Emil Kowalski's Animation Principles

Emil Kowalski's Animation Principles

Emil Kowalski is a Design Engineer at Linear (previously Vercel). Creator of Sonner, Vaul, and the "Animations on the Web" course. His approach emphasizes restraint, speed, and purposeful motion.

Core Philosophy: Restraint & Purpose

Emil's defining contribution to motion design thinking is knowing when NOT to animate.

"The goal is not to animate for animation's sake, it's to build great user interfaces."

The Frequency Rule

Animation appropriateness depends on interaction frequency:

The Raycast example: A tool used constantly throughout the day benefits from zero animation. Users with clear goals "don't expect to be delighted" and prioritize frictionless workflow.

Speed is Non-Negotiable

"UI animations should generally stay under 300ms."

A 180ms animation feels more responsive than 400ms. Speed creates perceived performance. When in doubt, go faster.

The 7 Practical Animation Tips

1. Scale Your Buttons

Add subtle scale-down on press for immediate feedback:

button:active {
  transform: scale(0.97);
}

2. Don't Animate from scale(0)

Animating from scale(0) creates unnatural motion. Start from scale(0.9) or higher for elegant, gentle movement:

// BAD
initial={{ scale: 0 }}

// GOOD
initial={{ scale: 0.9, opacity: 0 }}

3. Tooltip Delay Patterns

First tooltip: delay + animation. Subsequent tooltips in same group: instant (no delay, no animation):

[data-instant] {
  transition-duration: 0ms;
}

4. Custom Easing is Essential

"Easing is the most important part of any animation. It can make a bad animation feel great."

Built-in CSS easing (ease, ease-in-out) lacks strength. Use custom Bézier curves:

• Resources: easing.dev, easings.co
• ease-out for entering elements
• ease-in-out for moving existing elements
• Springs for interactive elements

5. Origin-Aware Animations

Animations should originate from their logical source:

/* Dropdown from button should expand from button, not center */
.dropdown {
  transform-origin: top center; /* or use CSS variables from Radix/Base UI */
}

Base UI: --transform-origin Radix UI: --radix-dropdown-menu-content-transform-origin

6. Keep Animations Fast

• Under 300ms for UI interactions
• 180ms feels more responsive than 400ms
• Remove animations entirely for high-frequency interactions

7. Use Blur When Nothing Else Works

Add filter: blur(2px) to mask imperfections during state transitions:

.transitioning {
  filter: blur(2px);
}

Blur bridges the gap between old and new states, creating smoother perceived motion.

Clip-Path Mastery

Emil advocates for clip-path as a powerful animation primitive.

Why clip-path?

• Hardware-accelerated
• No layout shifts
• No additional DOM elements needed
• Smoother than width/height animations

Image Reveal Effect

.reveal {
  clip-path: inset(0 0 100% 0);
  animation: reveal 1s forwards cubic-bezier(0.77, 0, 0.175, 1);
}

@keyframes reveal {
  to { clip-path: inset(0 0 0 0); }
}

Tab Transitions with clip-path

Duplicate tab lists with different styling. Animate overlay's clip-path to reveal only active tab—creates smooth color transitions that blend naturally with movement.

Scroll-Driven with clip-path

const clipPathY = useTransform(scrollYProgress, [0, 1], ["100%", "0%"]);
const motionClipPath = useMotionTemplate`inset(0 0 ${clipPathY} 0)`;

Spring Physics

Emil uses spring animations extensively with three key parameters:

Spring for Mouse Position

Use useSpring for mouse-position-driven components:

const springConfig = { stiffness: 300, damping: 30 };
const x = useSpring(mouseX, springConfig);
const y = useSpring(mouseY, springConfig);

This interpolates value changes with spring behavior rather than instant updates—nothing in the real world changes instantly.

Interruptibility

Great animations can be interrupted mid-play and respond naturally:

• Framer Motion supports interruption natively
• CSS transitions allow smooth interruption before completion
• Enable mid-animation state changes for responsive feel

Test by clicking rapidly—animations should blend smoothly, not queue up.

Performance Principles

Hardware Acceleration

• Animate transform and opacity only (composite rendering)
• Avoid padding/margin changes (trigger layout, paint, composite)
• CSS and WAAPI animations remain smooth regardless of main thread load

The 60fps Target

• Minimum 60 frames per second
• Test with DevTools Performance panel
• Watch for dropped frames during scroll or interaction

Shared Layout Animation Gotcha

Framer Motion's shared layout animations can drop frames when browser is busy. For critical animations, CSS solutions move computation off CPU.

When to Use Each Approach

Implementation Patterns from Sonner & Vaul

Emil's open-source component libraries (Sonner for toasts, Vaul for drawers) reveal his philosophy in actual code.

CSS Transitions Over Keyframes

Keyframes can't be interrupted mid-animation. When users rapidly trigger actions, elements "jump" rather than smoothly retargeting. Use CSS transitions with state-driven classes:

// After mount, set state to trigger transition
useEffect(() => {
  setMounted(true);
}, []);

// CSS handles the actual animation
.toast {
  transform: translateY(100%);
  transition: transform 400ms ease;
}
.toast.mounted {
  transform: translateY(0);
}

Direct Style Updates for Performance

CSS variables cause style recalculation across all child elements. For frequent updates (drag operations), update styles directly on the element:

// BAD: CSS variable (expensive recalculation)
element.style.setProperty('--drag-y', `${y}px`);

// GOOD: Direct style (no cascade)
element.style.transform = `translateY(${y}px)`;

Match Native Motion Curves

Vaul uses cubic-bezier(0.32, 0.72, 0, 1) derived from Ionic Framework to match iOS sheet animations. Duration: 500ms. Familiarity creates perceived quality.

Momentum-Based Dismissal

Don't require distance thresholds—use velocity (distance / time):

const velocity = dragDistance / elapsedTime;
if (velocity > 0.11) {
  dismiss(); // Fast, short gestures work
}

Threshold of 0.11 was found through iteration, not calculation.

Damping for Natural Motion

"Things in real life don't suddenly stop, they slow down first."

When dragging past boundaries, reduce movement progressively rather than stopping abruptly.

Multi-Touch Protection

Ignore additional touches after the first until release. Prevents position jumps that feel broken.

Pointer Capture for Drag UX

Call setPointerCapture() during drags so tracking continues even when pointer leaves the element boundary.

Invisible Quality Details

• Document visibility: Pause timers when tab is inactive
• Hover gap-filling: :after pseudo-elements bridge spacing between stacked elements
• Scroll-to-drag timeout: 100ms delay prevents accidental dismissal from momentum

Sonner Defaults

Vaul Defaults

The Core Philosophy

"When a feature functions as you assume it should, you proceed without giving it a second thought, which is our goal."

Every detail—from multi-touch handling to damping to pointer capture—serves invisible quality. Users shouldn't notice polished interactions; they should just feel right.

Emil vs. Jakub vs. Jhey

Synthesis: Use Emil's framework to decide IF you should animate. Use Jakub's techniques for HOW to animate in production. Use Jhey's approach for learning and experimentation.