Design System/Style Guide Creation
Establishing Animation Guidelines for User-Friendly Interactions
This prompt helps teams create animation guidelines as part of a design system, focusing on consistency, usability, and alignment with the product’s tone. It ensures animations enhance the user experience without overwhelming or distracting users.
Responsible:
Product Design
Accountable, Informed or Consulted:
Design, Product, Engineering
THE PREP
Creating effective prompts involves tailoring them with detailed, relevant information and uploading documents that provide the best context. Prompts act as a framework to guide the response, but specificity and customization ensure the most accurate and helpful results. Use these prep tips to get the most out of this prompt:
Define key use cases where animations will be applied, such as onboarding or notifications.
Review existing animations, if any, to identify inconsistencies or improvement areas.
Gather branding guidelines to align animations with the product’s tone and style.
THE PROMPT
Help establish animation guidelines for [specific product or platform]. Focus on:
Consistency: Defining reusable motion patterns for transitions, hover states, and interactive elements.
Purposefulness: Ensuring animations enhance usability, such as drawing attention to key actions or providing feedback.
Duration and Timing: Setting standards for animation speeds and easing curves that feel natural and unobtrusive.
Accessibility: Designing animations that consider motion sensitivity, with options to reduce or disable effects.
Brand Alignment: Aligning motion styles with the brand’s personality (e.g., playful, professional, minimalist).
Provide specific recommendations for creating and documenting animation guidelines, including tools (e.g., After Effects, Lottie) or frameworks (e.g., Framer Motion, CSS transitions). If additional details about the brand identity or user base are needed, ask clarifying questions to refine the suggestions.
Bonus Add-On Prompts
Propose animation patterns for microinteractions, such as button clicks or form submissions.
Suggest methods to test and optimize animations for accessibility and performance.
Highlight ways to ensure animations enhance rather than distract from key user tasks.
Use AI responsibly by verifying its outputs, as it may occasionally generate inaccurate or incomplete information. Treat AI as a tool to support your decision-making, ensuring human oversight and professional judgment for critical or sensitive use cases.
SUGGESTIONS TO IMPROVE
Focus on specific types of animations, such as loading spinners or page transitions.
Include recommendations for optimizing animations for low-performance devices.
Propose strategies for integrating animations into existing design systems or component libraries.
Highlight considerations for culturally sensitive motion styles, avoiding overly complex or rapid movements.
Add testing tools and methods to validate animation usability and performance.
WHEN TO USE
During the creation of a design system or style guide.
To standardize animations across a product or suite of products.
When introducing motion elements to enhance user experience.
WHEN NOT TO USE
If animations are not part of the product’s design or functionality.
When focusing solely on static UI elements or layouts.