The animation industry has seen a remarkable evolution over the years. Today, we see cutting-edge computer and digital technologies transforming the early days of hand-drawn cells and stop-motion techniques. This transformation has expanded the possibilities for animation creation and made it more accessible to a wider audience across various platforms.

At LottieFiles, we've enthusiastically joined the motion revolution, aiming to make animation accessible to everyone and bring motion to every digital screen. But how does it all work? How do the lively animations you witness on your digital screens truly come to life?

This article will take you through the motion process and show you how it all comes together.

The full steps towards creating and implementing animation

In the animation design process, the journey begins with brainstorming, where your team generates ideas, unleashes their creativity and defines the animation's purpose and target audience. Storyboarding provides a visual roadmap, breaking down your vision into frames. The design phase shapes your project's unique visual identity through collaboration between illustrators and motion designers. If needed, an animatic offers a glimpse of pacing and transitions, including voice and music.

The initial steps prepare the groundwork before diving into the real fun—animation production—where you bring life to your story. Feedback and approval play a pivotal role in ensuring a smooth workflow through collaboration.

Now, with your freshly created animation, you can easily incorporate it into your design projects. Whether it's for social media posts, websites, presentations, or more, it adds that extra flair.

To sum up, the animation process includes:

Step 1: Creation

In the realm of animation, the creative process, as mentioned is where the magic begins. There are many creation tools out there, and as a designer, you probably already have go-to tools and workflows that bring your creative visions to life. Here are some out of the many around there:

LottieFiles’ Lottie Creator

Lottie Creator, currently in beta testing, is a web-based creation tool designed for both motion and non-motion designers. It enables the easy creation of high-quality, lightweight, and powerful motion graphics. This keyframing and animation tool feature a minimalist interface, making it straightforward to animate your SVGs and more into Lottie animations.

If you’re feeling a bit hesitant about trying out animation, rest assured, there’s no need to worry. Lottie Creator offers access to a vast library of over 7 million animations, illustrations, and icons. You can easily customize these assets using our wide range of presets. Once you're finished with your project, exporting it is a breeze, you can choose from a variety of popular formats such as Lottie, dotLottie, GIF, MP4, MOV, WebM, and more.

Adobe After Effects

Even if Adobe After Effects (AE) is not a name you're familiar with, there's a very strong chance you have seen animations or motion design that was made with it. Adobe AE is one of the earliest pioneers in the industry. It is a creative 2.5D animation program software renowned for its capability and expertise in animation, visual effects, and motion picture compositing.

But wait, there's more! Let's talk about the magic that happens when you combine After Effects with the LottieFiles plugin. With LottieFiles for Adobe After Effects, you can preview your animations in real-time on the web or mobile while you edit. Plus, with the Lottie Feature Check, you can check and ensure your animation is compatible across players such as the web, Android and iOS.

Figma

Figma is one of the leading design tools for UI design and prototyping. Today, with the help of  LottieFiles for Figma people can also create animation within Figma. The most recent addition to the plugin, Figma to Lottie allows users to create production-ready Lottie animations directly within Figma. These animations serve as transformative elements, upgrading prototypes and turning them into dynamic and engaging assets for any digital product.

These animations can be seamlessly added into your LottieFiles workspace to be used in other platforms too. It's all about creating engaging animations effortlessly and efficiently.

Step 2: Collaboration

Traditionally, collaborating on motion design within a team can be challenging. Often, no centralized space is available to manage files or enable seamless feedback exchanges. That's precisely where LottieFiles makes life easier for designers and developers.

Within LottieFiles platform, you'll discover the perfect combo of collaboration features designed to streamline teamwork:

  • Team or company workspace— Enjoy dedicated workspaces specifically designed for your teams, complete with admin controls, team member accesses, and customizable permission settings tailored for each project and role.
  • Personal workspace— Keep your creative endeavors private until they're ready to be shared with others by utilizing your personal workspace.
  • Version history— Track all changes made by team members and restore previous versions at any time to maintain control over your projects.
  • Animation status—Assign and monitor project statuses like “approved”, “needs review,” or “in progress” to ensure everyone on the team stays informed.
  • Commenting— Simplify collaboration further by offering feedback on animations, fostering a productive exchange of ideas. For quick edits, the Lottie Editor is always at your disposal.

Step 3: Implementation

The final step is equally crucial—implementation. This is where you get to infuse your design with captivating motion. Here are some places to consider and the tools to help you do it:

  • Websites: Craft visually stunning websites using Webflow, Framer and Canva.
  • Mobile apps: Enhance your Android and iOS apps with interactive elements.
  • Presentations: Capture your audience's attention with animated Google Slides or presentations.
  • Social media/ads: Create engaging posts using the LottieFiles mobile app.
  • Blogs: Elevate your content by including animation in your WordPress.
  • And more

But that's just the tip of the iceberg. There are many more tools available, including the LottieFiles plugin and integration, which grants you easy access to the world's largest Lottie animation library and other useful features.

The latest addition, LottieFiles for Canva, is a noteworthy development that makes accessing animation easier than ever before. Whether you're a seasoned designer or just starting your creative journey, LottieFiles for Canva simplifies the process of adding animation to various aspects of your creative projects.

As mentioned earlier, it not only allows you to incorporate animation in websites and presentations, but also with videos, social media, whiteboards, and other visuals too. This versatility empowers you to bring your designs to life across a wide range of mediums, making your content more engaging and dynamic.

The importance of each step or each part of the ecosystem

Every single part of this three-step ecosystem is as important as the others. Consider this: without the creation step, not only would the free animations contributed by the community be non-existent, but the opportunity to create your unique and custom creations would also be unattainable.

Without collaboration, working effectively with your team and other stakeholders would be challenging, missing out on valuable feedback. Lastly, without implementation, you wouldn't be able to share your message and vision with your eager audience, waiting to hear and see what you have to say.

That's why each platform plays a unique role in getting your message across to its final destination. From creation to collaboration and, ultimately to implementation, it's a well-rounded journey that ensures your animations shine and leave a lasting impact.