Alex, I totally get that struggle. It's the difference between knowing how to animate and knowing how to design with motion. What you're describing is about purpose and choreography. I was in the same spot a few months ago and found an incredibly thorough guide that breaks it all down. It doesn't just talk about easing but connects motion to classic design principles like clear staging, anticipation, and follow-through, but applied directly to UI. You should definitely check out this deep dive on the principles of motion design over on Clay's blog. It completely changed my framework for thinking about animationfrom making things move to making movement communicate. It covers everything from functional purposes (like providing feedback) to personality and narrative.