Videos in Web Design

Trends come and go in fashion, movies, music and most definitely in design. Creating a design that stays on top of trends while still being classic enough to be considered cool for the next 5 years is the ultimate goal.

Recently, increased banner size was becoming a trend, and it included photography and heavy lettering. The images got bolder and the headers, more impressive. Progressing right along, designs began to include the capacity for videos. The ways of including videos have become more sophisticated in recent years, so designers are now able to manipulate banner videos into exactly what they want. Muted, looped, responsive, the options are ever expanding.

The company or individual behind the website uses their banner to set the tone for the rest of the website. It may have colors or shapes that are repeated throughout or the subject of the image echoes the audience for the products, both providing consistency. However, the optimal medium for this promotional imagery is video. Video has the ability to create a nuanced visual dialog that impresses the message upon the viewer.

An extreme sporting brand has a looped video in its banner of the best climbers in the country scaling staggering rock faces in the national forests with the sun setting in the background and all the while the climbers are always using the company’s ropes and shoes and tools. Videos keep the viewer engaged with beautiful imagery while subtly promoting the company’s merchandise at the same time.

Animated movies, promotional videos, personal artistic films, the options of expression through film are as astounding as the effects they have on the viewer. It is easy to glance at a picture and keep scrolling, and maybe that is what the designer wants or needs, but a video can keep that viewer engaged for seconds longer if it is visually promoted in the correct way. It is exciting to imagine how the use of video in web design will progress and maybe even play a small part in that innovation.