1. Why Use Motion & Animation?
Motion and animation are used to encode information,
direct attention, explain transitions, and increase engagement.
- Encode data visually
- Direct viewer attention
- Understand system dynamics
- Understand state transitions
- Increase audience engagement
🧠Animation = Attention + Transition + Engagement
2. Motion Perception
Motion perception refers to how humans detect and interpret movement.
Humans can typically track only about
4–6 moving objects simultaneously.
Exam Keyword:
Multiple Object Tracking
3. Principle of Common Fate
Objects moving in the same direction and speed
are perceived as belonging to the same group.
A collection of dots moving together is naturally
interpreted as one object or cluster.
🧠Same Motion → Same Group
4. Biological Motion
Humans can recognize motion patterns even from a few moving points.
Johansson (1973) attached lights to human joints.
Observers immediately recognized a walking person
despite seeing only moving dots.
Motion alone can communicate structure and identity.
5. Motion Shows Transitions
Animation helps viewers understand how one state changes into another.
- Shows progression
- Preserves object identity
- Improves change tracking
Potential Issues:
Too fast → confusion
Too slow → boredom
Too many moving objects → overload
6. Constructing Narratives
Humans naturally create stories from moving objects.
In the Heider-Simmel experiment (1944),
participants watched moving shapes.
Most viewers interpreted them as characters
with intentions and emotions.
Motion can imply goals, relationships and storytelling.
7. Perception of Causality
Certain motion patterns create the impression that
one object causes another object to move.
| Effect |
Description |
| Launching Effect |
One object appears to hit another object |
| Entraining Effect |
One object appears to carry another object |
8. What is Animation?
Animation is the act of bringing visual elements to life through movement.
| Characteristic |
Benefit |
| Attention |
Draws viewer focus |
| Object Constancy |
Preserves identity during changes |
| Causality |
Suggests relationships |
| Engagement |
Makes visualization more interesting |
9. Principles of Animation
Tversky (2002) proposed two key principles for effective animation.
| Principle |
Meaning |
| Congruence |
Animation should match the intended message |
| Apprehension |
Animation should be easy to perceive and understand |
🧠Congruence = Correct Meaning
Apprehension = Easy Understanding
10. Three Uses of Animation
| Use |
Purpose |
| Animation as Narrative |
Tells a story |
| Animation as Encoding |
Represents data values |
| Animation as Transition |
Shows changes between states |
Exam Favorite:
Narrative, Encoding, Transition
11. Taxonomy of Transitions
Different types of animated transitions help users understand changes.
- Transformation of View
- Change of Representation
- Transformation of Surface
- Timestep
- Change of Data Structure
- Reordering
- Filtering
12. 10 Principles of Animated Transitions
Congruence Principles
- Respect semantic correspondence
- Avoid ambiguity
- Maintain valid graphics during transition
- Maintain valid mappings across graphics
Apprehension Principles
- Group similar transitions
- Minimize occlusion
- Maximize predictability
- Use simple transitions
- Stage complex transitions
- Make transitions as long as needed, but not longer
13. Animation in Statistical Charts
IBM Design recommends animations should be:
- Understandable
- Essential
- Impactful
- Consistent
- Contextual
🧠UEICC
Understandable → Essential → Impactful → Consistent → Contextual
14. Does Animation Help?
| Benefits |
Risks |
| Direct attention |
Can distract viewers |
| Track changes |
May imply false relationships |
| Show cause and effect |
May imply false causality |
| Increase engagement |
May become chart junk |
| Preserve object constancy |
Too fast or too slow hurts understanding |
Key Exam Idea:
Animation is useful only when it improves understanding.
Decorative animation becomes chart junk.
15. Final Exam Summary
Most Important Points
-
Motion:
Directs attention and explains change.
-
Common Fate:
Objects moving together are grouped together.
-
Animation Principles:
Congruence and Apprehension.
-
Three Uses:
Narrative, Encoding, Transition.
-
Transition Types:
View, Representation, Surface, Time, Structure, Reordering, Filtering.
-
10 Principles:
Ensure animations remain understandable.
-
Animation Tradeoff:
Can improve understanding or become chart junk.