Systemizing Expressive Animation for Scale
Design Systems, Motion Systems, Strategic Leadership
2023
Design System Lead
Process
The Challenge
Following a bold rebranding, the new visual identity featured expressive, high-fidelity animations. The core problem was that while the motion was visually stunning, it was created as "motion art," not "motion infrastructure," creating a significant bottleneck for scaling. This lack of systemization introduced inconsistency, increased implementation time, and hindered product team efficiency.
Motion with Meaning
We broke our motion philosophy into three key pillars:
Expressive: Celebrate key moments. From completing a flow to reaching a milestone, we use animation to inject emotion and joy.
Educational: Help users understand what’s happening—and what to do next. Motion guides without overwhelming, explains without words.
Focused: Subtle micro-interactions draw attention to what matters, without distracting from the overall experience.


From Brand Animations to Motion Infrastructure
System Deliverables: Translated Design Studio’s animations into systematized motion tokens and principles; Created a motion repository with assets for each platform.
Implementation & Governance: Built reusable patterns and code snippets for efficient developer handoff; Created comprehensive documentation, including annotation toolkits and specs for designers.
Adoption & Training: Conducted training sessions and motion audits across product teams to ensure consistent implementation.
Impact
The transition to a codified motion language delivered immediate efficiencies across the product organization:
Reduced implementation time and guesswork for engineers.
Maintained consistency across all mobile and web platforms.
Empowered product teams to innovate while staying strictly on-brand.
Motion System Project Team
Francisco Arias
Madona Morales
Camila Gonzalez
Ale Barone





