to learn, and no coding experience is needed.
- Video layers are easy to add like GIF format etc.
- Sound effects in prototypes are easy to add.
5. Framer
Framer is another open-source software with UX animation tools. Interactive animations are easy to make here. The prototypes made on Framer are easy to integrate with other designs too.
- A free prototyping tool for teams.
- Integration with Sketch and Photoshop.
- No professional coding knowledge is necessary. However, some coding info helps to use this software.
- Framer X store has a huge pool of designs that are free to use.
- Custom transitions creation feature.
- Hands-off mode for animations.
How to Create UI Animation Using Wondershare Mockitt
Here are the detailed steps on how to make UI animations with Wondershare Mockitt. You can create a stunning app design with UI animations without writing a single line of code! By the end of this guide, you will be able to make stunning app designs from scratch.
Step 1. Create a new project for the prototype
Login to Wondershare Mockit, or sign up. Now, select “Create Prototype.” You will get an option to choose from the available list of platforms (iOS/ Android/ TV) for which you are creating a prototype.
Tip: You can resize the project to your liking.
Step 2. Add widgets, icons, buttons, etc to your canvas app screens.
Step 3. Make UI animations.
There are two ways of using the Wondershare Mockit UI animation software.
Method 1: Make animation using State
Click the "State" icon beside the Inspector Panel. A pop-out would appear from which click on "New State". You can proceed to add a new state.
Note: The addition of new widgets is in Global State only.
Method 2: Make animation using Dynamic Widget
- Click the "Widget" icon beside the Inspector Panel. Now select "New Widget" and add a proper name.
- Now create states of the widget.
- Link the states and adjust animations via drag and drop.
Step 4. Navigation bar settings
After creating a dynamic widget, add states. Now you can easily set transition effects.
Tip: You can label them with distinct names to identify states quickly.
Step 5. Make a carousel
You can additionally add a carousel using built-in components. To the right of the settings panel, (with the mouse hovering above it) the image will appear automatically. You can choose to upload from "local upload" or "asset library".
Now simply adjust the carousel order. Also, you can select a horizontal/vertical scrolling setting.
Step 6. Preview your prototype
You can preview your prototype masterpiece on PC, Web, and Mobile.
Step 7. Handoff design to the developer
After reviewing the design, you can use the handoff mode to share your design for further app development. You can choose to generate a QR code for sharing or simply download the HTML/ APK files.
Conclusion
A brilliant UI design will set your app apart from the competition. Try free tools for UI animation and app prototyping and mockups to get a blueprint of the app. You can share this blueprint with the developer team or clients for review. With Wondershare Mockit you can create a stunning app design from scratch. The bonus point is, you don’t even need to learn to code! Let's try Wondershare Mockit today and see why it is the best tool to create UI animation!
