What's Important in Web Animation Production is an Unbreakable Spirit and a Spirit of Inquiry
2023.11.27
Hello. I'm Nagat, a frontend engineer.
I love creating animations for websites.
I'm often in charge of creating interactive elements within the company.
Speaking of which, animations on websites and smartphone apps are a part of our daily lives, aren't they?
Whether it's an opening sequence upon startup, something that reacts to user actions like scrolling, or a color change when hovering over a button...
As an effect to enhance usability, to catch the eye of visitors, to buy time while loading large data...
I feel that the purpose and types of animations have diversified in recent years.
Incorporating animation throughout the entire site
＞Namix Inc. (https://namix.co.jp/)
Is the web animation scene always a struggle!?
The members in charge of frontend at our company are responsible for creating such animations.
Even though it's just called "animation," there are various production methods and data formats. Frontend members check domestic and international trends day and night, listen to the demands of designers and directors, and propose what they believe to be the best approach.
It's not uncommon to spend days, and sometimes overcome overtime, to finish even a few seconds of animation.
The movement of a car parking in a parking lot is a nice touch.
＞Area Parking Co., Ltd. (https://www.area-parking.com/)
Also, nowadays, more people are checking websites on their smartphones.
Recent smartphone processing power is very high compared to older models.
Even so, it's still hard to say it's high compared to a computer.
And we can't always assume they are using high-speed communication like 5G or Wi-Fi.
Even with such smartphones, we analyze the environment common to the target audience of the content, such as ensuring that animations do not stutter or stop midway, and that the content of the animation can be understood even on small screens, and create them with that in consideration.
The joy of completing a web animation is short-lived.
And when a new animation with an unprecedented atmosphere is completed by trying out new technology for the first time, even if it's late at night, I indulge in self-praise, thinking, "Something good has been made...".
However, as written at the beginning, for customers and users accustomed to animations in smartphone games and applications, the fact that something is moving there is nothing special, and the reality is that we often do not receive the high praise we expected.
If anything, the part that I spent the most time on, thinking "I've done a good job here~," might be scrapped with a director's single word, "It's too long, let's cut this part," and it's common to feel like you've been pushed off a cliff.
What's important for creators is an unbreakable spirit and a spirit of inquiry.
When you're pushed off a cliff every day, you get better at climbing the cliff.
I'm so used to it that I'm at the level where I mistakenly think I'm rolling down the cliff myself to climb it.
For websites and applications, "animation" is not an essential element, but it can be for a little ease of use, to keep users from getting bored, or sometimes to express the overall atmosphere of the content in the first view of the top page.
It's like a secret ingredient... I think animation is one of the spices that elevates the taste of the content by one level?
Therefore, I believe that the chef's (director's) judgment is also important so that it doesn't become too coarse.
With powerful display methods for text, etc., and focusing on the movement of stars in the universe
＞Toyo Gosei Kogyo Co., Ltd. (https://www.toyogosei.co.jp/)
And once an animation is released, the days of researching how other companies' animations are made begin again, thinking, "How did they make this?"