Motion design: principles, tools, adjustments

This lesson is still being tested: it improves with learners' feedback. If something is unclear, it is the lesson that needs fixing, not you.

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to

apply the principles of motion design: one movement, one intention;
choose the simplest tool that is enough;
animate a text and an image with PowerPoint’s Morph transition, or in your editing software;
adjust an animation: duration, legibility, consistency.

Why it matters to you

Motion design is the art of animating text, shapes and images. Used well, it guides the eye: the date appears at the moment the voice says it, the place stands out. Used badly, it tires the viewer and hides the message. AI tools promise a lot in this area, and change fast. The principles do not change: that is where we start.

Before you start


You need	Your presentation software (PowerPoint, with the Morph transition if your plan has it) or your editing software; your storyboard (lesson 1) and your style guide sheet (module 10, lesson 4)
Cost	€0 with your software; PowerPoint’s Morph transition requires Microsoft 365 or a recent version of Office
Duration	60 minutes
Reminder	Nothing personal in animated texts

Understand it in 3 minutes

Five principles:

Principle	In practice
One movement, one intention	Each animation shows something: information arriving, a link between two ideas
One movement at a time	The eye follows one thing; two animations at the same time get in each other’s way
Time to read	A text stays on screen long enough to be read in full, at the video’s speed
Consistency	The same entrances, the same exits, the same durations throughout the video
Legibility	Enough size and contrast (module 10, lesson 4: 4.5:1 for normal text, 3:1 for large text, according to the W3C)

The simplest tool that is enough:

your presentation software: simple animations, and transitions like PowerPoint’s Morph;
your editing software (lesson 4): animated titles, transitions;
specialized tools or code animated by an agent: another level, for later.

PowerPoint’s Morph, according to Microsoft’s help (24/10/2026): it creates the appearance of movement between two slides, for text, shapes, pictures, SmartArt graphics and WordArt (not charts). It is available with a Microsoft 365 subscription, or in recent versions of Office.

You need two slides with at least one object in common: the simplest way is to duplicate the slide, then move or modify the object on the second one.

Do it together

1Step 1: Choose the moments to animate

Go back to your storyboard. Mark two or three moments where an animation serves the message: for example, the date that grows when the voice says it. No more.

2Step 2: A Morph, step by step

In PowerPoint:

create a slide with the date small, at the bottom;
duplicate it;
on the copy, enlarge the date and place it in the center;
apply the Morph transition to the second slide;
start the slideshow: the date slides and grows;
to use it in your video, export the presentation as an MP4 video (on Windows: File, Export, Create a Video; on Mac: File, Export, then MP4 in the File Format list), and import that file into your editing software.
Watch the result: according to Microsoft’s help for Mac, several transitions play differently in a movie than in a presentation, and animation effects don’t play in a movie at all. So on Mac, stick to transitions such as Morph.

Without PowerPoint: make the same movement with an animated title in your editing software.

3Step 3: Adjust

Watch the animation at real speed:

can the date be read before it disappears?
does the movement last less than a second, without feeling abrupt?
do the colors respect your style guide and its contrast?
do the other animations in the video have the same feel?

If you get help from an AI to adjust an animation, give it your software and its version, and check in the official help that the menu it describes exists in your version.

Your turn

Choose two or three moments to animate in your video.
Animate them with the simplest tool that is enough.
Adjust with the four questions in step 3.
Note the settings (durations, entrance style) so you can reuse them.

Check your work

It worked if:

each animation has an intention, and there are no more than two or three;
each animated text can be read in full;
the animations look alike from one end of the video to the other;
the colors respect your style guide and its contrasts.

Common mistakes:

animating everything, all the time;
several movements at the same time;
a text that goes by too fast to be read;
a different animation style in every shot.

Keep it and pick it up later

Note your animation settings in your style guide sheet: they are part of your style.
Keep the presentation or the editing project: it is your editable source.

Going further

optional

An agent like Claude Code can write animations as code (an animated web page, for example), to be turned into a video afterwards: it is advanced work, which requires modules 4 and 12, and tools to evaluate with the method from module 13, lesson 4.

New words

4 words explained

Word	What it means
Motion design	The animation of text, shapes and images, in service of a message
Transition	The animated move from one slide or shot to the next
Morph	The PowerPoint transition that makes an object transform from one slide to the next
Consistency	The same animations, durations and styles throughout the video

To be checked: no animation was made for this lesson (no video production while it was written); animations in Keynote, Google Slides and editing software are not described.