Five primitives.
Four curves.
A duration scale from 33ms to 2000ms. Every decision documented with variables, usage guidance, and exact bezier values — so engineers could build without guesswork and designers could move without starting from scratch.
The details
The presets were prototyped at the component level before documentation. Buttons, modals, carousels, form fields, page loads — each one tested with real values so the handoff to engineering was exact, not approximate.
OUTCOME
The motion foundation wasn't an end in itself. Once the curves, durations, and delays were established, they became the animated layer applied across a broader baseline component system — type-led layouts, media components, carousels, forms, and full campaign moments. The tokens didn't just define how things move, they defined how the whole system feels alive.
The result holds its character whether a designer is in the room or not. Motion lives in the tokens, the tokens live in the components, and the components live in Contentful — meaning engineers, freelancers, and teams without direct oversight all have what they need to make good decisions. Good motion becomes the path of least resistance
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