Why Animated UI/UX Concept in Virtual Presentations Matters

Animated UI/UX concept in virtual presentations matters a lot. Designers can also use animated UI/UX to communicate with users across cultures and languages. No matter what language a user speaks, animating a button to show where to click (or tap) will attract their attention.

Last but not least, animated UI/UX is crucial to design psychology and reducing cognitive load. Animations provide context, familiarity, and consistency in a digital product, reducing mental effort.

Why is it good enough to use animation in presentations? That is problematic to answer since when we delve into PowerPoint graphic tools, the available animation effects are sort of cheesy which might be our turn-offs.

In such a case, our craftsmanship is essential to generate an enhancing animation concept with limited aids. Animations, which fall into four basics (entrance, emphasis, motion paths, and exits), can be the game-changer for PowerPoint presentations. It seems to be more attested under this New Normal as we are more used to virtual meetings, where no direct contact with our audiences.

According to Lifewire, In PowerPoint, animations can be applied to text boxes, bullet points, and images so they move on the slide during a slide show. Animation presets in versions of PowerPoint affect all the content on the slide. Entrance and exit animation effects are a quick way to add movement to your slides. You can also apply a motion path to a text or object to animate it.

We believe with all the pros and cons, animations can be a groundbreaking solution to this problem. To get into details, let’s take a look at why we should initiate using an animated UI/UX concept in virtual presentations. Before that, What is Animated UI/UX? and then, What is a Virtual presentation?  Let’s find it.

What is a virtual presentation?

Virtual presentations are presentations that engage the host and audience remotely, either from home or office buildings across the country. This virtual presentation has many considerations, such as slide design and how to keep a distant audience engaged from afar.

Then, as presentation technology and software developed, the demand to move presentations continued to increase. Based on these considerations, you should master the skills necessary to lead an effective virtual presentation.

What is animated UI/UX?

Animations are powerful tools in a designer’s toolkit, helping users move between navigational contexts, explaining changes in UI elements’ arrangement, and reinforcing hierarchy. Therefore, they are essential to interaction design.

For many product teams, animation is an afterthought when it comes to digital product design. Teams often show motion language when the work is almost over. Unfortunately, many designers don’t have any experience with UX animation, so they animate based on gut feeling, which can lead to a poor user experience.

Animated UI/UX is useful for adding visual effects to UI elements and components and making them interactive. This interactivity helps guide users through a website or digital product, creating an immersive and enjoyable user experience.

Types of interface animated UI/UX

It’s important to know what types of animated UI/UX exist. We’ve listed 4 types of animations:

• Animations for micro-interactions;
• For presenting the status of a process;
• To explain and clarify;
• Decorative animation.

Although they are independent, designers often create animations that combine multiple types at once.

See also: Why is UX Important in Digital Marketing?

What to consider when creating animated UI/UX?

The important topics on the subject:

Simple shifts

Instead of designing entire screens and then adding animated transitions between them, consider the individual components and how they behave in different contexts. In this way, the overall structure of the interface will be much easier and more natural to build.

Explain the relationship between elements

Animations should contemplate this relationship since they are often complementary elements of an interface.

If you find a pop-up popping up from interacting with the button, then the animation should reveal this;

Avoid multiple representations

An element should not be animated in different ways in the same place. You know, this principle follows the concept of UI standards;

Keep the logic of spaces

The user expects the menu to stay on the left if the animation slides it to the left. It would seem strange for that same menu to appear from the right.

Why we should initiate to use of an animated UI/UX concept in virtual presentations?

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Effective micro-interactions

Microinteractions are small moments when audiences and design interact. Practically, it happens by feigning a dummy yet interactive command button or vector icons as if they can be clicked.

We see mobile text or message notifications every day as a micro-interaction. An alert popup appears on your phone when you receive a text. Occasionally, the alert will display the entire text message before minimizing it to show the sender’s name. This entire notification sequence is an animated UI/UX.  Other common micro-interactions like page transitions, content loading, navigation changes, and more.

There are four stages in micro-interaction :

• Trigger: user action or system state change
• Conditions: system rules that define what micro-interaction is triggered
• Feedback: visual, audio, and haptic changes to the user interface
• Mode: what happens once the micro-interaction is complete–state or UI changes

Animated UI/UX occurs during the feedback and mode stages, i.e. when the user interfaces change with respect to triggers and conditions.

Those little details are impactful within our screen-share deliverance because we can’t rely much on body language in front of a webcam. They add the inquisitive, unobtrusive feeling of interacting with real objects. By approaching this method, we can bring an authentic experience that livens up the look of our presentation.

Drawing focus

Most likely, we straighten out a bunch of animation effects at once. This is troubling for particular reasons. It makes our slides awful, overwhelming, and less purposeful. Unfortunately, we are frequently unaware of this misuse.

With animations, a presenter can direct the audience’s attention from A-Z sequentially. It helps to mitigate a message in a deductive way which finally arrives at a call to action. In short, whether an effect begins on top of another or comes from behind, it changes the effectiveness of a message.

According to Get My Graphics, if you are looking to keep the attention of people in the modern world, you need to get your point across in a lightning-fast way.

The fact is that you can say more with an image than you can sometimes say in 10 pages of text, even more so if that image lends itself to animation.

You also give your audience a break. They do not have to read 10 pages of text, which will obviously take longer than it does to see an animated slide depicting a process or idea.

See also: 5 Reasons Why You Should Learn UX Design in 2022

Control the pace

Animations can make slide breaks more sensible. That incommunicable part of a presentation is no longer making audiences lose interest.

According to The Marketing Mane, When adding animations to a PowerPoint presentation, designers keep the 80–20 rule in mind.

20% of animation can lead to 80% of engagement for the PPT. With animating objects, they will feel engaged though everything is in silence, in the meantime, we may take a little pause to breathe and get prepared before jumping to the next topic.

As a side note, everyone will get annoyed when the presenter can’t sit at the proper time. With that being said, the pace is one thing we must control. Just like pouring water into a glass, it goes the same with the content deliverance. Let it all out moderately, and animations can assist us with such a thing.

Better branding

Have you ever imagined how a brand like Apple showcased its product to investors? It is obvious that they, as an award-winning brand, will never array a presentation or a pitch deck with no personality.

Then, remember that animations are a fantastic way to promote brand awareness and engagement with users. Many designers use fun logo animations to give brands traction.

Animation equals a soul that can mold an identity on a slide’s interface. It includes not only the content but also the graphic elements surrounding it, such as the background, placeholders, and illustrations. When a brand has a slight motion, it will be unique.

See also: Website Localization Is Important to UX Design

Conclusion

Animated UI/UX plays an important role in guiding users through the product experience. The reason is to communicate with users in making digital products easier and more enjoyable. Animated UI/UX concept in virtual presentations, is considered cutting-edge.

But, remember that presentations are about information and the presenter. Try to use only effects that boost your point, and if it doesn’t add any benefit to your presentation, leave it.

Our use of animation can bring out our public speaking to the next level or even make it tacky. It all depends on the user’s expertise. Hence, never let yourself mess something up that badly.

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