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