Talking about web trends of any kind is always tricky, and that’s because the digital world thrives on perpetual change and sudden shifts. Take a look with us at the web animation trends that are taking off in 2022 and that are here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future!
Web animation itself is a trend that is seeing an exponential growth in popularity as integrating motion into web design and web application development becomes standard practice. This is in part thanks to the fact that graphic designers no longer need to become professional motion designers or have coding skills to partake in this trend. Just hire a dedicated app development team and they'll do it all for you.
With the right toolset, web animations are now easier to create for all graphic designers, no matter what their professional background is. To put this fact to the test, we’ve included website animation examples for each trend that you can recreate from scratch using SVGator, with 100% creativity and 0% coding. Web animation jobs are definitely gonna be very popular in the nearest time, so you can already start searching for your best job.
Reinventing 2D SVG Animation
The streamlined and clean-cut look of 2D graphics (flat or semi-flat) makes them evergreen, almost standard choices at this point. The world of design might not see 2D animation as the most exciting web animation trend, but it’s definitely here to stay! There are impressive things emerging from creatives who are reinventing flat design, especially when they do it using vector animation.
By applying the subtleties of semi-flat design when creating a web animation, digital artists are able to communicate messages efficiently without limiting themselves to “drawing inside the lines.” The new way of looking at 2D animation encourages the use of gradients, innovative shading techniques, and other finishing touches that create a more immersive UI. Design trends in 2022 and beyond have a transformative incline, seeing as none of them are set in stone anymore!
Now being supported by all the main web browsers, SVG animations are quick to render, have a small file size (a page load time plus!), and can be infinitely scaled without losing quality or motion smoothness. Especially when compared to GIFs, the advantages of SVG animation enable it to be a trend that both UI and UX designers can get behind!
Animated Lines | Self-Drawing Animation
With SVG line animation, also known as stroke-path animation, you can create intricate designs that look hand-drawn, complete with self-drawing and self-erasing effects. Click here for a quick tutorial on stroke path-animation in SVGator!
Self-drawing animated lines are a web animation trend that won’t ever dwindle in popularity. That’s because this trend is rooted in line art, which is as timeless as art itself.
Sketch-like designs also have the upper hand when it comes to versatility. You can create self-drawing characters, emblem logos, wordmarks, and even backgrounds that look as if they’re being hand-drawn in real-time!
Restricted Color Palette
Designing web animations using a restricted color palette is a trend that puts an emphasis on conveying emotions. Color is an excellent moodsetter, so it can actually be easier for you to create a straightforward design by following this trend.
Animations created with a restricted soft color palette can also easily play into the “comfortable colors” web design trend. Oddly enough, these designs stand out in a digital space that’s flooded with bold color combinations and countless undertones.
We’re sure to see this trend grow even further in popularity.
Morphing Animation
Morphing as a web animation trend is on its way to becoming a given when it comes to smooth transitions, even in high-speed motion graphics. Morphing anything, from basic shapes to intricate logos and characters, makes room for a limitless streak of twists and turns in your visual storytelling.
The particular appeal of morphing animations is that users are drawn to watching the animated loop over and over again, trying to figure out how the transitions blend together so seamlessly. For this reason, morphing web animations are also a valuable SEO asset.
Check out this quick morph animation tutorial to see how easy the process can be when using SVGator!
Animated Logos
Logo animations have quickly become an engagement-focused add-on of a brand’s identity. We’re seeing them being used by industry giants and small businesses alike. The memorable nature of animated logos will prevent them from ever becoming outdated, given the competitive pattern in the world of digital media.
What makes a logo animation memorable? Kickstarting an emotional connection with a brand’s story or message using motion, whether that’s done by animating its mascot or bringing a vintage emblem logo into the digital age.
Check out our blog post on some of the best animated logo examples to see how this trend has influenced branding via web animations!
Animated Icons
Animated SVG icons are a web animation trend that emerged as a natural extension of interactive UI design. We’re going to see more and more new web design trends that bank on animation (motion graphics in particular!) to capture users' attention.
Icon animations, especially interactive ones that get triggered on click/hover, are the type of subtle details that lead to an improved customer journey. Immediate feedback on user input, like a download icon morphing into a loading animation on click, mimics the feel of a two-way conversation between the customer and your brand. And that experience is never going out of style! Try it yourself!
Cute Animated Characters
This is a web animation trend that helps make brands more relatable and easier to connect with by tapping into the common denominators that are easy to bond over. It’s worth noting that there is a Japanese influence emerging in 2022, thanks to Anime-influenced animation. This style is characterized by colorful graphics, adorable characters, and fantastical themes. These cute animated characters make excellent brand-recognition icebreakers.
2D animation gives you the ability to bring human, animal, or fantasy-based characters to life, customizing their traits and actions to be as aww-worthy as you can imagine. Much like old-school cartoons on TV, you’re never too old to be drawn to them!
Anthropomorphic Animations
Attributing human form or characteristics to nonhuman objects is obviously not something new in the world of animation. But anthropomorphism in graphic design is growing in popularity as web design animation trends shift toward organic, fluid, and asymmetric visuals.
You create a sense of wonder by turning an abstract mass of shapes into a likable animated character that mirrors human-like movements. Humans are naturally drawn to, and are extremely likely to connect with, anything that mimics them visually and behaviorally. It’s a trend-focused on increasing user engagement and facilitating timeless storytelling!
Cyberpunk Web Animations
The Cyberpunk subgenre finds its way among recent trends in animation by riding the wave of Y2K nostalgia. Retro motion graphics with a twist are rising in popularity. A fine-tuned design style that revisits cyberpunk ideologies (dark neon visuals, bold color palettes, unconventional layouts, glitch effects) will most likely have these web animations trending even beyond 2022.
Designers are not just refurbishing nostalgia-rich graphic styles with their vintage color palettes, but they’re actually bringing these vibes into the modern-day era, often with AR and VR insertions. A good starting point for creating this type of web animation is to pair bold contrasting colors with futuristic imagery, leaving the controversial “dystopian” factor behind.
Neumorphism
Neumorphism, as a web animation trend, is a merge between Skeuomorphism and flat design. Because it’s being used by designers as a sort of middle ground between realism and minimalism, neumorphism is more than likely here to stay.
On top of that, neumorphism is the style behind soft UI designs, which are also skyrocketing in popularity. UI animations that include easily identifiable interactive icons are in tune with the digital world’s growing preference for interactive design.
Glassmorphism
Glassmorphism follows in the steps of Neumorphism, playing into the same principles behind all 3D-like interfaces. In the case of glassmorphism, designers use multiple layers of glass-like panels to create the illusion of depth. By making the top panels more transparent than the bottom panels, and layering them all on top of a vividly colored background, you can easily recreate that trending frosted-glass effect we’re seeing explode in all areas of graphic design in 2022. And that includes web animations!
3D-motion graphics in web design will never stop finding new ways to reinvent themselves, creating new crazes that we will fall head over heels for! The surging popularity of glassmorphism has got artists wondering what’s next on the list of real-world aesthetics that get reconstructed into the digital world?
Claymorphism
Claymorphism is one of the graphic design trends of 2022 that fits flawlessly into the capabilities of vector animation. Clay-like aesthetics as a web animation trend bring a very fun feel into the mix, with their light yet vivid pastel color palettes, oversized rounded corners, and heavy inner and outer shadows.
We’re already seeing Claymorphism used extensively by large companies when designing their branding assets, by NFT artists in their artwork and by game designers that have integrated this style into their creations.
This web animation style is popping up everywhere, with a very friendly, human-centered, fresh look that’s bound to hang around in our UIs far beyond 2022!
You too can draw inspiration from Claymorphism and use an NFT creator to ride this graphic design trend like a pro.
3D-Like Animations
You’ve probably seen plenty of web page animation examples that look 3D-like but are actually made using 2D animation. Flat design that manages to create the illusion of depth, dimensionality, and immersion is unlikely to go out of style anytime soon!
The reason why fake 3D motion design is trending in 2022, and will continue to do so, is the ease with which it enhances the user interface. 3D-like animations add value to the customer experience with their unique appeal, blending seamlessly into minimalist layouts.
Mixed Media Animations
Mixed media digital artwork is one of the graphic design trends of 2022 that pushes the boundaries of what can truly be unique in a space where we’ve seen it all done before. Combining photography with vector graphics and blending in the overlap with 2D animation brings forth a new dimension of creativity. We’re also seeing 3D-like assets combined with 2D sketch-like aesthetics grow exponentially in popularity.
Add interactivity on top of this mix of graphic formats, and it’s like pouring a sealant over a mixed media canvas: it becomes timeless! With designers and animators blurring the lines between different digital “mediums,” we’re guaranteed to see this web animation trend resurface again and again.
Liquid Motion
Liquid motion is a motion graphic effect that we’re seeing designers use to substitute hard-cut transitions in 2022. Splashy, blobby, liquid-like shapes masking transitions when morphing shapes has quite the entrancing effect, so it’s definitely a trend designers will hold onto for quite a while.
Liquid animations can make the user interface look spellbinding when you add interactivity settings into the mix. Triggering easy-flowing transitions on hover/on click encourages users to interact more with a website, and as a result spend more time on the page.
Gradients Galore
Animated color transitions, and gradients altogether, have found their way into most of the other web animation trends of 2022. Their limitless potential to define and influence the mood through design makes them irresistible. Much like a mixed media web animation, an animated asset that’s infused with subtle (and not-so-subtle!) gradients is much more likely to rise up in a viewer’s attention hierarchy.
The way gradients grab attention with ease, especially when motion graphics are at play, is the reason why this web animation trend will never go out of style. Smooth color transitions that can turn any element into the focal point of a design are well on their way to becoming an established standard.
Isometric Animation
Isometric animations, and this type of design, are trending because they have opened up a versatile world of display and perspective options for graphic designers.
When designing an isometric web animation, you use 2D animation to create 3D-like optics. The rules of thumb in isometric design is that there needs to be a 120º angle between the x, y, and z axes, and you should avoid converging lines.
Isometric animation offers you a clear and realistic angle for creative motion graphics. This is the exact reason why we’re sure to see this web animation trend continuing to grow even beyond 2022.
Scrollytelling with Animation
Scrollytelling with the help of web animations is an excellent catalyst for an immersive customer experience. You can encourage users to explore a topic more in-depth simply by scrolling, which is already a force of habit for most digital media consumers.
The popularity of animations triggered on scroll is unlikely to fade over time. And that’s because they improve a high-priority metric: time spent on page. Scrollytelling allows you to tailor the interaction between viewers and your content, making text-heavy pages more digestible, (making them more likely to convert) and increasing graphic variety. Done right, this trend makes for a truly captivating visual treat!
Animated Background
Animated backgrounds, like scroll animations, are one of the web design trends that’s great at keeping users engaged long enough to get them invested in the content that you want them to consume.
Designing background animations that help introduce users to a brand’s main value proposition is one way we’re seeing this web animation trend used extensively in 2022. Given that it is an engagement-focused design trend, the full potential of animated backgrounds is probably still going to be explored in the coming years!
Hover Effects
The unfading popularity of hover effects is owed to the fact that they often encourage users to interact more with a web page, sometimes just so they can see these website animation effects on a cool design on repeat. Hover effects in web animations allow you to show more information on hover using interactive “hotspot” elements (e.g., animated icons, buttons, explainer animations, etc.).
Smooth, subtle, yet clever hover animations are the finishing touches that can take an interactive user interface to the next level. They also make it easy for UI and UX designers to keep the interface clutter-free. We’re definitely going to see this web animation trend stick around because it helps designers build an all-around engaging (and entertaining!) user experience.
Microinteractions
Micro-animations that get triggered and change the interface when a user interacts with it are what UI and UX designers know as microinteractions. They’re a web animation trend that joins in on the web’s shift away from static, passive content. Microinteractions cater to design styles that focus on meeting the needs and wants of an intuitive customer journey. Definitely 2022 and beyond approved!
Toggle buttons that help users customize the interface, CTA buttons that acknowledge a customer’s request with immediate feedback, or download buttons that morph into progress bars - they’re all on their way to becoming standard elements in top-notch web design.
Thin Lines and Contours in SVG Animation
Thin lines animation is one of the most versatile design trends of 2022. It can convey a business-sharp tone when used to contour the blueprint of a design, or it can be as whimsical as a hand-drawn sketch in an art journal. Both approaches can be animated to intertwine this trend with self-drawing lines.
You might see thin lines in animation being used primarily with a minimalist approach, but this doesn’t mean they limit creativity in any way. These trending animations are commonly inspired by nature, paired with muted colors, and used to bring to life organic shapes and patterns. We’ll see ultra-thin lines elegantly charm their way into design trend lists well beyond 2022!
No Coding
No-Code is undeniably becoming a standard solution to most digital tech ventures and challenges. When it comes to creating web animations, no-code progressively blurred the line between front-end devs and graphic designers in 2022. That’s not to say that web design and web development aren’t still heavily reliant on code, but there are now workaround tools that allow graphic designers' abilities to overlap those of front-end devs. Nowadays, there are tools that can help you with Figma export to HTML generating code from your design. This is a trend we’re excited to see evolve further, even beyond 2022!
Web animations are now easy to create by graphic designers, even if they have no coding skills. Using an online animator like SVGator, which instantly generates code when you export an SVG file, takes the focus away from coding. You can now put all your creative efforts into designing, being able to create spellbinding interactive animations without having to write a single line of code!
Animated flipbooks
Animated elements are becoming a must even when it comes to online catalogs: interactive features like GIFs, photo-slideshows, audio and video elements, social media buttons and map embeds are a great way to bring your PDF to the next level. Flipsnack is a great flipbook animation software that allows you to create and publish interactive content materials with a realistic 3D page flip effect. Due to its user-friendly interface, drag-and-drop editor, and a wide variety of templates, this software is accessible to all users, whether we're talking about professional designers or enthusiastic beginners.
Conclusion
We’re eager to see how these web animation trends evolve and adapt in the future!
Want to create one of these trending animations yourself without having to write code?
