Motion design is often overlooked during the design phase. Sometimes, it's an afterthought, usually added as a bit of fairy dust, but the problem is that little consideration has been given to the 'vibe' a project is trying to convey.

Considering all the hard work, time invested, and budget spent, adding ill-thought-out bells and whistles seems like a surefire way to devalue your brand unnecessarily. When executed with care, implementing motion design, whether micro or mega, can elevate a great design into a masterpiece.

Micro Interactions

Micro-interactions are subtle, often overlooked, yet crucial elements of user experience design. They are small animations or visual responses triggered by user actions, such as hovering over a button, clicking a link, or scrolling through content. When implemented effectively, micro-interactions elevate the feel of a digital product.

I avoid using predefined templates from companies like Wix or Squarespace. They are great, but a one-size-fits-all solutions, which makes the look and feel more generic,. In my opinion, it's better to have a fully customisable site, with carefully considered micro-interactions, created in Webflow, without being limited to a predefined template with 'walled garden' functionality.

Lottie Animations

Lotties animations 'Lotties' are an open-source tool allowing high-quality animations in web and mobile applications. I use Adobe After Effects animation software, which is traditionally used for video and special effects, to create the animation and export the file as a lightweight, scalable JSON file. This file is then imported into Webflow.

Lotties render efficiently in a browser and perform well, offering super slick motion that is hard to emulate otherwise. Lottie files are resolution-independent, meaning the image quality does not degrade regardless of the scale. They can also be controlled within Webflow, allowing users to interact with the animation uniquely and engagingly - the look great too!.

GSAP (GreenSock Animation Platform)

I have introduced GSAP, a JavaScript library, to program and create advanced animations and interactive effects. It offers several options to animate sections on a web page, like stunning slide animations and text effects, which would be challenging to create otherwise. GSAP motion is fluid, visually stunning, and performs well in most browsers. Coding can be complex, so it's best to discuss your intentions with me, and I can guide you from there.

Spline

Spline is a relatively new tool, a web-based platform for designing 3D animations and interactions. I have found the requirement for 3D modelling, and integrating them into Webflow increasingly popular. They allow user-controlled interactions like never before. Spline is remarkable, enabling 3D objects to be implemented, scaled, rotated, and zoomed by the user, adding a whole new dimension to your digital project.