What are micro-interactions?
Remember the last time when you shut down an app and a sad smiley popped up?
Did you like the brief interaction that conveyed a message?
These interactions that you encounter in your everyday life are known as micro-interactions. Micro-interactions are those small bits that have only a single function to do – convey a definitive message to the user. The instances of quoting micro-interactions are numerous and they are so trivial that you use them in your daily life and barely notice.
For example, you hit like on a photo, that is a micro-interaction. You set an alarm that is another micro-interaction. These features or the moments that are based on simple tasks are the micro-interactions. The usability that micro-interactions cater to have made them so popular and widely used that now you can find them in any device.
It is prevalent like wildfire everywhere. Also, micro-interaction is used to turn a feature on or off. The valor of micro-interaction is widespread and it is quite essential for UX/UI designers to capture these details properly.
Top 7 micro-interactions for your design project
You may think that the use of micro-interactions is not going to make any impact but the truth is, they make a huge impact on your app or your project. They function like the mitochondria of your project. They are tiny but they are the powerhouses of your design.
1. Swipe left or right:
The world has become fast-paced and everyone is now looking for shortcuts to save time. We are way past those times where we have to click either the back / next button to view content.
Swipe is a great and smooth interaction to help users navigate easily. The Swipe micro-interaction is also useful to reduce the tapping on the screen. It is a great gesture to open something or see something on the smartphone. This doesn’t need any specific knowledge to use. It is intuitive and perfectly guides the user. This feature can actually make your project stand out. Although it is a small detail, it is quite powerful to drag users to your work.
How to incorporate it? You can use the swipe action to either swipe left or right. Also, you can use that small feature to archive a message or delete it. You can also use the swipe action for clearing the notifications.
2. Pull Screen to Refresh
This is the most used micro-interaction by many people out there. Whenever they use any social media app and they wish to see the new feeds as they go. The basic instinct is to pull the screen down. You might have missed observing this, but this a major micro-interaction that has changed users lives. We have gotten so used to this action that for each and every app or website that loads slow or needs refreshment, we perform this gesture subconsciously.
3. Data Input
Data input is helping users with suggestions to ease out the process of filling up forms online.
For example, whenever a user is required to sign up on a new website to use its resources, an interactive session is there to help the user complete the whole sign up procedure in one go.
This is a very useful micro-interaction, given the time consumed and character specification required to create a suitable password these days.
4. Call to Action:
Call to actions makes it a hundred times easier to interact with a user. This micro-interaction can help the user to interact with the website or the app. Call-to-actions also help in generating prospective clientele to a major extent.
Most websites today use call to action buttons to persuade users to drop in an inquiry and generate user engagement.
5. Animations and Animated buttons:
Imagine a world without animation, boring isn’t it? It is unanimously agreed that animation makes lives much better!
Animation makes everything interesting, and though it isn’t noticed much, it does improve the overall appearance of the website or the app. However, animation can act as a double-edged sword. It can either engage the users or distract them which is why it is recommended to be vigilant about its use.
6. System status
If you want to convey a little failure message to the user or some other user prompt, then you can use system status micro-interaction. With this it is easier to communicate the status to the user and will understand the underlying issue in one go.
7. Live tutorials:
Bingo! there comes your new app user. How would you make him learn the basics of your app and its usage? Maybe a quick tutorial?
Rather than going for a static tutorial go for a live tutorial that familiarizes the user in a step-by-step manner. Make the best use of micro-interaction by creating great live tutorials that engage users and help them learn about the app quickly.
Conclusion
Thus the main purpose of these micro-interactions is to make the user experience better with every single chance. Although they may be small, they breathe interesting elements into your design.
These micro-interactions make you attend to every tiny detail and thus, create some stunning websites and apps. Apps like SnapChat use micro-interactions to show that users are present in the same chat window. And when you type something, then your Bitmoji appears to be in a little thought cloud or bubble.
Micro-interactions make your brand more interesting. Also, they provide useful visual feedback like the current system status. Micro-interactions help in warning users about the incorrect input. They can completely transform your product and help you score your targeted user engagement.
Stay tuned to the GoodWorks Design Blog, for more intriguing updates on how to use micro-interactions.