As a company known for automating digital workflows, Zapier knew they wanted to center their brand image around motion. Athletics was brought on to strategize a motion system that would bring the brand to life and reflect Zapier’s consistency in movement, ultimately guiding the motion of its logomark, color palettes, and typography – and at what touchpoints of the user experience.
Zapier’s first motion ideal, entitled “Clear the way,” focuses on educating and onboarding users, emphasizing how automation works, through active, linear, directional sequencing. It simplifies complex operations into incremental steps using UI elements as guides.
The second motion – “Clear the desk” – illustrates the exponential benefits of automation, transforming user inputs in self-sufficient automations. By demonstrating synchronization between apps and tasks, it highlights the seamless and automated nature of Zapier’s platform.
Emphasizing the aspirational aspects of automation, the final idea – “Clear the mind” – shows how Zapier helps in decluttering tasks and notifications, focusing on the newfound time and energy people enjoy with Zapier on their team. It employs gentle animations and subdued colors to communicate the serene state of being brought about by effective automation
The motion principles also include UI elements that leverage elasticity and anticipation, creating more approachable and humanizing digital expressions. These principles extend to text animations, offset motions, and match cuts, ensuring that every element in motion feels friendly and controlled.
For the animated elements of the program, Athletics partnered with animator Steve Haslip.
