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universal-practitioner skill

/skills/03-by-role-persona/universal-practitioner

This skill helps you apply Disney's 12 animation principles across any domain to convey life, clarity, and engagement in your work.

npx playbooks add skill dylantarre/animation-principles --skill universal-practitioner

Review the files below or copy the command above to add this skill to your agents.

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SKILL.md
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---
name: universal-practitioner
description: Use when applying animation principles in any context, for any role, or when a general understanding of Disney's 12 principles is needed.
---

# Universal Practitioner: Animation Principles for Everyone

You apply Disney's 12 Animation Principles across any domain. These principles transcend animation—they're about bringing life and clarity to any experience.

## The 12 Principles: Universal Application

### 1. Squash and Stretch
**Principle**: Flexibility indicates life; rigidity indicates death.
**Universal Truth**: Show that things are affected by forces. Buttons respond to clicks. Arguments bend under pressure. Ideas flex to circumstances.
**Apply When**: You need to convey that something is alive, responsive, or affected by interaction.

### 2. Anticipation
**Principle**: Prepare the audience for what's coming.
**Universal Truth**: People understand better when they're ready. Announce changes. Build up to reveals. Signal before acting.
**Apply When**: Before any significant change, action, or revelation.

### 3. Staging
**Principle**: Present one clear idea at a time.
**Universal Truth**: Clarity requires focus. Remove distractions. Highlight what matters. Guide attention deliberately.
**Apply When**: Communicating anything important—one thing, clearly, completely.

### 4. Straight Ahead vs Pose to Pose
**Principle**: Spontaneous flow vs planned precision.
**Universal Truth**: Some work needs organic discovery (brainstorming). Some needs careful structure (execution). Know which mode you're in.
**Apply When**: Choosing between exploration and implementation approaches.

### 5. Follow Through and Overlapping Action
**Principle**: Actions have consequences that ripple outward.
**Universal Truth**: Nothing exists in isolation. Changes cascade. Effects follow causes. Consider the ripples.
**Apply When**: Analyzing impact, designing systems, understanding consequences.

### 6. Slow In and Slow Out
**Principle**: Ease into and out of states.
**Universal Truth**: Transitions matter. Don't jolt between states. Gradual shifts feel natural; abrupt changes feel jarring.
**Apply When**: Managing change, onboarding, transitions of any kind.

### 7. Arc
**Principle**: Natural movement follows curves.
**Universal Truth**: Life isn't linear. Growth curves. Learning curves. Story arcs. Honor the natural shape of progress.
**Apply When**: Planning journeys, narratives, progressions, or paths.

### 8. Secondary Action
**Principle**: Supporting details that reinforce the main point.
**Universal Truth**: Primary message needs supporting evidence. Main action needs context. Big ideas need small details.
**Apply When**: Reinforcing messages, adding depth, building credibility.

### 9. Timing
**Principle**: Speed communicates weight and importance.
**Universal Truth**: Pacing affects perception. Fast feels urgent or trivial. Slow feels important or boring. Match timing to meaning.
**Apply When**: Presentations, conversations, reveals, any communication.

### 10. Exaggeration
**Principle**: Push beyond normal for clarity.
**Universal Truth**: Sometimes subtlety obscures. Make differences visible. Amplify distinctions. Don't let important things go unnoticed.
**Apply When**: Making contrasts clear, emphasizing key points, breaking through noise.

### 11. Solid Drawing
**Principle**: Understand structure and maintain consistency.
**Universal Truth**: Know the fundamentals. Maintain internal logic. Build on solid foundations. Consistency builds trust.
**Apply When**: Establishing systems, building credibility, maintaining standards.

### 12. Appeal
**Principle**: Make things people want to engage with.
**Universal Truth**: Craft matters. Quality attracts. Attention to detail signals care. People choose appealing options.
**Apply When**: Everything. Always. Appeal isn't decoration—it's respect for your audience.

## Cross-Domain Applications

| Domain | Example Application |
|--------|-------------------|
| Writing | Anticipation in opening hooks |
| Presentation | Staging for slide composition |
| Product | Timing for feature rollouts |
| Leadership | Follow-through on commitments |
| Teaching | Exaggeration for key concepts |
| Sales | Arc in customer journey |
| Design | Appeal in every touchpoint |

## The Meta-Principle

These 12 principles share one root: **empathy for the audience**. Every principle exists to make the experience clearer, more engaging, more human.

When in doubt, ask: "Does this serve the person experiencing it?"

That question applies to animation, code, products, presentations, and life.

Overview

This skill teaches how to apply Disney's 12 animation principles across roles and domains to make experiences clearer, more engaging, and more human. It translates each principle into practical guidance for writing, product design, leadership, teaching, presentations, and more. Use it to breathe life into ideas, processes, and interactions by focusing on audience empathy and effective communication.

How this skill works

The skill maps each of the 12 principles (squash & stretch, anticipation, staging, etc.) to universal truths and actionable moves you can use outside of animation. For each principle it explains what to inspect—timing, pacing, emphasis, structure, transitions, and supporting details—and suggests concrete adjustments. It encourages choosing modes (explore vs plan), predicting ripple effects, and shaping experiences with empathy for the audience.

When to use it

  • Designing product interactions or UI behavior that should feel alive and responsive
  • Structuring presentations, lessons, or stories to guide audience attention and understanding
  • Planning change, onboarding, or feature rollouts to avoid jarring transitions
  • Analyzing systems or decisions where consequences ripple outward
  • Crafting marketing, sales, or communication to highlight and exaggerate key points

Best practices

  • Start from the audience: ask what serves the person experiencing the flow
  • Pick the right mode: explore (straight ahead) for discovery, pose-to-pose for deliberate outcomes
  • Control timing and pacing to match importance—slow in/slow out for weighty transitions
  • Use secondary actions and staging to reinforce the main idea without adding noise
  • Maintain structural consistency (solid drawing) and make deliberate choices that increase appeal

Example use cases

  • A product manager uses anticipation and timing to sequence a feature launch and onboarding so users understand value gradually
  • A presenter applies staging and arc to structure slides that highlight one clear idea per screen and build to a persuasive conclusion
  • A teacher uses exaggeration and secondary action to make an abstract concept memorable through vivid examples
  • A designer applies squash-and-stretch metaphorically to create interactive feedback that feels responsive and alive
  • A leader leverages follow-through and overlapping action when communicating commitments and tracking their organizational impact

FAQ

Can these animation principles really apply outside visual animation?

Yes. Each principle describes a pattern of perception and interaction that maps to communication, systems, and behavior design—use them as lenses, not literal animation rules.

Which principle should I start with?

Start with staging and anticipation: make one clear idea and prepare your audience before major changes. From there, tune timing, follow-through, and appeal.