Motion is a budget
By Ali Abedi ·
Animation on a website should be rationed. At Magenta Web a page gets a small number of moments: the arrival, one or two reveals that pace the story, and the micro-feedback on things you can press. Everything else holds still, because stillness is what makes the moving parts read, and every motion honours a visitor who asked their device for less.
How much animation should a website have?
The fastest way to make a site feel cheap is to animate everything. When every card floats in and every heading shimmers, motion stops meaning anything, and the visitor learns to ignore it the way they ignore banner ads.
Which moments earn motion?
We treat motion as a budget. A page gets a small number of moments: the arrival, one or two reveals that pace the story, and the micro-feedback on things you can press. Everything else holds still on purpose, because stillness is what makes the moving parts read.
What about visitors who prefer reduced motion?
There is also a floor under all of it: respect for the reader. Motion runs on a dial in our system, and it honors the visitor who asked their device for less. A site that moves beautifully for one person and calmly for another is one build, not two.
The test we use is simple. Turn the animation off in your head and ask if the page still makes its case. If it does not, the motion was hiding a content problem, and no easing curve fixes that.
Questions
- Does animation slow a site down?
- Not when it is rationed: a page gets a small number of short moments, none of them blocking the content, and the rest of the page holds still.
- Can motion be turned off?
- Yes. Motion runs on a dial, and a visitor who has asked their device for reduced motion gets the page still, with every piece of content in place.
- Do you animate every project?
- Every project gets the arrival and the micro-feedback on what can be pressed. Reveals that pace the story are added where the story needs pacing, and nowhere else.
Ali Abedi is the founder of Magenta Web, a brand identity, web design, and digital marketing studio in West Palm Beach, Florida. He has designed and built websites for architecture, hospitality, legal and technology clients for more than ten years.