Elevate User Experience with Engaging Hover Effects
UX Design Savvy teaches you how to elevate user experience (UX) with engaging hover effects using Figma.
As UX designers, we aim to create engaging experiences that captivate users and encourage them to explore further. When creating designs for a product or interface, adding interactivity effects can aid in bringing designs to life and making them feel more like a live product. These effects can inform users about functionality, lead them to their goals, and add a sense of liveliness to the interface. Hover effects are one way to achieve this and make designs more dynamic. Therefore, mastering the creation of hover effects is a skill worth honing.
The Importance of Prototyping Effects
Prototyping is essential to the design process, allowing designers to demonstrate and test how users interact with a product. The use of prototypes helps designers effectively communicate their vision to stakeholders and conduct usability tests with users to obtain valuable feedback that can be used to iterate and improve designs. Interactions, such as hover effects, enhance the effectiveness of this process and lead to obtaining relevant insights before the development stage begins.
Consider UX Design Principles
When applying the hover effect, UX principles to consider are:
Responsiveness: Hover is a natural interaction for desktops, but it doesn’t work on mobile or other touch interfaces. Therefore, it is essential to research and provide alternative ways for users to discover information on these platforms.
Guidance: Focus on hover effects that guide users to their goals and provide them with pertinent information.
Relevancy: Fancy hover effects are useless and can even be distracting if they aren’t used appropriately. Thoughtful design means contemplating which interactions are meaningful to users.
Testing: If you aren’t sure if hover effects should be used, test them on users. Do an A / B test or simply ask five users to provide feedback and find out!
Consistency: Consider brand voice and create a cohesive experience throughout your product or interface so a random hover effect doesn’t feel jarring to users.
Avoid Overwhelming Users: If there are too many hover interactions, it can distract, take away from the experience, and feel overwhelming to users. Be thoughtful in your designs and test them if you’re not sure.
Crafting Dynamic Hover Effects in Figma
So, how do you craft hover effects, and when should these effects be applied?
Creating captivating hover effects is as easy as five simple steps. Apply them to instances where you want to relay something to the user or make an interaction feel dynamic.
Figma’s prototyping options make it easy to customize the hover effect experience
Set the Stage: Select an element, such as a button or a card, and consider what you want the effect to convey.
Duplicate the Element: Duplicate the selected element to apply the hover effect.
Create the Hover State: With the duplicated element selected, modify its properties to reflect the desired hover effect. This can include changes to color, size, opacity, or any other visual attribute that enhances interactivity and visual interest.
Animate the Transition: Using Figma's built-in prototyping tools, animate the transition between the original and hover state by choosing the trigger: While hovering -> Change to. Experiment with easing functions to give your hover effect a natural and polished feel.
Fine-tune and Iterate: Preview your hover effect to assess its impact and make necessary adjustments. Pay close attention to timing, responsiveness, and overall coherence with the rest of the design. Iterate until you achieve the desired effect.
See a how-to video on this topic on the UX Design Savvy YouTube channel.
conclusion
Prototyping hover effects empower designers to inject life into static designs, fostering a more immersive and engaging user experience. By following these steps and experimenting with different animations, designers can fine-tune their hover effects and create interfaces that captivate and delight users, inform stakeholders, and gain insights and feedback to iterate and improve upon.
Mastering the art of creating hover effects requires practice, exploration, and a deep understanding of the principles that underpin engaging interactions. As UX designers, let us craft remarkable experiences that users will delight in.
Now you know! It is your turn to give hover effects a try. Get savvy!