Hi Patrick!
Excellent question! First of all, I think it's really key that animation be a core piece of the experience of the site that you're building, and not sugar on top. How can you use animation to guide your users? How can you use it to hide information that's not important, so that they don't need to visually grok everything at once, and then make it come when called?
I've written a few articles on exactly this subject because I really believe strongly in this:
css-tricks.com/the-importance-of-context-shifting…
24ways.org/2016/animation-in-design-systems
I also gave a talk that dives into depth on the subject:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaD5z2KqcGk
I hope that helps you on your way!