Completely agree. And in 99% of cases, an instant indicator is enough and you don't need an animation.
The few places where animation makes sense are places where it is natural. For example, smooth scrolling and scroll acceleration in touch interfaces have to be animated to work, and they actually improve usability by allowing the user to work less.
I think most modern user interfaces are designed to look great for people who aren't actually using them, i.e. in demos and in stores where you pick up a phone to look at. In that case flat UIs with smooth transitions and shadows will, to the naive eye, look way more polished than UIs with proper contrast and no animations. This is also the reason that TVs come with ridiculous default settings for sharpening, contrast and frame interpolation, not because it actually is better, but because it looks better in the store and therefore sells better.
But UIs that you use every day shouldn't look great, they should allow you to get actions done as quickly as you can think of them, and effectively serve as an extension of your thought process.
The few places where animation makes sense are places where it is natural. For example, smooth scrolling and scroll acceleration in touch interfaces have to be animated to work, and they actually improve usability by allowing the user to work less.
I think most modern user interfaces are designed to look great for people who aren't actually using them, i.e. in demos and in stores where you pick up a phone to look at. In that case flat UIs with smooth transitions and shadows will, to the naive eye, look way more polished than UIs with proper contrast and no animations. This is also the reason that TVs come with ridiculous default settings for sharpening, contrast and frame interpolation, not because it actually is better, but because it looks better in the store and therefore sells better.
But UIs that you use every day shouldn't look great, they should allow you to get actions done as quickly as you can think of them, and effectively serve as an extension of your thought process.