7 Ways to Make Your Website Stand Out With Motion Graphics

What is motion graphics in design terms? Is it expensive and out of reach for most small business budgets? How can it improve your website design experience and amp up those conversion rates? Buckle up as we answer all these burning questions about motion graphics on websites.‍

What are motion graphics?

The term motion graphics refers to animation, often with text as a major component. Essentially, it’s animated graphic design. 

‍Motion graphics are an extremely popular marketing tool, as they help to make content more digestible and memorable. Think about anything from an ad with an animated CTA to a whiteboard explainer video - motion graphics help you get your message across fast, which is perfect for today’s attention deficient audiences.

Another reason why motion graphic design is so helpful in marketing is that it's a much less expensive alternative to videos. If you want to shoot a professional video, you need a professional camera, sound equipment, and, probably, a studio space, as well as professional video editor. Motion graphics designers only require 1-2 computer programs to create stunning and engaging videos.

{{MOTION_PORTFOLIO="/dev/components"}}

Why include motion graphics in your website design?

Your website is the best place to test the waters with motion graphic design. There are a few reasons:

1. Motion graphics increase engagement and conversions. According to Hubspot, including animated content on your landing page can increase conversions by up to 80%. 
2. It’s good for SEO. Your customers aren’t the only ones that like motion graphics and video content. Google also favors pages with content-related videos and is 53 times more likely to discover your page if it includes one.
3. You have total control. Social media is prone to glitches, and sometimes the creative can look different on different channels. If you’re just testing the waters with a motion graphic designer, your website is a much safer way to go. 

One thing to remember about motion design for web is that you shouldn't overdo it. Animated graphics will slow down loading speed, which is one of the most critical factors impacting bounce rates. In fact, recent research suggests that 53% of people will leave your website if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load. 

A skilled motion graphic designer will ensure that animated design elements are optimized for web use and don't affect loading speed in any obvious way.

7 Ideas on using motion graphics on websites

Ready to get started with motion design for web? Here are 7 stellar ideas on how to incorporate motion graphics in your site.

1. Kinetic typography

Let's start with the most basic and oldest type of motion graphic design: moving typography. There’s more than one way to use this type of motion graphics on websites, from an animated call to action to value propositions.

It’s also a terrific idea for "coming soon" websites. Moving typography adds excitement and mystery to help viewers remember the website (and hopefully come back to it when it's live!).

2. Animated logo

An impressive 75% of people recognize brands by their logo, while 60% will avoid brands with attractive logos. However, it takes 5 to 7 impressions for people to remember a brand.

So, how to get people to remember your logo and, therefore, your brand? Make each impression count by getting them to look at your logo longer. 

Try animating your logo in a fun way that will entice viewers to focus on it a bit longer. For example, Google changes their homepage almost daily, by adding animations to the logo. However, whatever they come up with, the iconic wordmark is incorporated into the design.

3. Hover effect

Marketers know how difficult it is to get people to click. The average click-through rate for display ads is just 0.35%. And if clicking was the equivalent of "going third base", hovering was an honorable second.

Adding animation triggered by the movement of the mouse cursor is a fantastic hack to get your audience a tad closer to that click. 

Look at this example of web design for a beauty brand called Lips Love. When you hover over the heart icon, the little hearts surprise visitors and encourage them to stick around. The change of color on the "Shop" CTA button makes it more noticeable and urgent.

4. Dolly zoom

These terms come from the movies and basically mean zooming in and out. It’s the perfect way to add dynamism to the website and help viewers stay engaged.

One everyday use for this type of motion design is on e-commerce websites. Zooming in allows people to inspect the product better before they add it to the cart.

5. Parallax effect

Parallax is one of the most common examples of motion design for web. It means that background elements move slower than elements in the foreground. With short attention spans, this is a great way to keep visitors engaged. 

Take a look at this example.The illustrations are stunning, but thanks to motion design, the website feels like stepping into a storybook.

Parallax scrolling is also a fantastic way to improve user experience. Instead of dumping information all at once, viewers can take in chunks of information while scrolling through your page.

Here’s an example of a motion graphics website for financial consulting services. The website is fun and engaging, but professional and explains how the service works.

6. Small animated illustrations

Many websites these days use motion graphic design sparingly to add just a bit of visual interest and improve the UX design. 

Here's a lovely motion graphics website concept combining parallax scrolling with added moving elements. Making a simple line or shape move is not very difficult and won't harm your website's loading speed. However, it can help draw attention to the important stuff and delight users.

7. Explainer videos

Did you know that 95% of people will watch an explainer video to learn about a product or service? More importantly, consumers are 64% more likely to purchase a product after watching a video. 

But what if you don't have the resources to shoot a professional video or are camera-shy? That's where graphic videos can help.

Short animated videos are a great way to introduce a product and, especially, a service. For example, since many of our first-time customers aren't familiar with unlimited design, we've created a fun video to explain the design process and service.

Closing remarks

We hope this list has given you some ideas for motion graphics on websites, and  inspired you to revamp yours.

There are numerous handy motion graphics templates out there, on platforms such as Animaker and Visme. Or you could try to make something from scratch with a professional software like Adobe After Effects. 

Still, DIY motion design is not for the faint of heart. If you have little to no design experience, you will spend hours trying to create something mediocre at best.

On the other hand, motion graphic designer hourly rates average at around $50 per hour. So you can see how a single project will cost several hundred dollars. Motion design studios can charge thousands of dollars for a single project.

Is there a simpler, much more affordable way to get basic motion graphics? Yes!

With ManyPixels, you can get animated illustrations and GIFs for as little as $549 per month! Since we're an unlimited design service, one of our designers can also create custom illustrations and other graphics that you can then use to create more complex video graphics.

To find out more about how we can help, book an informative demo session with one of our reps!