Yousuf Rafi
If you’ve been following up on the latest web design trends that are predicted to make big waves this year, you have likely got the wind of magical moving photos – cinemagraphs.
But do you know what cinemagraphs are, and why they matter?
Not exactly an image, not quite a video, cinemagraphs are visually attractive elements that can keep you riveted just long enough and make you turn your head for a second look.A cinemagraph is basically a GIF that looks like a still image with subtle,continuous movements that entail vigilance to detect.
Cinemagraphs pack a great potential to make your website attention grabbing by combining beautiful still photographs with some moving elements. The best part of cinemagraphs is that they bring your photos to life, thus making the image more realistic, striking and sometimes even thought-provoking. If the waving photos in Harry Potter newspapers caught your fancy, cinemagraphs are sure to make you go down the memory lane.
Cinemagraphs are known to hold viewer’s attention up to 10x longer than still photographs, since they allow a glimpse of time to be preserved and experienced again and again. The unique and conspicuous aesthetics of cinemagraphs has led to their popularity in a number of mediums,such as web design and advertising campaigns. Some established brands such as Coca Cola, Netflix, Walmart and Budweiser have already started incorporating cinemagraphs on their websites and social media marketing campaigns.Recently, many web design agencies have also jumped on this web design trend and included cinemagraphs on their homepages, product pages, landing pages and about pages.
In this digital age, brands are striving hard to make users stop and pay attention- even for just a few seconds. Human eyes cannot resist motion, and by leveraging engaging moving photos, you can satiate their need for motion while impressing your website visitors.
Cinemagraphs go a long way towards creating powerful and exceptional storiesthat are truly fascinating, serving to make your online audience stay longer on your website, and making them look through all the pages. This is a compelling web design strategy that has the power to narrate stories while imprinting your message in the minds of your audience.
Here are some amazing ways of making your website visually attractive by incorporating cinemagraphs.
Make Your Landing Pages Attention Grabbing
Whether you are an eCommerce business or a service-based agency, you have a great opportunity to use cinemagraphs on your landing pages. Adding a visually appealing cinemagraph at the start can grab the attention of your visitors and make them scroll further down.
The first image on your landing page serves as a hero image. It is the perfect place to showcase your top products in the limelight, and draw the attention of your viewers, so they are compelled to read on. A cinemagraph can dominate the entire landing page, which users click through to access more information. You can also combine cinemagraphs with catchy and interactive elements to make them more interesting.
Take The Deep End as an example. This web consulting and internet marketing agency used a cinemagraph on their landing page to convey their brand message and a sense of professionalism and intelligence, by portraying a man in glasses at work on his laptop, with a subtle backdrop of a bookshelf behind him. This is when you notice a subtle movement; a reflection of a moving train glinting off the window glass. This unique framing is a smart play on “the train of thought” and keeps the audience riveted!
Similarly, Weltrade’s homepage has also made a classy use of cinamagraphs. As you hover over the models in the hero image, they subtly come to life, completing a chic, formidable setting.
Adding cinemagraphs to your landing pages is indeed a worthwhile option to coax visitors into checking out the actual contents of your website.
Create Convincing Product Pages
When visitors browse through your product pages, reel them in with powerful, interesting cinemagraphs. You can offer more detailed views of your products by using cinemagraphs along with the static image of your product, perhaps to flaunt the gorgeous flair of a dress or the smooth turning of a watch. Cinemagraphs are something new that our brains haven’t yet been trained to comprehend. While your brain takes those two extra seconds to compute the phenomenon, you do a double take and stay on the image a little longer.
If you peruse through the website of Tiffany & Co, the brand has leveraged a cinemagraph on their product store page to showcase their Rubedo metal collection. The striking image of a gorgeous woman standing in the open air, with her hair whipping in the air, instantly grabs the eye. This is when your eye flits from her waves to the scintillating neck piece she is sporting over a chic plunging neckline. The neck piece is subtly swinging about her back, perhaps caught in a gust of wind, and keeps you hooked in its glamor.
Ecommerce businesses can also leverage the power of cinemagraphs and showcase their products with a bit of motion. Look at this amazing example of Bloomingdales, where the brand has used cinemagraphs on Instagram to display their clothing line.
Cinemagraphs are also a great option for your restaurant business to showcase the detail of dish preparation by using more interactive image series. The dripping of a sauce from a succulent looking burger, or tendrils of steam wafting off from a cup of coffee, remind users of their dining experience and whet their appetite.
Tell Your Brand Story
You have a great opportunity to tell your brand story by using catchy cinemagraphs. Visitors are curious about your brand history, what you do and other important information about your company before they actually decide to do business with you.
Using the right visual elements on your About page can help convince your future clients and customers about your expertise. Adding a cinemagraph of yourentire team canhelp you earntheir trust. Human mind has the ability to remember and recognize faces. Using cinemagraphs of your team along with the complete bio and their names can work best for your prospects.
You can also use moving testimonials to build customer trust and show potential customers a positive brand history. In addition, you can leverage behind the scenes of your workplace to flaunt to your future clients how the magic happens.
Wrapping Things Up
To put it in a nutshell, cinemagraphs are becoming an effective marketing tool that can take your brand to the next level. They can hold your viewers’ gaze for just a while longer,whilenarrating brand stories and conveying the actual meaning of an image. If used right, cinemagraphs can help increase sales, create a positive impression, boost user engagement, and convince people to stick around on your website for longer.
Hire an experienced digital agency to create effective cinemagraphs to tell your tale, increase your website engagement,and conversion rate.
Ashad Rehman
