How To Deploy Motion To Enhance User Experience
When implemented thoughtfully, motion can help enrich user experience. Here is what designers must know while deploying motion to enhance the user experience.
The myths to rule out
Before stepping into exploring the ways to deploy motion to enhance the UX, we must first rule out the myths regarding how motion is generally perceived in relation to User Interface.
Most designers view motion as nothing more than ‘UI animation’. More than providing a delightful experience to the users, UI animation has several other goals to achieve.
Guidelines for deploying motion to enhance UX
The outcome must satisfy the user expectation meaning the behavior of the object must suit what they really expect.
The user must experience a sense of continuity to land on a total experience.
The user experience must be temporal or spatial framework providing a kind of narration. In other words, the whole UX must be connected throughout and not disjoint.
The outcome must have a temporal, spatial and hierarchical characteristic in order to guide the user towards better understanding and better decision making.
Principles to guide UX in motion
Align the object behavior with the user expectation whenever temporal events happen.
Go by relationships and hierarchies while introducing new elements and scenes.
Establish spatial and hierarchical relationships in environments where the user has to interact with multiple objects.
Ensure that the continuous state of narrative flow is maintained when there is a change in object utility.
Bring in a dynamic and continuous narrative relationship when the value subject changes.
Make sure there is a sense of continuity in the interface objects group when the utility has to be decided by which object of the group is concealed or revealed.
When the layered objects are dependent on location, bring in a narrative element and spatial relationship.
Make sure there is narrative, continuity, and relationship when new objects originate and leave the scene.
The user must be able to feel a spatial orientation with regard to objects or scenes that are not in the primary visual hierarchy.
Introduce the elements of spatial hierarchy in the UI when the user scrolls
Achieve a spatial narrative framework when the new objects originate and depart.
There must be some element of continuity and spatial narrative when the user navigates spaces and interface objects.