Design AtlasA literal, camera-accurate copy of real motion tends to look flat on screen. Animators push a key pose or expression further — sometimes much further — than reality to make it read more clearly and with more energy. Walt Disney described it as staying "plausible" while pushing reality further than it would go on its own.
Exaggeration applies to timing as well as size and speed — hold that pre-impact pause just a touch longer, squash the ball far more than it physically would, and the same action reads as far more fun and far more legible.
UI calls for restraint here. Exaggerating a button-press too much reads as goofy or cheap, so production UI usually keeps it to a few percent of scale change — but an onboarding mascot or an empty-state illustration, where personality is the point, can push exaggeration much further.
The demo shows the same bounce at two intensities. The faint ball on the left is the restrained version; the one on the right is exaggerated — it squashes far more and launches far higher.
When to use
Keep it subtle for functional micro-interactions like buttons and toggles. Go bold with it wherever there's a character — mascots, illustrations, game UI.