Did you know there are some really great ways to use icon animations in your website or app?
Not only can you show your users what your app or website is about and what’s inside it, but also present information or even make playful jokes.
This is especially useful for long-form, complex content that is constantly changing. If it is possible to communicate your message with a text message or voice recording, you can communicate it with a static illustration.
Plus, if your users see your icon animation, they are more likely to have the impression that it’s worth the investment to buy from you. This method will also help you make sure your content remains visually engaging, even as it gets older.
What is icon animation?
Animated icons are nothing new, but it’s only recently they’ve become popular in mobile and desktop interfaces.
Icon animations give the illusion of motion or movement in an icon. When you move your mouse around the icon, the animated portion will shake or spin around.
There are many different ways to animate icons. There are also plenty of YouTube tutorials showing you how to create these animations, along with plenty of user-created ones.
For example, an animated “Subscribe” button is quite simple, but you can make your icon spin around in different shapes, move, and have different sound effects.
Some icons, like pizza or a human face, will even blink in time with the animation, for a bit of fun.
The best thing about animation is it’s so easy to learn, you can do it in seconds, and you can use it in any kind of content.
Because they are simple, and can be found in countless web and mobile apps, users might be more likely to remember them. When people go online to find your website or app, they will see it when they hover over the icon.
How to use icon animation
There are lots of different ways to use icon animation in your design and development, but the most straightforward way is by adding a small animation to your static icon.
Keep in mind that you can animate an icon so it doesn’t move, but just in the sense that it does shake or spin around. It can also fade from one color to another.
Some sites have this done automatically with JavaScript, others are more flexible and let you choose which animation is best for your content.
Benefits of Using Icon Animation
While most people associate icon animation with mobile devices, it can be useful in any online design and development project. Here are some of the reasons you might want to use this animated icon for your project.
Characteristic and emotion-driven designs like this come with some user-experience issues. Moving the icon around is more obvious to users, but it also looks like you’re simply moving text on a screen.
The fact that a 3D animated element is moving around on the screen can sometimes be distracting. So if your design is intended to be seen on a desktop or large-screen device, you can use icon animation with all the character and comfort you want.
Icon animation is also the most inexpensive type of user experience enhancement you can make. You’ll usually only need an extra line of CSS or a new image or two. If your designs have a high ratio of motion to static design, you can also do things like rotate the icon and add special effects like wind, rain, and lightning.
You’ll also be able to send a message to your users with animation. An animated icon can be something like “Share now!” or “Choose a color!”, or just to have it sit there and do nothing, it can be a fun icon to have when your content is new and needs some extra attention.
For this reason, icon animation has been getting a lot of traction lately in web design and development. But if you’re still unsure about using it, take a look at what people are using it for. You’ll probably find it will make your website more memorable and fun for users.
Conclusion
Animated SVG Icons are not a new type of graphic. They’ve been used in web design for a very long time and they’ve already reached a wide audience. But the reason why they’ve become so popular is because they can make something quite simple look great.
