When it comes to making a great website, UX is everything. Mess up a single thing, and your bounce rate will be sky-high, no matter how much effort you put into making your website design. Plus, it also significantly affects your SEO score.
For example, one of the things that a search engine despises is delayed loading time. What causes a website to load slowly? You guessed it right; filling it up with many jumbo-sized files.
Back in the day, there was only one way to tackle this issue: to sacrifice the image quality in order to make the website load faster. But then again, search engines also don’t like low-quality stuff.
It was a developer’s nightmare in both cases.
Anyways, the good news is, now this isn’t a problem anymore. Thanks to the introduction of JSON animation, you get the best of both worlds. With it, your website remains as fast as you require it to be, with all the decorative aesthetics to keep your audience engaged.
Now what is JSON animation, what is its use in web design, and what are its benefits? This, and much more, we will be discussing in this rather detailed article about the topic.
So without any ado, let’s jump in!
What is JSON animation?
Well, in the most straightforward words, JSON is an abbreviation for JavaScript Object Notation.
Unlike the MP4 and GIF formats that are incredibly bloated and limited by their pixels in terms of image clarity, JSON animation has tiny size and is not affected by pixels. In fact, it doesn’t even use pixels for image formation. Instead, JSON animations are basically made in Adobe After Effects using vectors.
Once the animation is ready, it is exported in JSON files, which takes up extremely low space and provide the same quality at every size, whether large or small.
To give you an idea, let’s give you an example. If the MP4 file is an elephant and the GIF file is a buffalo, then a JSON file is a puppy. Yup, now imagine the size difference between the three. 😉
Do you know the best thing about JSON? It is the most common medium of exchange of information between different clients and servers. Thus, it is compatible with almost every programming language, and you can use JSON animation on any CMS platform.
How is JSON animation made?
The three critical ingredients for making any JSON animation are Adobe After Effects, JSON file format, and the Lottie library.
Given the fact that getting deeper into each step of making an animation will make this piece much longer, let’s try to understand the basics.
So, JSON animation generally involves three steps. The first step is to make a great animation in Adobe After Effects with the help of vectors.
Once the animation is ready, the developer converts it to JSON file format with the help of plugins such as Bodymovin.
When the vector animation is changed to JSON file format, it is sent over to Lottie library, from where it is rendered in real time on all native mobile and desktop apps, and websites as well.
This is one of the reasons why this type of animation is also known as Lottie animation. Just so you know, Lottie supports shape layers, solids, alpha mattes, masks, dash patterns, and trim paths.
Benefits of JSON animation
As mentioned before, creating a great user experience is the soul of any good application and website. And good user experience comes with innovation. Remember that thumb icon on Facebook? Compare it to the recent reaction icons, and you will see the difference. The ‘feel’ is nothing like before!
It’s not just about turning a white thumb blue anymore. It’s about being more interactive, more expressive, and more engaging. Guess what? Current audiences are easily bored. 😉
Moreover, with internet technology and websites getting advanced with every passing day, your website content is not enough to keep users from bouncing off your site. .
There are a myriad of sites that have content as great as your website, or even better. What makes you stand out is how you present your content. And that is not possible without a great UX.
Luckily, using JSON animation in web design helps you with it in many different ways.
Following are some of them:
1. It helps the website load faster
The bigger the website’s size, the slower it is to load. Fill it up with a lot of MP4 and GIF files, and there you have, a website slower than a three toed sloth.
But hey, here’s the good news! Using JSON animations gets you rid of this.
As mentioned, JSON files have a significantly small size. So even if you use multiple JSON files on your website, it will remain lean and clean as ever.
The result? The website loads much faster even on the slowest internet connections. Which means, you can aestheticise your website with all the mumbo jumbos without having to worry about slow loading speed.
2. It is extremely interactive
An animation in JSON format is highly interactive and can be manipulated in many different ways per your website needs. Even after being completely designed, you can reprogram it to run in a loop, speed up, slow down, and practically do anything you can think of.
To put it simply, getting even a little creative with JSON animation will go a long way as far as user engagement and overall experience are concerned. Just make sure the way you use it fits with the overall theme of the specific webpage. Don’t overdo anything. 😉
3. It is extremely adaptable
Name any operating system, device, or content management system; you will find JSON compatible with it. This is one of the reasons it is one of the most common and universally accepted mediums of data transfer on the Internet. Since Lottie renders JSON animations, you can use them on all major CMS platforms that Lotties supports, including WordPress, Shopify, and Webflow.
4. It has the clearest resolution in every size
As mentioned earlier, JSON animations aren’t limited to the restrictions of pixel drop. Instead of using pixels, JSON animation uses vectors. Vectors use mathematical equations to form lines and shapes.
Thus, when the developer wants to adjust the size of the image or animation, he simply readjusts the equation and changes the measurements of the vectors. This way, the image size increases or decreases without any effect on the quality.
In other words, you can use a single JSON animation in a myriad of different ways without compromising on the quality of the image. Magic, isn’t it?
Conclusion
With the importance of UX in SEO increasing with every passing day, more and more companies are shifting their focus to improving their overall web design.
Along with basic functionality, simplicity, and general consistency with the brand, one of their primary aims is to achieve a higher level of engagement through meaningful aesthetics.
And these “aesthetics” come with sophisticated imagery, videos, GIFS, etc., that are too heavy on size, moreover, aren’t much customizable. Using JSON eliminates all the problems through unmatchable compatibility, customizability, and extremely small size.
Consequently, your website remains fast without compromising on all the embellishments that could contribute to an engaging and pleasant user experience. Not to mention its overall positive impact on the SEO aspect. All in all, when we talk about web design, JSON animation is something not less than revolutionary!
In this article, we tried to cover all the tidbits you need to know about JSON animation at the most basic level to give you an initial idea about the concept. We hope this article has been helpful throughout. For more useful articles, keep following our blog. We have a lot coming up!
So long!
Need a JSON animation done?
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Apart from JSON animation, we also specialize in making 2D, 3D, collage, motion graphics, typography, and almost any type of animation a business needs to talk to their target audience. That too, with creativity like never before!
So what are you waiting for? Contact us now and take your marketing to a previously unknown level through the power of animations and imaginations! 😉