The transition is intentional.

Ah, then ok. Thought this was a mistake, because nothing else jumps on hover.

The design is a little experimental, so we'll monitor feedback for a while and see if changes need to be made.

I am (so far) not a fan of it, on the otherhand, if they had faces on the icons and those changed when you moused over then... that would be epic :D

Maybe the hover effect should be changed to zoom while keeping icon position centred.

I'm all for @aik099 suggestion - zoom while centered instead of jump.

I think 2-3 concentric circles of eldritch runes should appear and rotate in alternating directions. As they gain speed, the browser should emit a bass hum and begin to shake. This will help users understand the interaction better.

@lpriestley hit this and also wasn't sure if the animation was intentional or not.

Maybe I'll mock up the eldritch runes.

There is a small issue with the linking of the jumping icons where the click mask doesn't really work:

http://screencast.com/t/UlcjyWQVK