UX Motion Workshop
Your team will acquire immediately applicable real world frameworks for ideating, analyzing, and presenting motion and usability concepts for your product and design system.
Workshop outcomes
Expand CX solution space
Begin using motion as a problem solving tool to support mental models and manage cognitive load in users, while validating motion ideas through a usability framework geared to add tangible value to your product.
Acquire new design vocabulary for ideation and presentation of motion
Learn how to quickly ideate motion using affordances and signifiers while utilizing a shared linguistic framework to quickly pinpoint and solve UX challenges through motion based solutions.
Synergize collaboration between stakeholders, designers, and engineers
Meet core strategic product development objectives and minimize friction by aligning all parties through versatile low impact ideation and analytical conversation based tools.
Effectively communicate the value of motion
Learn an ROI and metrics based approach to clearly communicate the value of motion, in the language that stakeholders understand.
Accelerate timelines and conserve budget with paper prototyping
Downscale your reliance on engineers by shifting motion leadership back to designers and engaging in high ROI activities to quickly and effectively communicate concepts and vet ideas.
Here's what designers say about the workshop
★★★★★
“As a designer it is crucial to be able to pitch and sell your designs. Knowing the vocabulary and informed reasoning will help you get traction of your design by the stakeholders and team members. This workshop has helped on that.”
Mhung, UX Designer, Mindbody, San Luis Obispo
★★★★★
“Our team learned how the language and vocabulary of motion in user experiences differs from classic motion design. These foundational elements help inform our decisions in regards to ongoing instruction from Issara.”
Christopher, Communication Designer, Slack, San Francisco
★★★★★
“A solid workshop that explains the principles of motion in user experiences. This helps our developers, designers, and product managers develop vocabulary and mental models which will enhance our communication quality.”
Bruce, Software Developer, Kayak, Boston
About the workshop
Join award-winning designer and UX motion expert Issara Willenskomer for a day-long workshop to learn project-based tools for ideating, analyzing, and presenting motion and usability concepts. You’ll walk away with a deep understanding of and language for how motion not only makes the user experience more delightful but is fundamental to a seamless product experience by solving usability problems.
Through a combination of lecture, drawing, and presentation exercises, you’ll dive deep into the methodology of motion innovation and analysis to develop a powerful context for understanding and communicating the value of motion, including how to use motion to solve design challenges, minimize the impact of context switching, and manage cognitive load. Issara will also teach you tactics to sell ROI-based motion ideas to stakeholders and team members.
Interested in learning more about Issara's approach? Check out his article Creating Usability with Motion: The UX in Motion Manifesto.
Workshop schedule
Designed to maximize participation and involvement, each of the 5 Modules in the workshop employ a multi-disciplinary approach to learning motion innovation, and focuses on ideation, presentation, and analysis of motion solutions to product design challenges.The following schedule reflects the content and flow of the 4-hour workshop.
Additional time for breaks and debrief are included. The workshop is a combination of lecture (with numerous visual video based references) and exercises. The exercises are presentation based, and designed to resemble real world design team contexts as closely as possible.
Module 1: Foundation
Transform your understanding of how motion can integrate with the UX, and add value to the user, the product, and the business. Examine research paths, understand A/B states, and build a motion reference library. Practice building your own motion library directly on your phone. Topics include:
- Terms and taxonomies
- Exercise 1: creating your own motion library
Module 2: Analysis
Acquire checklists and frameworks for deconstructing and analyzing motion and transitions in real world examples and products. Topics include:
- Deconstructing motion
- Integrative and Additive motion
- Choreography
- Motion Standards
Module 3: Mental models
Learn how motion partners with the UX and user mental models to support conversion rate, manage cognitive load, and keep users in the task domain. Topics include:
- Affordances and Signifiers
- Continuity, Narrative, Relationship and Expectation
- Skeuomorphic Behavior
Module 4: Ideation
Learn how to quickly ideate strong motion and usability solutions to common real world product design scenarios. Gain experience working through problems and presenting your solutions in realtime with paper prototyping. Topics include:
- 10 step ideation framework
- Exercise 2: ideation
- Debrief
Which team members should attend
Designers
UX/UI & Product Designers benefit from learning how to ideate and present motion.
Engineers
Engineers and Developers acquire tools for collaborating and innovating better products.
Stakeholders
Stakeholders, Product Managers and team leaders learn new ways to manage and deliver motion projects, while accelerating timelines and conserving budgets.
Case study: Dropbox
Workshop goals
As part of their major rebranding effort, Dropbox knew motion would play a central role.
Dropbox wanted a values based approach and suite of tools for the motion development portion of the project. Specifically, they wanted to be able to quantify and qualify motion as well as the ability to design motion in tandem with the UX.
The Dropbox culture is rigorous when it comes to using design to solve problems, and needed to learn how motion could be incorporated into their methodology.
An additional goal was to develop distinct and value based motion, and increase team exposure to examples and references of where motion impacted usability.
In their own words
★★★★★
"This workshop provides a strong foundational vocabulary to begin applying principles of UX in motion design. From learning mental models, ideation, to analysis, the workshop provides a deep dive into using motion to create meaning responsibly for web and mobile."
– Rita, Interactive Designer, Dropbox, San Francisco
★★★★★
“The workshop was a great foundation for getting started in UX motion design. It helped me put into words ideas I've had but never been able to formally express."
– Stan, Product Designer, Dropbox, San Francisco
★★★★★
"I now have a much better understanding of how to approach using motion in UX design and how to advocate for it to my team. The workshop gave me frameworks to design and evaluate motion as well as lots of hands on practice. Super educational and engaging!"
– Kate, Product Designer, Dropbox, San Francisco
Have questions about the workshop?
Case Study: Slack
Workshop goals
For the first day of the workshop, Slack wanted to develop a solid theory based foundation for their designers.
In addition, they wanted to focus on tools that would allow them to ideate and present new website features.
Our second day of the workshop was focused on onboarding the team with After Effects, and delivering real world assets to their engineers using the After Effects Bodymovin plugin to export JSON assets.
In their own words
★★★★★
“Very thorough overview for someone who had zero knowledge of motion principles. Multi-media presentation examples are shown and discussed, activities give a good opportunity to prove your knowledge. Highly recommended!”
– Rosie, Designer at Slack, San Francisco
★★★★★
“This has been a great learning experience with a lot of in-depth knowledge and real world examples to demonstrate all the talking points. The exercises are also a great learning tool for me to retain all the information from the workshop. Issara has a great personality when he teaches. Really enjoyed the workshop!”
– Viet, Designer at Slack, San Francisco
★★★★★
“I loved seeing your principles, how you draw motion and examples of really good and bad work.”
– Angelica, Senior Communication Designer at Slack, San Francisco
This is now a live workshop over Zoom
Case study: Kayak
Workshop goals
Kayak’s mission is to provide the world’s favorite travel planning tools.
Focusing on desktop, iOS and Android, Kayak wanted to bring together 48 product stakeholders, UX designers, and developers and develop a common design vocabulary regarding motion. This mandate was in alignment with the need to focus on fundamentals and structures across design and development for a seamless product experience.
Additional workshop outcomes included determining an appropriate use for motion, tools for ideation and presentation, better communication between designers and developers, a clear path from design to implementation, conceptual tools for collaboration, and how to keep motion useful and relevant.
In their own words
★★★★★
“A solid workshop that explains the principles of motion in user experiences. This helps our developers, designers, and product managers develop vocabulary and mental models which will enhance our communication quality.”
– Bruce, Software Developer, Kayak, Boston
★★★★★
“It was great to learn a language for motion because language drives your thought process.”
– Gao, iOS Software Engineer, Kayak, Boston
★★★★★
"For me the most useful part of the workshop was learning the language of how to discuss UX motion and using real examples and exercises to think through how to use motion to solve a problem, rather than animation for animation’s sake.
– Aleks, Product Designer, Kayak, Boston
Issara Willenskomer
Founder, Instructor
Issara Willenskomer is an award-winning designer and educator. With over 15 years of interaction and motion design experience, Issara has worked with an impressive list of clients including Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, Nordstrom, Amazon, HBO, MTV, AT&T, Motorola, T-Mobile, UNAIDS, HTC, Philips, and more. Issara has personally trained the design teams in the topic of motion and usability, at Dropbox, Slack, Airbnb, Salesforce, Oracle. Issara currently teaches motion innovation both online and in the real world.
Chase Morris
Instructor
I am passionate about self education, design thinking, and sharing my knowledge with other design professionals. I’ve designed health products focused on improving the lives of individuals. Currently, I design human-centered products that influences how individuals interact with their phone, tablet, laptop and desktop. Through UX in Motion, I help product teams use motion strategically to innovate results based scalable design solutions.
FAQs
Are the number of participants limited?
There is no limit. This workshop has been taught to teams with over 100 participants. It was fun!
Do participants need computers?
No. The workshop is designed to be software agnostic. However, participants may benefit from having their computers.
Can remote team members attend?
Yes, though the management of these folks will be left to the host.
Do you offer a half day workshop?
Yes, please schedule a call for more info.
Do you also teach After Effects to teams?
Yes, in fact most companies benefit from a 2 day workshop: one day for motion and usability and one day for After Effects. If you are interested in 2 1/2 day workshops to be held in the same day, please schedule a call.
Where can I find the workshop prices?
Please click the button below.
Here's what designers are saying about the workshop
★★★★
“This workshop made me notice the smaller details in transitions. As an app developer, applying the 12 Principles whenever appropriate will definitely make the customers of my app happy.”
Peeral, App developer at Lutron, Philadelphia
★★★★★
“This workshop offers you a chance to quickly learn and discuss high level usability and motion examples in an open format. Wishing I could do this workshop weekly with my entire team!”
Andre, Visual Designer, Bank of America, Oakland
★★★★★
“Very helpful in allowing me to ‘see’ motion. Before this workshop I glazed over the motion or saw it more as a delight element. Now I have the language and awareness to analyze motion effectiveness and the understanding to start designing supportive motion for UX.”
Cura, UX Designer, Cisco, San Jose
★★★★★
"Issara knows what he is talking about and is tremendously experienced/read in motion. He helped us develop a language and an eye for good motion vs bad. I think we should be able to take off after the workshop!!"
Rhythm, UX Designer, Lutron, Coopersburg
★★★★★
“Transitioning the language from ‘swoosh’ to ‘easing/offset and delay’ offers a different level of confidence when presenting and justifying solutions. Linguistics frameworks! Learning about easing curves was really helpful too!”
Mason, Lead UX Designer at Mindbody, San Luis Obispo
★★★★★
"This workshop has been helpful in breaking down motion into talking points to be able to discuss why or why not something’s working. Running through examples also helps to see how one would critique motion, as well as dissect why it’s done that way and the meaning it was meant to convey. Overall, I think this course has helped to look at motion with a critical and dissecting eye to improve or recreate."
Jennifer, UX/UI Designer at Lutron, Coopersburg
★★★★
“This workshop was great for understanding how motion can either help or hinder usability. We discussed both good and bad uses of motion in real-world products. This workshop also supplied us with a common vocabulary that facilitates discussion and idea exchange.”
Liliana, Engineering Manager, Kayak, Boston
★★★★★
“I came to this workshop with no knowledge on motion and walked away with a really good perspective on principles on motion, and analyzing motion design examples to learn from them and when/where to add delight and value to the product.”
Angad, Interaction Designer, Cisco, San Jose
★★★★★
“Having a standard/common language to share ideas about motion in UX is key to collaborating, and pitching motion design concepts. Also understanding the difference between motion for entertainment vs similar principles for UX goals.”
John, CTO/Developer, The Campfire Union, Winnipeg
★★★★★
"I really loved the workshop! I liked the clear frameworks that I can use both to evaluate and branstorm in the motion space. The hands on exercises were great!"
Gloria, Product Designer, Dropbox, San Francisco
★★★★★
"The pacing of the presentation was perfect. Spacing out the lectures and exercises was done very well. In addition to the Ideation detailed overview, I thought the stakeholder presentation exercise was incredible value and so very useful to developing a great process of design. It truly is the most informative and comprehensive workshop I've participated in."
Eric, UX/UI Designer, N3TWORK, San Francisco
★★★★★
"Great balance of theory with practical examples. Engaging presentation – made time fly by! Loved the practical discussions at the end. Love that your passion is so palpable. Great space to ask questions too. Thank you!"
Vivienne, Product/UX Designer, Shopify, Ottawa
★★★★
“The workshop is a great foundation for any level of designer to help build a vocabulary and way of thinking about motion in product design."
Phil, Product Designer, Dropbox, San Francisco
★★★★★
"Amazing quality of the workshop. Issara is an excellent instructor, he knows his craft, and really appreciate how hands onthe workshop was."
Kaustubh, UX Designer, Salesforce, San Francisco
★★★★★
"Great real world examples! Lots of good and bad examples. Interesting activities like drawing examples of UX in motion from A to B. Great way to learn vocabulary. Developers should not be scared to attend. Lots of WebDev examples and tools!"
Jocelyne, Chief Design Officer, Lumo Interactive, Winnipeg
★★★★★
"Loved this workshop! Lots of examples, which really helps me as a visual learner. I think it was great to hear how motion is applied in the UX context. I previously utilized Disney’s 12 Principles in motion/animation, but these didn’t always apply to interface objects. These Principles of UX in Motion really help me visualize motion directly connected to my designs."
Mimi, Product Designer, SAP, San Francisco
★★★★★
"This workshop is very conceptual, and you'll learn how motion impacts UX. It will also give you the tools to help inform your decisions and be able to talk to them."
Adrian, Art Director, Product, Mindbody, San Luis Obispo
★★★★★
"The class is excellent for a designer who is looking to learn motion design at a foundational level. It helps you to understand how to use motion meaningfully and what interactions there are usable. The class is packed with examples that helps you understand motion principles conceptually and clearly. Issara also encouraged us to develop a vocabulary to articulate your motion design projects."
Shurami, UX Designer, Green Leaf, San Mateo
★★★★★
"The class was great with lots of examples to illustrate how motion can support or undermine the UX."
Angela, Product Designer, Scribd, San Francisco
★★★★★
"The workshop is awesome and has deep thinking that is needed in this industry!"
Jory, Designer/Developer, Manoverboard, Winnipeg
★★★★★
"Good good… Quick way to get an overview of how to rethink motion and how it can enhance user experiences."
Ricky, Product Designer, Sofi, San Francisco
★★★★
"I thought the workshops and exercisess were very useful and got our team thinking in practical ways about motion. Introducing the right vocabulary was also very useful."
Alkistis, UX Designer, Kayak, Boston
★★★★★
"This was a very helpful workshop. It helped me learn and understand how to use motion terminology to pitch my ideas. The group exercises were helpful and were great practice for real work situations."
Christine, UI/UX Artist, N3TWORK, San Francisco
★★★★★
"This workshop covers everything from using motion in your projects to conveying your ideas and sell your ideas to stakeholders. I've learned a lot and will apply this to all my projects."
Hanah, Designer, Salesforce, San Francisco
It makes sense if you have questions.
Schedule a call with Issara to get your questions answered.
"After reading Issara's article on motion and usability, I sent him an email. We scheduled a call, which led to us booking a workshop with 12 of our designers and developers."
– Steven Rossan, Senior Product Manager, MindBody, San Luis Obispo
