Invited to speak at a local design and technology meetup in Berlin, presenting on the topic of designing for motion — specifically how to make animation purposeful rather than decorative in web interfaces. The talk drew from two years of client work where animation had been either over-applied for visual flair or avoided entirely out of performance concerns, and argued for a middle path grounded in user perception research and interaction design principles.

The presentation covered timing curves, the relationship between animation and perceived performance, and practical implementation patterns in CSS and Framer. Roughly 80 people attended across disciplines — product designers, front-end developers, and a handful of founders — which created an unusually broad conversation during the Q&A. Several attendees followed up afterward to discuss specific projects where they were wrestling with similar questions. Speaking at a local event rather than a large conference was a deliberate choice — the intimacy of the format made it possible to go deeper, handle real questions honestly, and build genuine connections with people working in the same city. It was also a reminder that some of the most energizing professional exchanges happen outside of polished conference stages, in rooms where people are genuinely curious rather than credentialing.