Motion is a form of storytelling. You tell a story by breathing life into otherwise static web experiences.

Initially, what I wrote above was what I thought motion was all about. It is still about telling stories but it is also about causing delight. When I see svgs animate in a meaningful manner, there might not be a broad context in which it applies, but that movement can inspire delight. It can sometimes also lead me to use it over and over again.

I believe Motion is about conveying experiences. Experiences of joy, delight, wackiness, wonder and sometimes surprise. You convey it by figuring out what needs to move, when it needs to move and how it needs to move.

Animation and transitions are vehicles of narration.

I have been wondering about what makes interactive web experiences filled with so much soul, and while it is the tool being used which makes it possible, what inspires is the story that is being told. The delight is wells up in me. and that delight is part of an overaching story being told. Not motion for it's own sake. Motion for its own sake could get confusing after all. Wackiness in isolation can degrade a web experience.

The Dropbox redesigned brand website is a good example of motion used right. It reminds me of a quote by Emil Kowalski.

Great animations have a purpose

What I want to create then is rich functional experiences. Inbuing them with a power to touch hearts and inspire delight.

The web is a medium of storytelling, let's embrace that once again.