Framer Motion + Tailwind: The 2025 Animation Stack

Animation in frontend has gone from “nice-to-have” to core UX.
In 2025, users expect smooth, context-aware transitions — not just buttons that move.

Framer Motion and Tailwind CSS — two tools that, when combined, give you an elegant, scalable animation workflow without the usual headache of CSS keyframes or timeline-based libraries.

💡 What Are These Tools?

🧩 Tailwind CSS

✅ Utility-first CSS framework
✅ You use short class names like p-4, bg-blue-500, rounded-xl
✅ No need to leave your HTML or JSX file

Example:

<div class="p-4 bg-blue-500 text-white rounded-xl">
  Hello Tailwind!
</div>

🎬 Framer Motion

✅ A React animation library
✅ Lets you animate anything easily
✅ Works great with Next.js, React, or Remix

Example:

import { motion } from "framer-motion";

<motion.div animate={{ x: 100 }}>I move!</motion.div>

🚀 Why Use Both Together?

✅ Tailwind handles style
✅ Framer Motion handles movement
✅ You get clean design + smooth animation ✨

🧱 Example 1: Simple Hover Animation

Let’s make a button that moves a little when hovered.

import { motion } from "framer-motion";

export default function Button() {
  return (
    <motion.button
      whileHover={{ scale: 1.1 }}
      whileTap={{ scale: 0.95 }}
      className="px-4 py-2 bg-indigo-600 text-white rounded-lg font-medium"
    >
      Hover Me 🚀
    </motion.button>
  );
}

🧠 What’s happening:

✅ whileHover → scales up the button slightly
✅ whileTap → shrinks it when clicked
✅ Tailwind adds styling and shape
✅ Result → A smooth, responsive button that feels alive ✨

🎛️ Example 2: Fade-In Animation

Let’s make a card that fades in when it appears.

import { motion } from "framer-motion";

export default function Card() {
  return (
    <motion.div
      initial={{ opacity: 0, y: 30 }}
      animate={{ opacity: 1, y: 0 }}
      transition={{ duration: 0.6 }}
      className="p-6 bg-white rounded-2xl shadow-lg"
    >
      <h2 className="text-xl font-semibold">Animated Card</h2>
      <p className="text-gray-600 mt-2">
        This card fades in smoothly when loaded.
      </p>
    </motion.div>
  );
}

🧠 Explanation:

✅ initial → where animation starts
✅ animate → where it ends
✅ transition → how fast or smooth
✅ Tailwind gives it padding, color, and shadow
✅ Simple, clear, and works perfectly across devices.

🧭 Bonus Tip: Animate Page Transitions

If you use Next.js, wrap your pages with AnimatePresence:

import { AnimatePresence, motion } from "framer-motion";

<AnimatePresence mode="wait">
  <motion.div
    key={router.asPath}
    initial={{ opacity: 0 }}
    animate={{ opacity: 1 }}
    exit={{ opacity: 0 }}
    transition={{ duration: 0.3 }}
  >
    {children}
  </motion.div>
</AnimatePresence>

🧠 Final Thoughts

In 2025, good animations = better UX.
Framer Motion and Tailwind make it possible to add motion without complexity.

They’re:

✅ Easy to learn 🧑‍💻
✅ Clean to use 💅
✅ Fun to experiment with 🚀

If you’re building modern UIs — this combo should be your go-to animation stack.