Abstract: Recent work has shown the potential of basic perceptual properties of motion for notification, association and visual search. Yet evidence from fields as diverse as perceptual science, social psychology and the performing arts suggest that motion has much richer communication potential in its interpretative scope. A long history of research and practice in the affective properties of motion has resulted in a bewildering plethora of potentially rich communicative attributes. What remains to be established is how and whether these perceptual effects and impressions can be computationally manipulated in a display environment as variables of affective communication. In this paper we explore attributes of expressive motion and report initial results from a study in which we explored which attributes might be most important in distinguishing motions meant to convey emotion.