SVGator’s recently launched cross-platform mobile export feature opens up new creative avenues for both designers and app developers. You can now use our animator to create and export a ready-to-integrate animation for mobile apps from start to finish. Mobile app animations will spruce up your app’s UI and smooth out user interactions for a fulfilling UX, which is the key to increasing conversions and user retention.
Integrate any or all of these mobile UI animations when building an app to make its interface easier to navigate and increase your chances of connecting with customers on an emotional level.
Whether you're interested in creating a simple mobile app like a weather mobile app for Android or a complex one like the next best graphic design app for Iphone, this article is for you.
Table of Contents:
- Launch Screen Animation
- Onboarding (Tour) Animations
- Login Screen Animation
- Explainer Animations
- Loading Page Animation
- Animated Logo and Other Branding Assets
- Success State Animation
- Button Animations
- Icon Animations
- Error State Animation
- How to Create Animations for Mobile Apps with SVGator
We’ve included a quick “how to create animations for mobile apps” section to help guide you through SVGator’s new mobile export options and the implementation process.
But let’s start with the fun part!
10 Types of animations for mobile apps to fire up your creativity
Why and how should you use mobile app animations?
The why.
for a music streaming app or any other digital solution are similar to the most popular types of web animations. Collectively, SVG animations are part of a future-oriented movement in the world of UI/UX web design.
When it comes to mobile app development, the most notable benefit to consider is the inherent lightweight and scalable nature of mobile app animations exported from SVGator. On top of that, each type of in-app animation has its own set of uses and UI/UX-enhancing perks.
The how.
1. Launch Screen Animation
How is animation used in mobile applications a high-potential branding asset? It basically allows for countless opportunities to expose your customers to your brand’s identifiers (animated logos, slogans, and taglines). If you're designing a podcast cover for an exclusive podcast channel, consider adding animation which will make both your podcast and the podcast mobile app look appealing. The launch screen is an ideal first spot where you can reinforce brand recognition using in-app animations.
Every time a user opens your app, whether it’s for the first time or the 100th time, you’ll have the same splash screen welcoming them. Merge your logo animation with your mobile app’s animated launch screen, and you achieve multiple goals at the same time:
- Keep the user distracted and entertained as the app is launched (a generally small time frame), and give them the impression that the app is extra fast and responsive
- Set the tone for all the other interactions between the end user and your app’s UI with a smooth and captivating animation
- Show your user base the elements that you want them to identify you by (like your animated logo!) and build up brand awareness with each app launch animation
2. Onboarding (Tour) Animations
Make sure users don’t view your mobile app’s Welcome Tour as a skippable interaction! Integrate animations into your onboarding slides and pave the way for a positive first impression. An animated walkthrough of the app will give you the chance to showcase the app’s features and what the customer stands to gain from registering for an account and logging in.
You can animate the processes that your app can help simplify, highlight main features, and showcase what sets you apart from the competition, all in three stunning slides. With less confusion upfront comes an improved app retention rate.
Ultimately, the onboarding tour is one of the most important mobile UI interactions for a large percentage of users once they’ve downloaded your app. Use smooth SVG animations to make the most out of it!
3. Login Screen Animation
Onboarding animations for first-timers, and animated launch screens for repeat users, will help smooth the transition to your app’s login screen. Animated login screens should be on-brand (brand colors, mascot, mood setting visuals) and on the subtle side, so you don’t end up distracting users from the ultimate goal: conversion. Keep your login screen neat and tidy, but with a personal feel!
SVG animations have the ideal size to help you integrate stunning in-app visuals without increasing your login screen’s load time. Optimizing your mobile app’s performance every step of the way will amount to an overall superior user experience!
4. Explainer Animations
Push your visual storytelling further with animations that get your point across fast and load even faster! Add explainer animations to section off essential content into bite-sized pieces that are more digestible than blocks of text.
In-app explainer animations are awesome for when you’re creating a mobile-friendly landing page, where all the elements need to load at lightning speed. Animations exported from SVGator are fully responsive, so they are in line with the mobile-first design approach.
5. Loading Page Animation
Like web page preloaders, an in-app loading page animation can mask wait times and prevent app abandonment by keeping frustration levels as low as possible.
This type of functional animation in UX design does more than just entertain, as it can actually serve multiple purposes:
Need some inspiration? Head over to our other blog post and see the best preloader examples that make wait times feel shorter. Web and mobile-friendly!
6. Animated Logo and Other Branding Assets
Blend your marketing strategy into your mobile app’s UI with logo animations, interactive on-brand buttons/icons, and animated brand mascots. Don’t limit yourself to UX animation inspiration! Integrate app UI ideas that put your branding assets to good use.
Keep in mind that a branding-targeted in-app animation should be subtle enough to be unobtrusive, yet captivating enough to become a memorable part of the user experience. It can be quite the balancing act, but user testing will guide you toward a happy medium.
7. Success State Animation
Want to go the extra mile to offer a seamless in-app user experience? Animation can be the perfect tool for that, simply because it enables you to add an emotional touch to your designs. Reassure your customers during key interactions (subscribing, downloading, payment, etc.) with confirmation animations.
Designing excellent user interfaces is all about enriching UX at every key interaction. Want to put your skills to the test and see where you could improve? Here’s a 3-minute UI design test you can take to check your baseline skill level. After all, your success in designing better interfaces plays a huge role in customer success.
A success-state animation makes it clear that the user’s request has been successfully fulfilled. A simple text could do the job, but an exciting animated visual feedback does it 100% better! Turning the result of an action into a dynamic event makes app users feel validated. A successful animation also reinforces the idea that your mobile app is working at peak performance levels.
8. Button Animations
Animated buttons are some of the most user-centric micro animations examples you can implement. Working with a stunningly-designed UI kit can make a mobile app’s interface look extra polished, but integrating feedback animations can work wonders for your app’s UX.
You can also increase your app’s usability with animated toggle switches that make shifting between dark mode/light mode, or list view/grid view, an intuitive interaction.
9. Icon Animations
In-app icon animations are key elements of the UI groundwork that make a mobile app easy to navigate. When you add details that contribute to intuitive navigation, you inherently also build up your app’s retention rate, because UX matters! Animated effects will draw attention to essential features, controls, or input fields, and preemptively clear up confusion.
With lightweight SVG animation for mobile apps, you don’t have to worry about increased load times or other performance downfalls. If you plan on designing an animation-rich app UI, you can install the single-player setup (for React Native/Flutter) and have your .js/.dart file’s player load from SVGator’s own SVG player node module. This setup will help cut back APK and IPA file sizes even further.
10. Error State Animation
When done right, animation for app design can help ease the tension that comes with encountering empty/error states. These instances are inevitable, but with a bit of transparency and clear communication, you can redirect users to continue enjoying the app.
If you want to learn how to design bounce-proof empty states, check out this ebook with 100 practical UI/UX tips.
Use a neat and straightforward error screen tagline to show your audience that your mobile app takes a user-centered approach even when delivering bad news. Attach a positive emotion to this point of friction in the customer journey with an animation heavy on self-aware humor.
How to Create Animations for Mobile Apps with SVGator
Ready to save yourself some time and effort in designing a stunning and dynamic UI for your mobile app? Now that we’ve gone over the main uses of animation in mobile app design, it’s time to put the best no-code mobile app animation tool to work.
With SVGator you can draw, animate, and export in-app graphics that will instantly upgrade your mobile app’s UI and UX designs. No code writing, no third-party software, apps, or plugins -- just your creative skills and our full-featured animator!
We’ll show you how to make in-app animations for iOS and Android in 4 easy steps:
Draw or Import
You can start with imported vector graphics, draw them from scratch using SVGator’s graphic tools, or help yourself to the ready-made SVG assets in the animator’s library. A mix of these three options works great, too. If you're trying to build the best business phone systems or something related to business efficiency, this will be a fast solution.
You can freehand your work with the Pen tool or use snapping options/grids for effortless straight lines and shape alignment. You can design remarkable visuals with just a few clicks, faster and more efficiently than you would via coding.
Animate
Start animating your static assets to set your design apart from that of other mobile apps. Show off your brand’s static logo in a new light with a catchy and memorable logo animation. The creative possibilities are truly endless when using SVGator’s advanced animators and its intuitive user interface.
Export
Use the Export panel to explore the animator’s export options. First, select the Mobile tab.
Depending on the framework you prefer using, you can choose between React Native animation (export .js files) and Flutter animation (export .dart files).
Put interactivity at the forefront of your app’s design with interactive buttons, icons, and toggle switches. Set your mobile app animations to start on load or on tap.
To make your animations as lightweight as possible, you can choose to have the player loaded from a common location: SVGator's player node module.
While you animate, you can consider choosing a smart device management software like Scalefusion for your Android and iOS devices to provide an extra layer of security to your applications across devices.
Want to take a closer look at what SVGator’s new mobile export feature brings to the table for both designers and app developers? Head over here for an in-depth view of the capabilities and benefits of our mobile export options!
Integrate
Now for the hard part. Or is it?
The truth is there isn’t a hard part to speak of when using SVGator. The .js/.dart files exported in the last step are ready-to-integrate, or to hand off to an app developer, with no extra steps required.
For extra guidance, check out our “Export React Native Animations” and “Export Flutter Animations” resources. And if you’d like to see the entire 4-step process unfold, go ahead and check out the “How to Create Mobile App Animations With SVGator” tutorial from Envato Tuts+.
Conclusion
It’s now easier than ever to engage and hold mobile app users’ attention. Use our 10 use cases as inspiration and integrate SVG animation into your app development strategy to advance your native app’s UI and UX designs! Get started here!
