Drop a ball on a desk and watch it. It speeds up as it falls, squashes a little when it lands and slows at the top of every bounce. Nothing in the room moves at a constant speed.
Screens forget this. A menu that slides in at one even pace feels like a machine, because it is one. Our job is to make it feel like it weighs something.
Start With Weight
Before we animate anything for a brand, we decide how heavy it is. A ferry timetable and a swimwear launch should not arrive on screen the same way.
Three Rules We Always Write
Every motion system we hand over fits on one page. It always covers these:
- Arcs. Things curve on their way somewhere. A straight path reads as a shortcut, not a movement.
- Settling. Things overshoot a touch and come to rest. They never just stop dead.
- Hesitation. A short pause before something big moves. It gives the eye time to follow.
Good motion is felt before it’s seen. If someone notices the easing curve, we’ve overdone it.
The Desk Test
Put the animation next to a video of something real doing the same job: a door, a drawer, a page turning. If ours looks like the odd one out, we go back and add the weight we left out.
- Motion
- Interaction
- Design
Jonas Berg
Jonas leads motion in Oslo. He keeps a rubber ball on his desk for reference and drops it more often than his colleagues would like.
