Choosing the best animation prototyping tool for product design
I give myself acute eye strain trying out prototyping tools so you don’t have to
In terms of design tools the industry is fairly standardized to the 3 main players: Sketch, Figma, and Adobe XD.
However one just has to browse a few UX Designer job description software requirements to learn about the plethora of different prototyping tools out there. Framer? Proto.io? Balsamiq? Vinaigrette?
What’s a product designer (with a limited budget) to do?
In this series, I will break down all the industry standard tools and give a non number rating based on price, integration with design tools, and of course ease of use.
Overly complex interfaces cause me to lean in and stare at the screen, not blinking for long periods of time, so I will also rate each tool based on the level of acute Eye Strain I experienced.
For the sake of simplicity, I’ll focus on prototyping tools that offer animations for interactions. We all know Invision, and I don’t think yet another review on it would help people much. Pricing information is accurate for the time when writing this article.
Disclaimer: I (unfortunately) did not receive any money from any of these companies for writing this
The benchmark: Adobe After Effects
Although technically not a prototyping software, everyone knows After Effects and most people started out here before venturing onto other tools.
Price: Average
After Effects is included in the Adobe Suite bundle which most designers are already paying for monthly. At $29.99 per month, I think a lot of designers out there will want to get their money’s worth and stick with software included in the bundle.
Integration and performance: N/A
After Effects does not integrate with design tools and one cannot simply export their Sketch artboards into the program. Instead you’ll have to export your assets one by one.
I find After Effects to be relatively easy on my 2018 Macbook Pro, with the fans rarely spinning up if I previewed in quarter resolution. Sometimes during exports you can roast marshmallows over my keyboard though.
Ease of Use: Good
After Effects has a timeline at the bottom, which allows the user to clearly map out their animations. Individual elements are in folders which can be opened to adjust opacity, position, scale, etc. Animation curves can also be custom modified for smoother movement. No more jerky windows 95 screensaver animations here. They have tutorials as well but I’ve never used them because I’m too stubborn.
Eye Strain level: Ow
For some reason the After Effects interface feels small to me even when I expand it on a large monitor. For you laptop users, you can find yourself leaning over quite a bit and staring. After a few hours my eyes and neck were begging for a break.
Overall: Good
While obviously not for interactive prototypes, After Effects is a solid start to the world of motion design. If simply wanting to showcase certain interactions, the work can be done in After Effects much faster and easier than messing about with more complex prototyping tools.
Protopie
Protopie is a relative newcomer on the scene, and allows the user to do a variety of complex parallax effects, 3d stuff, and other eye catching animations. After watching a few impressive promo videos of “ultra high fidelity mockups”, I decided to get myself a piece of the pie.
Price: Reasonable
Protopie starts at a reasonable $11 a month for an individual plan billed yearly. This will be sufficient for someone working by themselves. A team plan jumps up to $44 a month. There is also a one week free trial, which I feel is a bit too short. It is highly unlikely someone will learn how to use Protopie in one week.
Integration and performance: Great
Protopie allows you to import individual artboards from Sketch, Figma, and XD. This helps streamline your workflow. The desktop app for Mac runs great on my machine with no stutters or hiccups.
Ease of use: Scary
Protopie has a steep learning curve for someone with no background in motion design like myself. Animations link up with complex triggers and variables. A trip to the company’s glossary page shows a chart with mathematical formulas. This can be intimidating for new users.
There’s also not very many good tutorials out there. The official tutorials take you to an hour long candid workshop which I don’t think many will have the patience to sit through. In terms of production value, it’s literally someone pointing a camera at their laptop screen. I found better tutorials by googling and scouring Youtube.
Eye Strain level: The pain zone
I stared at the screen for a while making my way through the tutorials. I needed to take routine breaks as my eyes started throbbing. I’ve had much worse though.
Overall: Great potential
I think if Protopie offered a very basic free version, and improved their tutorials it could be a fantastic prototyping tool.
Principal for Mac
I’ve tangoed with Principal on numerous occasions for the last few years. Apparently I make a bad dance partner.
Price: Interesting
Principal’s pricing is unique compared to the other SaaS tools here. It costs $129 for a license, similar to Sketch. It doesn’t say on the site whether or not this needs to be renewed yearly. There’s an option to add “seats” similar to Sketch but it doesn’t say how much this costs on their site.
Integration: An apple a day
As the name suggests, Principal is only for Mac. Make your PC friends jealous by pairing Principal with Sketch to make the ultimate Mac exclusive experience. It also allows importation of artboards from Figma, if your company is going the Figma route.
Ease of use: Good
Unfortunately Principal doesn’t have any tutorials on the app itself, You’ll need to watch them on the official website. I find Principal to be pretty similar to Framer in terms of layout. It’s relatively easy to get used to if you maintain good file organization on Sketch. Does anyone else feel like showing someone your Sketch file panel is like letting someone see your messy room?
Eye Strain level: Pins and needles
For some reason I don’t get terrible eyestrain from Principal, then again maybe that’s because I haven’t used it enough. I do find the UI however, to be a bit pedestrian in terms of aesthetics compared to their hip competition.
Overall: Great for Mac users
If you’re a mac user who prefers a desktop application and has too many subscriptions bleeding you dry every month, Principal for Mac could be a great option.
Framer
“Applicants must have 4+ years of experience in Framer.JS (required)”
Considering that Framer has only been around for 4 years, these companies must really prefer to hire early adopters. These kinds of job listings remind me of a nightclub bouncer who says “You’ll never get in here with those shoes”. Cheeky jokes aside, Framer is one of the big boys in the industry and is used by many companies. I decided to give it a try.
Price Great
The best part about Framer is that it has a free version for people looking to dip their toes into interactive prototyping, and “Free” happens to be my favorite price. Paid plans start at $12 and go up from there.
Integrations and performance: Ok
Framer has all the integrations you would expect from an industry tool. You can also make simple elements within the app itself.
The version I used runs in the browser. It seems to be pretty resource heavy and my macbook sounded like a jet engine preparing for take off at one point in my testing. This is something to consider if you own, say, an 11 inch macbook air from 2013. There is a desktop version available as well, but only on the $20 a month pro plan.
Ease of use: Fantastic
Framer has some really good tutorial videos embedded on the site, without needing to do a split screen with a Youtube window. The videos are very short and focus on a simple technique while also teaching the fundamentals.
The controls on the app are very similar to popular design tools and I found them to be quite intuitive. I wish I had Cmd+Z in my life.
I haven’t gone deep into the features yet but so far I’m very impressed.
Eyestrain: Ouchies
Unlike many other prototyping apps Framer uses a light UI theme which can be a bit taxing on the eyeballs after a while. The ease of use makes up for this though and I didn’t find myself focusing on one area of the screen for a long time trying to figure out how to make something work.
Overall: Main squeeze candidate
I’ve seen enough to make Framer my main prototyping tool for animations. Now I just need to use it for 4 more years so I can apply to that job.
Overall
Of course there’s more prototyping tools than the ones listed here, and I’m sorry if I missed your favorite one. The prototyping tool industry is still young so I imagine we’ll see some great tools emerge in the near future. Until that time, dear reader, keep designing and stock up on some eye drops.
