Video Marketing

Animated UI Video Examples: 17 Jobs a Recording Can't Do

Introduction

What an animated UI video can do that a recording can't

Hit record on your product and you get everything. The cursor hunting for a button. The empty test account. The menu nobody asked about.

An animated UI video gets to choose. It can drop your interface onto a map. It can play the mess before the fix. It can slow a flow to one step per screen, or open the screen to show the engine behind it.

A screen recording can do none of that. So the question isn't whether to animate. It's which job the animation is there to do.

The short answer: the animated UI videos that work do one of four jobs a recording can't. Place Layer lays the interface over the map, globe or network where the work happens. Mess Scene plays the old way before the first screen. Staircase walks one flow, one step per screen. Machine Room opens the screen to show the logic behind the result. The 17 software interface videos below are sorted by the job they do.

Planning an animated UI video?

Talk to the Advids team about style, budget and timeline before you design a single screen. Start with the one job your animation has to do.

Let’s talk

17 examples

Animated UI Video examples

Job 1 · Place Layer

If your data lives somewhere real, draw the place and lay the interface on it.

A weather app without a map is a list of numbers. Put the same numbers on a map and you know whether to take an umbrella. Your buyer's assets, payments and threats work the same way. They live in places.

A recording can only show the screen. I call it the Place Layer: the real map, globe or network drawn first, with your interface laid over it. Four examples.

Bentley UI animation video

Bentley's SYNCHRO Control video shows the Work module in Map View. Engineering plans sit on a real-world map, and every task becomes an icon in its place.

What works here:

  • Location does the explaining. A project manager sees where each task and asset sits before reading a single row.
  • The interface stays light. Tasks are clickable, color-coded icons. Hover shows key details in a pop-up. Click opens the full work item.
  • The payoff is named: spot site-specific issues, send resources where they're needed, and track progress by location.

The move: If your records have an address, show the map first and the table second. If a viewer can't point to where the problem is, add the map.

Antom App interface animation

Antom's video sells its payments service to WooCommerce merchants selling across Asia and beyond. The world becomes the interface: an animated globe with location pins and orbiting currency icons.

What works here:

  • The globe carries the claim. Hundreds of local payment methods, with wallets like Alipay, Dana and GCash named on screen.
  • Setup and cash flow get their own pictures. A free integration, a direct bank connection, and an animated calendar for settlement instantly or on the merchant's schedule.
  • Security comes before the close: fraud protection plus compliance with SCA and 2FA. Then a rocket launch for the “Antom Revenue Booster.”

The move: If your promise is reach, draw the reach. Then name the local options your buyer's customers already use.

TDAC Feature demonstration video

Telesoft's video explains TDAC, its data analytics capability for very large networks. A global map shows the scale before any dashboard appears.

What works here:

  • Scale is drawn, not just stated. Networks for corporate giants and national ISPs spread across a world map in 2D motion graphics.
  • Then the dashboards. Anomalies like DDoS, DNS tunneling and TCP SYN floods become real-time alerts for forensic teams.
  • The numbers stay concrete: petabytes of data at millions of events per second, kept for months, with sub-second queries.

The move: Show your buyer's network at its real size before you shrink it into a dashboard. The size is the reason the dashboard matters.

Mandiant software explainer animation

Mandiant's video explains Attack Surface Management. Every connected technology an organization adds widens what an attacker can reach, and a 2D network map charts all of it.

What works here:

  • The map finds what the buyer forgot. Discovery covers assets the security team knew about and ones it didn't.
  • One number backs the discovery: intelligence from over 250 integrated data sources.
  • The dashboard flags risks and vulnerabilities (CVEs) with clear severity indicators, so teams can “see everything in adversary mode.”

The move: If your product finds things, map what the buyer already knows. Then light up what they didn't. The unknown node is the sale.

Job 2 · Mess Scene

If your buyer doesn't feel the old way, play it before the first screen.

Nobody shops for a dishwasher while the sink is empty. Show the stack of plates first. Your buyer's spreadsheet, paper pile or breach headline is that stack.

A recording can't film the mess, because the mess lives outside your product. Animation stages it in seconds. I call it the Mess Scene: the old way, played out, then your interface as the way out. Five examples.

AG5 Animated product walkthrough video

AG5 sells skills management software. Its trailer runs “without AG5” against “with AG5,” starting with an operations manager buried in spreadsheets and paperwork.

What works here:

  • The before is specific: audit anxiety and skill gaps, not a generic busy scene.
  • The after is the interface. Certifications, performance reviews and workplace instructions sit in one place, with search for qualified people.
  • Two daily moments seal it: finding a stand-in for a sick employee, and making sure only qualified people run the machines.

The move: Label your two halves on screen: without and with. If a viewer can't tell which half they're in, the contrast isn't sharp enough.

Citrix Software demo video

Citrix's video sells Citrix Analytics to banks, financial services and insurance firms. It opens on a “breaking news” data breach, then answers with two products: one for security, one for performance.

What works here:

  • The threat comes first. A breach headline, then a shield over a city for machine learning monitoring of devices, networks and data.
  • The interface acts, not just watches. Spotting “unauthorized access” triggers policies like session recordings and forced logouts.
  • Performance gets its own list of villains: “slow logons,” “connection failures” and “poor session quality,” each flagged with a fix.

The move: Name the 3 complaints your buyer hears every week, in their words. Then show the screen that flags each one.

Giffy Application feature show video

Infiflex's video introduces Giffy, a low-code platform with CRM, CMS, HR and ERP modules. It opens on a business owner overwhelmed by digital work.

What works here:

  • It answers the fear before the feature: no coding skills and no server administration needed.
  • One picture carries the growth promise: a person lifted by a rocket.
  • Simple UI scenes show drag-and-drop page building and content generation, across industries from education to healthcare.

The move: Write down the 2 skills your buyer thinks they lack. Say on screen they don't need them. Then show the drag or click that proves it.

Petal App explainer video

Petal sells schedule management for physician groups. The video starts with the chaos of manual scheduling and ends on a balanced work and family life.

What works here:

  • The software builds the schedule itself, around physician availability and group rules. Planners get their time back.
  • Physicians get control. They enter days off from any phone and swap shifts with colleagues, and every schedule updates in real time.
  • The close is human, not technical: work and family in balance, aimed straight at physician burnout.

The move: End on the life your user gets back, not on a screen. Then cut the last feature you were going to add.

Rieter software explainer animation

Rieter's ESSENTIALbasic video introduces its digital suite for short-staple spinning mills. A busy professional in a traditional office is “teleported” into a clean, holographic workspace.

What works here:

  • The jump is the message. One cut moves the user from clutter to a calm digital space, and the video stays there.
  • Each module gets one job. ESSENTIALexpertise holds spinning know-how. ESSENTIALorder is a personal webshop with real-time parts availability, one-click ordering and tracking.
  • ESSENTIALconsult holds digital documents, and the Spinners' Guide filters for the right spinning recipe.

The move: If your product replaces an office habit, make the switch one cut. Then never go back to the old room.

Job 3 · Staircase

If they fear the setup, walk one flow, one step per screen.

A flat-pack bookcase comes with a booklet, one step per page. Nobody reads it all first. Your buyer's first login works the same way.

A recording shows every pixel at once. Animation can strip each screen down to the one field that matters. I call it the Staircase: one flow, one step per screen, in the order the buyer will do it. Four examples.

NextGen Healthcare App explainer video

NextGen Healthcare's video shows patients how to use the HealthBridge app for remote patient monitoring at home. Setup and device pairing come as “Four Easy Steps.”

What works here:

  • The count is on screen. Four steps, each with synchronized on-screen text, so setup never feels open-ended.
  • The data path is drawn. Blood pressure, weight and blood sugar travel from home devices to the doctor's dashboard.
  • Calm 2D motion graphics keep a medical topic from feeling daunting.

The move: Count your setup steps and put the number on screen. If it's more than 5, make a second video.

Axis Bank Application feature show video

Axis Bank's video shows how to invest in mutual funds through its mobile and internet banking. It's a consumer app, not B2B software, but the step structure is worth copying.

What works here:

  • Every step is shown: log in, pick funds by goal, confirm the transaction.
  • It starts from the doubt. Investing feels complex, and the walkthrough answers that one screen at a time.
  • The closing promise is convenience: manage investments from anywhere.

The move: Show the confirm screen. A buyer trusts the last step more when they've seen it before they reach it.

SurveyMonkey Product walkthrough video

SurveyMonkey's video sells Team Plans. Simple location graphics, a city and a home, show teammates creating, editing and sharing surveys from anywhere.

What works here:

  • The flow runs in order: create, edit, share, then analyze the data.
  • A shared team library stores approved logos and custom templates, so every survey stays on brand.
  • The admin gets a scene too: privacy controls, user roles and extra contributor seats.

The move: If your buyer is a team, give the admin one scene of their own. The admin often signs the order.

Audaces Feature demonstration video

Audaces Idea is fashion design software. This video from Audaces Italia follows a garment from sketch to technical sheet, with costs estimated automatically.

What works here:

  • The steps follow the designer's day: sketch the garment details, apply textiles, then generate the technical sheet.
  • Cost updates as the design changes, so the price is known before production starts.
  • One file serves two departments. Style and modeling work from the same documentation.

The move: Follow one item from first draft to the document another team needs. The handoff is where your buyer feels the time saved.

Job 4 · Machine Room

If the value hides in the logic, open the screen and show the engine.

A watch with a clear back sells the movement, not the time. Your analytics, AI or calculation engine is that movement. On a real screen, it's invisible.

I call it the Machine Room: the animated view behind the result, the graph, model or layers your interface sits on. Four examples.

PwC Animated product walkthrough video

PwC's Pillar Two Engine handles the OECD's global minimum tax rules for multinational groups. On-screen text sets the stakes: a 15% minimum effective tax rate and a €750m revenue threshold.

What works here:

  • Graph technology draws the hidden structure. Each jurisdiction and how it connects is mapped as a network.
  • Then a plain table view shows the top-up tax calculations step by step, past what a spreadsheet shows.
  • Trust comes from people. A global team of Pillar Two experts designs and updates the engine.

The move: If your engine does math a buyer can't see, draw the structure first and the table second. The table gets believed because the graph came first.

SurveySparrow Product walkthrough video

SurveySparrow's video explains CogniVue, AI text analytics for customer feedback. It shows the why behind the scores, not just the scores.

What works here:

  • Raw comments get sorted on screen. Keywords light up, comments group into topics like “Customer Service” and “Pricing,” and sentiment is color-coded.
  • An “Importance vs. Performance” quadrant turns topics into a to-do list. “Price” needs attention now.
  • It goes past what customers say outright, surfacing hidden topics like “Cleanliness & Maintenance,” then benchmarks against competitors.

The move: Show one raw comment becoming one data point. If the viewer can't follow that one, they won't trust the chart.

ContractPodAi Software demo video

ContractPodAi Cloud, whose YouTube channel now carries the Leah name, presents one platform for the whole legal lifecycle. Its layered structure is the main picture.

What works here:

  • The layers explain the architecture: one source of truth for documents and processes, with the silos gone.
  • AI features sit on top: automated risk assessment and dynamic workflows.
  • Use cases close it: contract management, compliance and other legal work, all in 62 seconds.

The move: If you sell a platform, stack it as layers on screen and name each one. Buyers buy what they can redraw for their boss.

ITRS UI animation video

ITRS's video explains Geneos Market Data Monitoring for financial institutions. It opens on sprawling, multi-vendor data feeds and what bad data costs: poor trading decisions, fines and reputational damage.

What works here:

  • Chaos first, then order. The feeds collapse into one Geneos MDM interface.
  • A gears metaphor shows nonstop checks on data volume, variety, veracity and velocity, catching price spikes and slow feeds.
  • The dashboard closes the loop with configurable alerts and comparisons, in an interface teams can script.

The move: Name the checks your engine runs, then turn them into one moving picture. Turning gears stick in memory better than 4 bullet points.

Pick your job

Which job does your animated UI video need?

The short answer: ask what a screen recording of your product would leave out. The place, the old way, the order or the logic? The answer picks the job. One job per video. If two are missing, make two short videos instead of one long one.

If a recording leaves outUseDo thisExample to copy
Where the work happensPlace LayerDraw the map, globe or network, then lay the interface on itBentley
The old wayMess ScenePlay the mess before the first screenAG5
The order of the stepsStaircaseOne flow, one step per screenNextGen Healthcare
The logic behind the resultMachine RoomOpen the screen and show the enginePwC

Now go back to the recording. The cursor hunting for a button. The empty test account. It shows what your screen looks like, and it leaves every one of those four questions open.

If you'd rather sort the same craft by what moves on screen, see these interface animation video examples.

The move: record 60 seconds of your product. Write down the first question a buyer would ask that the recording can't answer. That question picks your job.

A recording shows your screen. Animation shows why it matters.

FAQ

Animated UI Video Examples FAQ

What is an animated UI video?
An animated UI video shows a software interface rebuilt in motion graphics instead of recorded from a live screen. It keeps the screens your buyer needs and drops the rest. It can also show what a screen can't: the place the work happens, the old way, or the logic behind a result. Bentley's SYNCHRO Control video, for example, lays tasks over a real map.
What's the difference between an animated UI video and a screen recording?
A screen recording captures the real product, clicks and all. It proves the product exists and works. An animated UI video redraws the interface, so it can simplify screens and add pictures around them. Many teams use both: see these product screencast videos for the recorded side.
How long should an animated UI video be?
Every video on this page runs between 1:02 and 1:49. ContractPodAi explains a whole legal platform in 1:02. AG5 and Petal use 1:49 for a full before-and-after story. Pick one job, and stop when it's done.
Should an animated UI video show the real interface or a simplified one?
Simplified, but recognizable. Keep the layout, colors and labels your buyer will see after they sign up. Remove the fields, menus and sample data that don't serve the one job. Fewer elements reduce cognitive load, so the viewer reads the screen in a glance.
How much motion is too much in an animated UI video?
Motion should point at the one thing to look at next. If two elements move at once, the viewer has to choose, and usually picks the wrong one. Use easing and timing from the principles of motion design, and hold each key screen long enough to read.
How do you animate a dashboard?
Build it one element at a time, in the order the buyer reads it. Start with the number that drives a decision, then add the chart that explains it. Good data visualization makes the pattern obvious before the voiceover names it. For more, see these dashboard tour video examples.
Which software products gain most from animated UI videos?
Products whose real work happens out of sight. Security, data monitoring and tax engines are clear cases: TDAC, Mandiant, ITRS and PwC all draw what their screens hide. The same thinking drives most technical animation videos.
Do animated UI videos work for consumer apps?
Yes, when the job is a step-by-step flow. Axis Bank walks investors from login to a confirmed mutual fund purchase. NextGen Healthcare walks patients through “Four Easy Steps” to pair a home device. The structure carries over to any B2B onboarding flow.
How do you keep an animated UI video accurate when the product changes?
Build the screens from your current design files, not from screenshots. Keep them simplified, so a small change to a button doesn't date the whole video. Then review the video at every major release, and replace only the scenes that changed.
Should an animated UI video use a metaphor?
Use one, and only one. ITRS uses gears for nonstop data checks. Citrix uses a shield over a city. Giffy and Antom both use a rocket for growth. One clear picture is remembered. Three compete with the interface.
What should the call to action be in an animated UI video?
Ask for the one thing the video was made to get: a trial, a demo or the next step in setup. Make it a clear call to action with a verb, and put it on screen after the job is done, not before.
What's the difference between an animated UI video and a UI demo video?
A UI demo usually proves the product works, often with real screens. An animated UI video redraws the interface to explain something a demo can't show. For the demo side, see these user interface demo videos.

Patterns from the analysis

Animated UI Video Best Practices

These counts come from the written breakdowns of all 17 videos above, not from full transcripts. So read each count as what these 17 visibly did, not as market data.

Old Way First

Should an animated UI video open on the problem?

Observation
ITRS opens on sprawling data feeds. Rieter opens on a busy office. AG5 opens on a manager buried in paperwork. Citrix opens on a breach headline. Giffy opens on an overwhelmed owner. Petal starts with the chaos of manual scheduling.
Data
6 of 17 show the old way before the interface.
The move
If your buyer doesn't feel the problem yet, give it 10 seconds before the first screen. If they already feel it, skip straight to the interface.
Real Places

Should an animated UI video show the world around the screen?

Observation
Bentley uses a real map. Antom uses a globe. TDAC uses a world map. Mandiant maps a network. SurveyMonkey draws a city and a home. Citrix puts a shield over a city.
Data
6 of 17 place the interface inside a picture of a place.
The move
If your product touches locations, sites or networks, draw them. A place makes the interface feel real faster than any feature list.
One Metaphor

Do animated UI videos use visual metaphors?

Observation
Antom and Giffy both use a rocket. ITRS uses gears. Citrix uses a shield. Rieter uses teleportation. Petal closes on a picture of balance.
Data
6 of 17 lean on one visual metaphor. 2 of those 6 picked the same one: a rocket.
The move
Pick one metaphor your competitors haven't used. If it's a rocket, pick again.
Hard Number

Should an animated UI video put a number on screen?

Observation
TDAC names petabytes and millions of events per second. Mandiant names over 250 data sources. PwC shows a 15% rate and a €750m threshold. NextGen Healthcare counts “Four Easy Steps.” Antom says “hundreds” of payment methods, without a figure.
Data
4 of 17 put a specific number on screen.
The move
Find one number your buyer can check, and animate it. “Hundreds” is a feeling. “250 data sources” is a fact.

How to plan

Where to use your animated UI video

Put the video where the missing piece hurts most. That one rule decides most placements.

  • Product pages. A Place Layer or Machine Room video explains what the screenshot beside it can't.
  • Sales follow-ups. A Mess Scene video gives your champion the before-and-after to forward to their boss.
  • Onboarding. A Staircase video walks a new user through setup, the same job most animated onboarding demos do.
  • Help docs. Short Staircase clips answer the setup question before a support ticket does.

How to plan an animated UI video

Eight decisions, in order. Each one narrows the next.

  • Buyer. Who's watching decides which screens matter.
  • Gap. What would a recording of your product leave out?
  • Job. Place Layer, Mess Scene, Staircase or Machine Room. Pick one.
  • Screens. List only the screens the job needs. Cut the rest before design starts.
  • Script. Write the last line first. Then the first line. Then the middle.
  • Simplify. Redraw each screen with only the fields the viewer must read. A full software walkthrough can show the rest later.
  • Picture. Choose the one map, mess or metaphor around the screens.
  • Ask. Decide the call to action before animation starts, so the video builds to it.

Animated UI video production process

Every animated UI video runs through the same three stages. Knowing them keeps a project from drifting.

  • Pre-production. Set the buyer, the job and the screens. Then the script, the storyboard, the budget and the timeline.
  • Design. Rebuild each screen from your design files, simplified. Design the map, mess scene or engine view around them.
  • Animation and post-production. Animate one element at a time, record the voiceover, add sound, get feedback in one round, then cut a version for each platform.

About the author

About Jai Ghosh

Jai Ghosh
Video Producer at Advids · LinkedIn

Jai Ghosh is a Video Producer at Advids, where he has planned and produced videos for B2B software and technology companies for 7 years. He works on product demos, explainer videos and brand videos, from the first script to the final cut, for clients from startups to enterprises.

Before Advids, Jai spent over 11 years in freelance media consulting, after starting out in digital journalism. He writes the Advids blog's breakdowns of product and demo videos, sorting real examples by the question each one answers for a buyer.

  • Focus: SaaS product demos, explainer videos and brand videos
  • Experience: 7 years at Advids, over 11 years in media consulting
  • Background: digital journalism

Connect with Jai Ghosh on LinkedIn