Animation That Clarifies State, Not Just Decorates It

Before adding a transition, I ask what state change it's communicating — loading, success, focus, hierarchy. If the answer is 'it looks nice,' that's a signal to cut it or shorten it.

Framer Motion's `whileInView` and layout animations do most of the heavy lifting for reveal and reordering. GSAP earns its keep only for scroll-pinned or timeline-scrubbed sequences that Framer can't express cleanly.

Every animation in this portfolio respects `prefers-reduced-motion` — accessibility isn't optional polish, it's part of the animation spec from day one.