A Guide to Converting Animation Design From a Concept to Reality 

Table of Contents

● What is Conceptual Animation Design?

● The Importance of Conceptual Animation in UI Design

● 5 Examples of UI Animation Concepts

● UI Animation Concepts in Realistic Interfaces

Without a meaningful concept, there is no reality. There is an ulterior need for blueprints in the fields of design and animation, which could make the two work in unison.

Conceptual animation design makes it possible for animators, developers, and graphic designers to create from scratch and appreciate concept artists for starting from scratch. Read on to understand how these blueprints of design and animation are used in animation design.

What is Conceptual Animation Design?

Anything that moves on the screen is animation. The correct definition of animation is when a series of images in different sequences create an illusion of a moving image. On the other hand, conceptual refers to things based on ideas or principles.

Animation lies in ideas and principles. When these ideas come into play, it is called conceptual animation. Conceptual animation shows you how something moves on the screen. It takes you from the first step to the last. It tells you how an idea gets formed from scratch. A kind of animation that starts from ABC and takes you to Z.

Conceptual animation design is a form of concept art. Concept art is visual art

showcasing a beneficial idea in movies, video games, animation, comic books, or other multimedia before putting it into a final product. It shows you the stages of development of a final output.

Check this image for clear clarification. Please zoom in to read it.

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Several steps back movement on the screen. These steps make the character on the screen move. Conceptual animation design defines those steps. It tells you how it will utilize all its powers, movements, props, features, and motions.

Conceptual animation design also helps newbies in the field of UI animation. It guides them through the channels of design through labeling, categorizing, picturing, sketching, naming, and sequencing.

In short, it is the bridge between reality and the final product. It consists of user experience design, UI animation, UI concepts, and animation design. It is the roadmap for animators seeking to design animation with UI concepts.

The Importance of Conceptual Animation in UI Design

Animation design is a complex endeavor for any animator. Many animators spend days, weeks, or months together turning concepts into reality. They look for UI concepts to help them go about in the animation world.

In such instances, conceptual animation becomes substantial. It seems unnecessary, medieval, unreal, needless, or impossible. But it stands apart from ready-made solutions and well-checked approaches. It goes beyond the set rules, limitations, and boundaries.

Most animations look like clones, but conceptual animation consists of static design and UI animation. It gives animators several options before trying out various other solutions to reach the final product.

It is the conceptual animation that makes or breaks a design animation. UI animation can be a success only if the concept can turn into reality.

Conceptual animation draws a balance between animation and concept art. Therefore, the application of concept art is a solution to producing brilliant UI animation and user experience design.

5 Examples of UI Animation Concepts From Reality

1. Standard: Open side menu

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A conceptual animation design adds life to basic operations like an opening side menu. The animation designer used a gradual flow of featuring or listing the objects. This way, it looks elegant and understandable to the human eye.

2. Standard: Scroll through a list

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Scrolling through a list of items is yet another example of conceptual animation. Why? Because the first list moves first. The second list imitates the first one with a slight holdback

The holdback gives it a realistic feel. It creates a visual illusion of more space between the list items.

It gives the illusion of more air in the interface design.

3. Standard: Change from list to item.

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From a list of items, conceptual animation offers you detailed information about the items. Two transitions happen simultaneously.

Left transition is the standard way of going from a menu to a particular item. Right transition is the dynamic way of opening a detailed one from a list of them.

4. Watering tracker application

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A live tracker gives the user an authentic experience of watering plants. There are two screens with interactions.

The first screen reminds the user when to water the plants.

The second screen tracks the watering status of plants. The UI design is informative, stylish, color-coordinated, and interactive.

5. Homey application

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The UI animation of the Homey application lets users apply the functionality of smart homes in their houses. The featured screen makes any user choose the room where they need to change settings.

The user can choose any option from temperature, humidity, and energy consumption. The animation is agile, interactive, and colorful. The dark background is good for the eyes.

UI Animation Concepts in Realistic Interfaces

Creation and research behind the innovative start of a concept make UI animation stand apart in any field, be it creative or industrial.

Looking at how the automotive industry, architecture, and film industry developed over the years from their ancient history, it has turned into a beautiful, believable, and upgrading field.

This is all thanks to the creative minds behind it. But no matter how much a creative concept artist pours his sweat and blood on UI concepts, the user experience makes or breaks it. We ought to know, ultimately, that user experience is what matters.

UI animation concepts get two opposite responses:

● Purely based on fantasy. It has nothing to do with real life.

● Why not? Why can’t it happen to me?

Conceptual animation comes under the user interface design. It is a creative stage of the same. Before we look at the examples, let’s talk about the difference between a motion graphic designer and an animator.

A motion graphic designer adds movement to a picture, while an animator creates the whole moving story.

A motion graphic designer turns a static image into a mobile one. An animator creates a complete narrative of motion.

A motion graphic designer may offer different choices to discuss with clients and developers.

Some of the best UI animation concepts in realistic interfaces are as follows:

1. A finance budget application

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The colors and the animation used in this application make it more methodical and understandable. The pie chart is identifiable according to the person.

When you click on a portion of the pie, it switches into a bar graph. The bar graph has the carbon-copy colors as the pie chart. It provides information delving into each person’s expenses.

2. Dribble application

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Dribble is a popular creative application. It shows various creations with a liquid pull-down animation.

The UI design is intriguing, vivid, and realistic. The liquid pull-down animation is for refreshing the page of various creations.

3. Cryptocurrency transaction confirmation

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It shows the process of payment confirmation. The user is waiting, and the process bar gets filled. The animated circles create the feeling of an active process while the payment gets processed. Interactive designs like this give users a brilliant experience. It answers the question of the best examples of UI animation concepts for realistic interfaces.

In the End

Animation design is the solution to many problems in user interface design. Well-crafted motion components make navigation easy and interaction user-friendly.

Most animators are full of creative concepts, and they do not deserve connotation. Their unreal ideas can gladly come into action by developers, motion designers, graphic designers, or UI animators.

Key Takeaways

● Conceptual animation design gives developers, animators, and UI interface designers ideas and creates an interactive session with the users.

● Conceptual animation design is the blueprint for creating spectacular and mesmerizing cartoon characters, animated movies, visual stories, interactive applications, user-friendly graphic designs, and catchy motion graphics.

● The animator must express his emotions through his creation. But conceptual animation could bolster him to create better, understand more, and appreciate his artwork.

● Conceptual animation is another way to show developers and animators what could be, what could have, what should have, and what can be.

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