Creating a good UI is a job that involves you and your entire team. So being able to communicate effectively with them is a must-have skill and animation can help you with that. Animation is a wonderful craft and a profession on its own but it’s not an essential skill for a UI Designer. However, I do believe it is a beneficial skill and today I will share with you some of my own experiences on how animation has helped me to communicate with my team.

User Interface is like a joke, if you have to explain it then it means that is a bad one. Anonymous.

This phrase describes in perfect simplicity what User Interface is. I work in the Videogames Industry and my job as a UI Designer is to create a communication bridge between the game and the player. My goal is to make that bridge as smooth as possible. This means that the player has to be constantly and successfully informed about what is happening on the screen so that he or she can play and enjoy the game.
Creating a good UI is a job that involves you and your entire team. So being able to communicate effectively with them is a must-have skill and animation can help you with that. Animation is a wonderful craft and a profession on its own but it’s not an essential skill for a UI Designer. However, I do believe it is a beneficial skill and today I will share with you some of my own experiences on how animation has helped me to communicate with my team.

The Game Design Team

You will spend most of your time talking to game designers negotiating on how to translate words into images. How to create a visual representation of the gameplay. Game designers are the ones that are responsible for the game itself and they need to have everybody on board with their vision because all the other teams are dependent on them. Animating your designs will not
only help you to explain your solutions to them but it will also help you to create a mood and feel of the game. There is a great opportunity here because you are venturing into concept development and you are helping to answer questions like: How does it feel to grab the controller and play the game? What is the user going to experience? What is the game?
This job is of course bigger than you but you can help by creating a vision for the User Interface. This vision can even be channeled to the entire team in presentations or meetings. Designers will love you for this because it’s always better to show than to tell.

Fig. 1 Carlos Villarreal Kwasek, HUD Test (2012). Need for Speed is property of Electronic Arts.

The Tech Team

Programmers and Technical Artists are your allies, they are the ones that will make things happen for you. The tech team will provide you with the tools that you need to make your vision come to life. Without the tech team your ideas will remain on paper or a video, so it is in your best interest to have a clear communication channel with them. By creating a short animation of your concept you can show them how your designs should behave. They will understand immediately and you will be engaged in a conversation on how to make this happen and how long it will take.

Fig. 2 Carlos Villarreal Kwasek, Dart Scan Proof of Concept (2011). Original UI Concept by XYZee Design. Syndicate is property of Electronic Arts.

When I was working on Syndicate I created a short animation on After Effects in order to explain what I wanted to achieve. The solution for this particular problem was a combination of in-game video playback, animated UI elements and a 3d rig structure that would hold it all together. I did not achieved this solution by myself but rather by the exchange of ideas with the tech team.

The Management Team

Producers are constantly negotiating between the development team and the executives about goals and objectives that will eventually make the game possible. Their job is a tricky one because they have to make promises about this or that being delivered on time while at the same time not being directly in control of the content that is created. They rely on you to do that and it is in your best interest that they trust you. You have to prove that you are actually capable of delivering what you say you will so they can give you the freedom that you need. Now that the tech team has helped you to achieve what you wanted, I suggest you put that in comparison to the animation you did before and show it to the producers. Show them that your idea holds up. Show them that you not only talk the talk but you walk the walk. They will thank you and you will thank them, because now they will provide you with the resources that you need to bring your next big idea to life.

Final Thoughts

I have not mentioned the Art Director, or the Art Team, because for me it is a given that he or she speaks your language. The art language. I’m not saying that the Art Director shouldn’t be involved in your job, on the contrary, you work for the Art Director don’t forget that. But based on my experience, the Art Director is someone that is way ahead of you and knows where you are going before you do and I am assuming that he or she would be involved and informed about your process, with our without animation. It all builds up on top of each other. Helping to visualize an idea for game designers. Helping programmers to create tech. Helping producers to achieve goals. It all helps you in return to become a better artist and animation is a great skill that will help you achieve that.

Learning Animation

There are plenty of places online where you can learn animation by yourself. I choose After Effects as my primary tool for this job and I would recommend visiting VideoCopilot . For inspiration there are equally loads of places where you can get inspired. I would recommend Motionographer as a good starting point.