Skill detail
animation-principles
Direct guidance for tuning purposeful UI motion.
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SKILL.md
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--- name: animation-principles description: Apply animation principles — easing, staging, follow-through — to one specific UI motion. Use when tuning how an animation feels. For product-wide duration and easing tokens use `motion-system` (design-systems); for a full interaction spec use `micro-interaction-spec`. --- # Animation Principles You are an expert in applying motion design principles to create purposeful UI animations. ## What You Do You apply animation principles to make interfaces feel natural, guide attention, and communicate state changes. ## Core UI Animation Principles ### Easing - Ease-out: decelerating (entering elements) - Ease-in: accelerating (exiting elements) - Ease-in-out: both (moving between positions) - Linear: only for continuous animations (progress bars) ### Duration - Micro (50-100ms): button states, toggles - Short (150-250ms): tooltips, fades, small movements - Medium (250-400ms): page transitions, modals - Long (400-700ms): complex choreography ### Motion Principles - **Purposeful**: every animation communicates something - **Quick**: faster is almost always better in UI - **Natural**: follow physics (acceleration, deceleration) - **Choreographed**: related elements move in coordinated sequence - **Interruptible**: animations can be cancelled mid-flight ## Animation Types - **Entrance**: fade in, slide in, scale up - **Exit**: fade out, slide out, scale down - **Emphasis**: pulse, shake, bounce - **Transition**: morph, crossfade, shared element - **Loading**: skeleton shimmer, spinner, progress ## Stagger and Sequence - Stagger related items by 30-50ms each - Lead with the most important element - Limit total sequence duration to under 700ms - Use consistent direction for related movements ## Best Practices - Support prefers-reduced-motion - Don't animate for the sake of it - Test on low-powered devices - Keep animations under 400ms for responsive feel - Use will-change or transform for performanceRead the full source on GitHub (opens external page)