Top Five Tips on How to Use Animation in Website Design
We all remember back in the day when you could change your cursor to an hourglass or a running horse. They were fun at first, but certainly a frustrating distraction when you were trying to get down to business.
While animated cursors seemed to have stayed behind with butterfly clips and fear about Y2K, animation itself is alive and well in the world of web design. A top trend for 2018 websites, animation comes in various forms, including constant motion or hover animations (the kind you have to hover your cursor over to see movement).
Learn how to use animation the right way in your website design with these top five tips:
- Choose Color Wisely
Animation is inherently attention grabbing. Investigate your color scheme to avoid any clashing colors, which would only make the animation obnoxiously loud to viewers. Choosing colors that compliment the animation ensures an exciting—not exhausting—user experience.
- 3D
Take your animation into 2018 and make it 3D, proving that you rank among the likes of VR and 360 video that have become so popular. 3D animation shows how the website animation trend has improved over time (we’ve come quite far from the hourglass cursor), and it shows off your design skills.
- Less is More
Just because you can animate everything on your website, doesn’t mean you should. Your web design should balance the animation with the static, creating a fun experience for the user. Too much animation and they’ll get so fed up trying to decipher the information on your site, they’ll leave without converting.
And not only will your visitors get fed up, but so will search engines. More animations means more loading time, which is detrimental to your SEO.
- It Must Serve a Purpose
Going off of number 3, not only should you not overdo your animation but you should also make sure the animation you do use is, well, useful. Where do you want your audience to look? Your testimonials, your online store, your landing page form for emails? Pick what you want to highlight and use animation strategically.
Oh, and make sure you don’t animate text—let your copy speak for itself (and make sure your audience can read it).
- Hovering
Want to utilize animation, but are afraid to take the plunge? Or maybe you feel constant motion is reserved for animation websites. Either way, there’s a way to capitalize on this trend without sacrificing visitor sanity: hover animations. These are animations that only animate when someone hovers their cursor over them. This is a great way to add some flair to your website while maintaining the stress-free first impression you like to give your visitors.
Website animation is an exciting web design trend for 2018, but it needs to be executed correctly to generate conversions. Kraus Marketing can help with everything from color scheme to animation, creating a website that showcases your brand and shows off to your visitors. Contact us today to learn how we can help you with your web design needs.