As designers, the question of static versus animated is a difficult one. While producing animated design is more expensive and time-consuming, it can truly be worth it when done purposefully and effectively. If your site is at an industry standard with the resources to create beautiful animated graphics, the opportunity can elevate the way your message is conveyed better than a static site.
This article will compare animated and static design and their uses on websites, to help you understand which option may be best for your business.
Static Web Design: The Most Common Web Design Option
Animated web design is becoming increasingly popular, with many designers opting to use it for their websites. However, there are still many designers who choose to use static graphics.
Static graphics are popular for many reasons. While nothing is easy to create, static designs are much more simple to produce than the likes of animation. Static designs also offer a faster load time for the user, contributing to the user experience value of the website. Having a user-friendly web design is so important to build an audience, hence the popularity of static web design.
Animated Web Design: Effective, yet Costly
Despite the simplicity of static web design, it is slowly being overtaken by animated web design. In today’s attention economy, the many benefits of animated graphics tend to diminish the high-cost factor.
As an unfixed, dynamic form of graphic, animations create a more engaging experience for the user when created thoughtfully. This heightens the user experience factor, potentially more than static designs, and why although costly it is becoming the widely preferred design option by successful companies. Animated design offers creative engagement where users leave the website with an experience.
In many cases, it can be difficult to determine whether static or animated design will be more effective. It truly depends on your business, budget, goals, and ability to produce the graphics.
It’s also important to take into account the behaviour of your audience and potential customers. This can mean tracking the way they interact with your website to determine where you need to improve and how to keep them engaged.
The Industry Is Changing
Web Design has always been a dynamic industry. Over the years, technology has rapidly advanced and so have the needs of businesses and companies. For success, It’s important to know what best suits your needs within the rapidly changing web industry.
There Are No Set Rules
The constant evolution of web design means that nothing is ever in place long enough for structure, rules or shortcuts to be developed. While yes, static web design was once the norm and way to go, animation is the current craze, and no doubt something else will come next.
While it’s easy to say that sites have to be done well to be successful, there are no rules on how to do so. While this can seem daunting, it allows so much flexibility and freedom for you to experiment with what works best for your business. Whether that is static or animated design, or something else entirely, the rules are up to you to create. It all depends on what your audience prefers and the results your web traffic provides.
Static is More Old-fashioned
Continuing with the sentiment that the industry is rapidly changing, some may consider static images old fashioned. While this may be true, it doesn’t mean they are a thing of the past, rather the basis to develop your web design on, with room to expand and be more engaging.
Animated graphics, like GIFs and videos, are more modern and popular right now for web design. They are in fashion, you could say. However, as trends go, this won’t last forever. To make the most out of your graphics it’s important to think outside of the box and find ways to make your web design stand out from the rest while truly capturing your brand.
Contact Anchor Digital today, a Brisbane marketing agency wanting to help you set up an effective digital marketing website.
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