Motion Design

Motion Design Skill

When to Apply

Use this skill when:

• Creating UI animations (buttons, cards, modals, page transitions)
• Designing micro-interactions and feedback animations
• Building loading, success, or error states
• Animating illustrations or decorative elements
• Planning scroll-triggered or progress-based animations
• Establishing brand motion identity
• Choreographing multi-element sequences

Decision tree:

• Does it serve a functional purpose (feedback, guidance)? → Timing rules for responsiveness
• Does it express brand personality? → Motion Personality archetypes
• Does it tell a story or guide attention? → Disney principles + choreography
• Is this a complex multi-element scene? → 1/3 Rule + stagger patterns

Quick Reference: 8-Step Checklist

Before creating any animation:

• Emotional target? — joy, calm, urgency, elegance
• Motion Personality? — Playful, Premium, Corporate, Energetic
• Primary property? — position, scale, rotation, opacity
• Duration? — see duration table below
• Easing family? — entrance=decelerate, exit=accelerate
• Hero element? — apply staging principles
• Secondary + ambient layers? — add richness
• 1/3 rules? — motion distance, simultaneous elements

Three Pillars (CRITICAL)

Every animation must satisfy three pillars before any technical decisions:

| Pillar | Question | Drives |

|--------|----------|--------|

| Emotional Intent | What should the viewer FEEL? | Easing, timing, amplitude |

| Visual Narrative | What's the micro-story? | Setup → Action → Resolution |

| Motion Craft | How do we make it believable? | Physics, secondary motion, paths |

Three motion layers (flat animation = missing layers):

• Primary: Main action the viewer follows
• Secondary: Supporting richness (shadows, icons shifting)
• Ambient: Background life (gradients, subtle pulses)

> Deep dive: director/core-philosophy.md

Motion Personality

Select ONE archetype per project. Apply consistently.

| Archetype | Duration | Easing | Overshoot | Keywords |

|-----------|----------|--------|-----------|----------|

| Playful | 150-300ms | ease-out-back | 10-20% | fun, whimsical, bouncy, cute |

| Premium | 350-600ms | cubic-bezier(0.4,0,0.2,1) | 0% | elegant, minimal, luxury, sophisticated |

| Corporate | 200-400ms | cubic-bezier(0.2,0,0,1) | 0-3% | clean, professional, business, dashboard |

| Energetic | 100-250ms | ease-out-expo | 15-30% | dynamic, energetic, bold, exciting |

Default: Corporate for UI, Playful for illustrations.

Brand Motion Identity — define three constants:

• Signature easing: One curve for 80% of animations
• Duration palette: 3 durations (quick / standard / slow)
• Entrance pattern: One consistent entry style

> Deep dive: director/motion-personality.md

Property Selection

| Effect Goal | Primary Property | Secondary Properties |

|-------------|------------------|---------------------|

| Entrance/Exit | position | opacity, scale |

| Emphasis/Attention | scale | rotation (subtle), opacity pulse |

| State Change | opacity, color | scale (press feedback) |

| Direction/Flow | position | rotation (follow path) |

| Depth/3D Feel | scale + shadow | position (parallax) |

| Loading/Progress | rotation (spinner) | scale, opacity pulse |

| Success | scale (pop) | color, rotation (checkmark draw) |

| Error/Alert | position (shake) | color, rotation (wobble) |

Simplicity threshold: Use the minimum properties needed. One = direct. Two = polished. Three+ = potentially overwhelming.

> Deep dive: reference/property-selection.md

Duration Table

| Element Type | Duration | Rationale |

|-------------|----------|-----------|

| Tooltip / micro-feedback | 80-120ms | Must feel instant |

| Button press / toggle | 120-180ms | Responsive feedback |

| Icon transition | 150-250ms | Clear state change |

| Card enter / exit | 200-350ms | Spatial awareness |

| Modal / dialog | 300-400ms | Focus shift |

| Page transition | 400-600ms | Context switch |

| Dramatic reveal | 600-1200ms | Theatrical build |

Distance scales duration: 100px = base. 200px = 1.3x. 400px = 1.6x.

Enter > Exit: Entrances 30-50% longer than exits. Users care about what appears.

Interactive feedback:

• Hover: <100ms
• Press: <150ms
• Release/settle: 200-300ms
• Error shake: 300-400ms (2-3 oscillations)

> Deep dive: reference/timing-easing-tables.md

Easing Selection

Directional rules:

• Entrance → decelerate (fast start, gentle landing): ease-out family
• Exit → accelerate (gentle start, fast departure): ease-in family
• On-screen → smooth both ends: ease-in-out family
• Looping ambient → seamless: sine-based ease-in-out

Industry standards:

| Standard | Cubic Bezier | Use For |

|----------|-------------|---------|

| Material Design 3 | (0.2, 0, 0, 1) | Default on-screen |

| MD3 Emphasized | (0.05, 0.7, 0.1, 1) | Entrances, attention |

| MD3 Accelerate | (0.3, 0, 1, 1) | Exits, dismissals |

| Apple HIG | (0.25, 0.1, 0.25, 1) | Standard iOS |

| Snappy UI | (0.2, 0, 0, 1) | Fast, decisive |

| Gentle float | (0.4, 0, 0.2, 1) | Ambient, background |

| Bounce settle | (0.175, 0.885, 0.32, 1.275) | Overshoot, playful |

Material-based easing:

| Material | Duration Scale | Overshoot |

|----------|---------------|-----------|

| Rigid (metal, stone) | 1.2x | 0% |

| Elastic (rubber, gel) | 0.8x | 15-25% |

| Fluid (water, paint) | 1.5x | 5% |

| Paper (cards, sheets) | 1.0x | 3-5% |

| Gas (smoke, fog) | 2.0x | 0% |

| Glass (brittle) | 0.9x | 0% |

> Deep dive: reference/timing-easing-tables.md

Common Patterns

Button Press (Playful)

• Anticipation: Scale to 0.97 (50ms, ease-out)
• Squash: Scale to [1.04, 0.96] (100ms, ease-in)
• Follow through: Overshoots to 1.02, settles to 1.0 (spring, 200ms)
• Secondary: Shadow shrinks during press, icon shifts down 2px
• Total: ~150ms press + 200ms settle

Card Entrance (Premium)

• Start: 20px below target, opacity 0
• Path: Slight curve (10px X offset at midpoint)
• Easing: ease-out-cubic deceleration
• Follow through: Shadow arrives 50ms after card
• Secondary: Content fades in 100ms after card lands
• Staging: Other cards dim to 80%

Success State (Playful)

• Primary: Scale pop with ease-out-back
• Secondary: Checkmark draws in
• Ambient: Subtle particle burst
• Color: Green fill
• Total: 300-400ms

Error Shake (Corporate)

• Primary: Position oscillates 2-3 times, ±10-15px horizontal
• Easing: ease-in-out for sharp stops
• Color: Red tint
• Total: 300-400ms
• No overshoot: Errors feel firm

> More patterns: patterns/entrance-exit.md | patterns/state-feedback.md

Choreography Essentials

Coordinated entry:

• Lead with the hero — primary element enters first or most prominently
• Spatial consistency — all elements enter from same direction
• Counter-motion — hero moves right → ambient moves left at 20-30% speed

1/3 Rule (distance): No motion travels more than 1/3 of screen without a keyframe change.

1/3 Rule (elements): With 3+ elements, no more than 1/3 in active motion simultaneously.

Stagger budgets:

| Pattern | Delay | Total Budget | Use Case |

|---------|-------|-------------|----------|

| Micro cascade | 20-40ms | <200ms | List items, grid cells |

| Standard | 50-100ms | <400ms | Cards, panels, nav |

| Dramatic | 100-200ms | <600ms | Hero sections |

| Wave | 30-60ms | <500ms | Data visualizations |

Critical: Total stagger must stay under 500ms.

> Deep dive: director/choreography.md

Emotion-to-Motion Map

| Emotion | Character | Path | Easing | Duration |

|---------|-----------|------|--------|----------|

| Joy | Bouncy, arcs | Curved, upward | ease-out-back | 200-400ms |

| Calm | Smooth, flowing | Gentle curves | sine ease-in-out | 500-1000ms |

| Urgency | Sharp, fast | Straight lines | ease-out | 100-200ms |

| Sadness | Slow, downward | Drooping curves | cubic ease-in-out | 600-1200ms |

| Surprise | Sudden, expanding | Radial outward | ease-out-expo | 150-300ms |

| Elegance | Slow, controlled | Long arcs | (0.4,0,0.2,1) | 400-700ms |

| Playfulness | Bouncy, irregular | Arcs, squiggly | ease-out-back | 200-350ms |

Path as language: Angular = tense. Curved = friendly. Spiral = whimsical. Diagonal = purposeful. Vertical = growth/weight. Horizontal = progress.

> Deep dive: director/emotion-mapping.md

Weight Classification

| Weight | Examples | Duration | Overshoot | Easing |

|--------|----------|----------|-----------|--------|

| Heavy | Modals, overlays | 300-500ms | 0% | Gentle, high damping |

| Medium | Cards, panels | 200-350ms | 3-5% | Moderate |

| Light | Tooltips, badges, icons | 80-200ms | 5-15% | Responsive |

Quality Rules

CRITICAL — never break

• Never linear for spatial movement — always use easing curves (linear only for spinners, progress bars)
• Never opacity-only for important state changes — combine with position or scale
• Never exceed 1/3 screen without intermediate keyframe
• Always three motion layers — primary + secondary + ambient

HIGH — strongly follow

• Match duration to element type (see tables)
• Use directional easing (ease-out entrance, ease-in exit)
• Apply Disney principles (especially anticipation, follow-through)
• Maintain consistent personality across scene

> Full checklist: reference/quality-checklist.md

Troubleshooting Quick Reference

| Problem | Likely Cause | Fix |

|---------|-------------|-----|

| Looks robotic | Linear easing or no arcs | Add easing curves + arc paths |

| Feels too slow | Duration too long for element type | Check duration table, use ease-out |

| Feels cheap/flat | Missing secondary + ambient | Add shadow motion + background life |

| Too distracting | Too many elements moving | Apply 1/3 rule, reduce amplitude |

| No personality | Generic easing everywhere | Apply personality archetype consistently |

> Deep dive: reference/troubleshooting.md

File Reference

Philosophy (director/):

• core-philosophy.md — Three Pillars deep dive
• decision-framework.md — Full decision pipeline
• disney-principles.md — 12 principles, UI-adapted
• motion-personality.md — 4 archetypes + brand identity
• emotion-mapping.md — Emotion → motion + color psychology
• choreography.md — Multi-element coordination
• narrative-structure.md — Micro-story framework
• context-adaptation.md — Platform, a11y, performance

Reference (reference/):

• timing-easing-tables.md — Duration + easing lookups
• property-selection.md — Property communication guide
• troubleshooting.md — Animation smells + fixes
• quality-checklist.md — Evaluation criteria

Patterns (patterns/):

• entrance-exit.md — Entrance/exit recipes
• state-feedback.md — Success, error, loading, hover
• ambient-continuous.md — Looping, breathing, parallax
• multi-element.md — Stagger + choreography recipes