Micro-Interactions
Hi!IamAyush.IamwritingthisveryfirstblogofmineonMicroInteractions.Ihopeyou'llgettolearnathingortwo.Thisblogisfocusedonbeginner,howeveryoucananywaysreadit.
"Microinteractionsarethesmall,purposefulmomentsindigitalproductsthatguide,reassure,andengageusers.They'rethelittledetailsthathelpyoufeelincontrol,makethingsclearer,andturnactionsintofeedback—likeabuttonlightingupwhenclickedoraprogressbargrowingasataskcompletes."—DanSaffer.
StartingwiththisbeautifulquotebyDanSaffer,ifyoureadthisquotecarefullyyou'llunderstandexactlywhatmicro-interactionsare….
Whymicro-interactionsmatter?
Tomakethedigitalspacelookgoodfeelgood!Right?Actuallyit'sanincompleteanswer.
Micro-interactionsarenotjustmadetomakethingslookmoregoodandinteractive.Theyaremadetograbtheuser'sattentionandmakethemfeeltheyareincompletecontrolofwhateverthetasktheyaredoing.Examplewhenyoucompleteapaymentagreentickappearsthatassuresyouthepaymentisactuallybeensuccessfulandbeforethetickyouseealoadinganimationwhichmakeyoufeelthatactuallysomeprocessishappeningbehindthesceneinthebackend,itfeelslikethebankisactuallytransferringthemoney.Right?That'swhatyoufeel!Thoseareknownasmicro-interactions.
To summarize this Micro-interactions are not just design they are:
SignalSystemstatus(meaningyouknowsomethingishappening).
GiveFeedback(Youknowifyouractionissucceededorfailed).
Helpusersfeeltheyareincontrol.
Maketheexperiencememorable.
TheAnatomyofmicro-interactions.
Now I want you to focus on this part very well.
Micro-interactionshavefoursimpleparts.Wheneveryouaddonethinkaboutthese:
Trigger - What starts it? (click, hover, timer, swipe, gesture).
Rules - What happens and when? (conditional logics).
Feedback - How does the system respond (Visual, haptic, audio).
Loops & Modes - (Does it repeat or change over time?).
Keepthismodelinmindithelpsyoudesignpurposeful,notrandom,motion.
Howtocreatethemonweb.
Nowhowdoyoucreatethesekindofanimations.
Youcancreatetheseanimationsonwebwithcssandjavascript.Nowadaysmotion.devisoneofthemostpopularanimationlibraryoutthereforreactorreactbasedframework(itevenworkswithplainhtml,cssandjs).Thedifferencebetweenalltheseare,
CSSanimationsusedeclarativestyles(@keyframes,transition)tohandlevisualchangeslikefades,slides,andsimpletransforms.Theyareidealforlightweight,performance-friendlyeffectstiedtostatechanges—suchashovering,focusing,ortransitioningsimpleUIelements.Overthetimeitbecomeshardtomanagelargenumberofanimationsusingjustcss.Someofthecommonexamplesarehoveringalinkunderlinesit.Hoveringabuttonchangesthebutton'scoloretc.
Nowmovingtojavascriptbasedanimations,thesearethekindofanimationswhereyouhaveprogrammaticcontroloveranimationsequences.Insimpletermsifyouhaveachainofanimationsandyouwanttoperformcertainanimationoneatatimethat'scalledanimationsequence.Theseareusefulifyouwanttotrigger,update,andchaincomplexeffects,respondtouserinput,andusephysicsorhighlyinteractivemotionlogic.That'swhereCSSfallsbehindandjavascriptcomesintothepicture.Butwritingdirectjavascriptcodeisjusttootiringandredundanttasksotakehelpwithotherpeople'scodebyusinglibraryintooutprojects.
Therearepopularjavascriptbasedanimationframeworksoutthere,mypersonalfavoritesare(motion.dev,GSAPandanime.js).
Youcanuseanyoftheaboveanimationmethodsbecauseintheenditallcomestowhatitlooks,feelsandexperiencethatitgivestotheuser.Rememberalwaysmicro-interactionsareusedinordertoseekfeedbackfromusersnottojustmakethingslookfancy.Fancinessshouldcomewithitlikeafreepackage.
I'llpresentsomeofthebeautifulexampleswhichsomeofthebesttechcompaniesuses.Themicro-interactionstheyusearealwaystoenhancetheUX.
Youcanvisittheapple'sofficialwebsiteandifyouclickonanyproductslet'ssayiPhoneyou'llstartnoticingtonsofinteractionsandanimations,whichdoesn'tfeeloverdoneandmakeuswanttobuythatproduct.
Always keep your design such that it should sell. Design is looses it's shine when everyone likes it no one wants to invest their money in it.
Anotherpopularexample,youmighthaveusedAirbnb,justscrolltheirlandingpageandyou'llnoticehowsmoothlytheirnavbarshrinks,ifyouhoveroveranyiconoftheirstheiconitselfanimatesthatisthepowerofmicro-interaction.
Theyaresosubtlethatitmakesyourappsfeelreallygoodatthesametimeitisnamedmicrobecausemanyofthetimesuserswillnotevennoticethey'lljustsaysomethinginthiswebsiteisreallynice.
Mostpopulartoolnowadaysforcreatingmicro-interactionsonthewebismotion.dev.YoucanuseittooitisveryeasytolearnascomparedtoGSAPoranime.js.
Somemoderntechnologieshavebeendevelopedtomakethesekindofinteractionseasiertomakefordeveloperslike(Rive,Jitter,lottiefiles,etc).Thesetoolssavesalotoftime.Youcanjustcreateinteractionsandanimationsoutoftheboxwithoutwritingasinglelineofcode.Thesearegreatbecauseultimatelytheirdeveloperexperienceisgoodandtheyareeasytointegrateaswell.
Micro-Interactionsplaysamajorroleinconvertingavisitortoyourdailyuser.Itmultipliestheuserexperience,webdesignissimplyincompletewithoutinteractions.Bothneedeachothertomakeyourweblookaestheticandpleasingtoeyes.
Youjustdon'thavetooverdoitasIsaidearlier.
Knowing when to add an animation, how, and why, can drastically change how your product is perceived and felt.
Thankyouforreadingthisblog.Ihopethisblogwillhelpyoukickstartyourjourneytowardsmasteringmicro-interactions.
WellifyouareinterestedinUI/UX,WebAnimationsandDesignEngineering.Youcanfollowmeformore.IntheupcomingblogsI'llbedivingdeepintoUserInterfaces.