469c807c10
Motion/animation design skill with 3-designer lens (Emil Kowalski, Jakub Krehel, Jhey Tompkins). Two modes: Create and Audit. Complements frontend-design (broad) with deep motion expertise. Integration points: - skills-external/design-motion-principles/ — skill files + references - link.sh EXTERNAL_SKILLS — symlink to ~/.claude/skills/ - install-plugins.sh step 8c — presence check - update-all.sh step 7.2 — sync from GitHub - profiles: design, full, web, web-full — listed as external - plugin-advisor — decision table, recommended sets, conditional rules - design-gate — symlink check + non-blocking warning if missing Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
81 lines
4.5 KiB
Markdown
81 lines
4.5 KiB
Markdown
# Jakub Krehel's Animation Principles
|
|
|
|
Jakub Krehel is a design engineer known for his work at jakub.kr. His approach emphasizes **subtle production polish** — animations that enhance the experience invisibly, designed for real client work where users interact repeatedly.
|
|
|
|
This file is Jakub's **philosophy and decision frameworks** — the judgment for *how polished* and *how subtle* motion should be. Implementation code lives in `motion-cookbook.md` (cross-referenced below).
|
|
|
|
---
|
|
|
|
## Core Philosophy: Invisible Enhancement
|
|
|
|
> "The best animation is that which goes unnoticed."
|
|
|
|
His key question for any interaction: **"Is this subtle and polished enough for production?"**
|
|
|
|
Jakub's work embodies **refinement for production use**. His animations are:
|
|
|
|
- **Barely noticeable** — If users consciously notice the animation, it's probably too much
|
|
- **Production-ready** — Designed for real client work, not demos
|
|
- **Contextually appropriate** — Adapts to light mode, varied backgrounds, real content
|
|
- **Subtle over flashy** — The goal is to make interfaces feel smooth and responsive, not impressive
|
|
|
|
**The best compliment**: "This feels really nice" — not "cool animation!"
|
|
|
|
**The test**: If you remove the animation, do users feel something is missing? Good. If users comment "nice animation!" every time they see it? Too prominent.
|
|
|
|
---
|
|
|
|
## When to Apply Jakub's Mindset
|
|
|
|
- Production applications and client work
|
|
- Professional/enterprise interfaces
|
|
- When users will interact repeatedly (animations must not get tiresome)
|
|
- When accessibility and performance are critical
|
|
- When you need polish without distraction
|
|
|
|
---
|
|
|
|
## Signature Techniques (decision context — code in cookbook)
|
|
|
|
| Technique | When Jakub reaches for it | Cookbook |
|
|
|-----------|---------------------------|----------|
|
|
| Enter recipe (opacity + translateY + blur) | Any element appearing — blur creates a "materializing" feel more physical than fade alone | §1 |
|
|
| Subtler exits | Always — exits don't need the same movement or attention as enters; the user is moving on | §1 |
|
|
| Spring animations (`bounce: 0`) | Production motion — smooth deceleration without overshoot; reserve `bounce > 0` for playful contexts | §2 |
|
|
| Shadows instead of borders | Light mode on varied backgrounds — shadows adapt via transparency where solid borders clash | §3 |
|
|
| oklch gradients | Any gradient — interpolates through perceptually uniform space, avoiding muddy midpoints | §3 |
|
|
| Blur as a signal | Materializing in/out — blur→sharp = entering focus, sharp→blur = losing relevance | §3 |
|
|
| Optical alignment | Buttons with icons, play buttons, asymmetric shapes — trust your eyes over math | §4 |
|
|
| Animated icon swaps (opacity + scale + blur) | Contextual icon changes (copy→check) — instant swaps feel jarring and get missed | §5 |
|
|
| Shared layout via `layoutId` | Smooth FLIP transitions between different components (card→modal) | §6 |
|
|
| Targeted `will-change` | Specific properties about to animate — never global | see `performance.md` |
|
|
|
|
**Decision rules baked into the techniques:**
|
|
- Exits should always be subtler than enters — smaller movement, same blur.
|
|
- `bounce: 0` is the production default; bounce above zero reads as playful.
|
|
- Borders are fine in dark mode or when you want intentional hard edges.
|
|
|
|
---
|
|
|
|
## Common Mistakes (Jakub's Perspective)
|
|
|
|
- **Making enter and exit animations equally prominent** — Exits should be subtler
|
|
- **Using solid borders when shadows would adapt better** — Especially on varied backgrounds
|
|
- **Forgetting optical alignment** — Buttons with icons, play buttons, asymmetric shapes
|
|
- **Over-animating** — If users notice the animation itself, it's too much
|
|
- **Using the same animation everywhere** — Context should drive timing and easing choices
|
|
- **Ignoring hover state transitions** — Even small transitions (150-200ms) feel more polished than instant changes
|
|
|
|
---
|
|
|
|
## Jakub vs. Emil vs. Jhey
|
|
|
|
| Aspect | Jakub | Emil | Jhey |
|
|
|--------|-------|------|------|
|
|
| **Focus** | Subtle polish | Restraint & speed | Playful experimentation |
|
|
| **Key question** | "Is this subtle enough?" | "Should this animate?" | "What could this become?" |
|
|
| **Signature technique** | Blur + opacity + translateY | Frequency-based decisions | CSS custom properties |
|
|
| **Ideal context** | Production polish | High-frequency tools | Learning & exploration |
|
|
|
|
**When to use Jakub**: You've decided something should animate (passed Emil's gate) and need to make it production-ready and polished.
|