How Over Use of Video or Animated Gifs Can Sabotage The User Experience

After reading an article on the eConsultancy, blog it started me wondering. Is the current obsession with video & animated .gifs moving marketers backwards instead of forwards?

Now don't get me wrong, I love the quality of the content on eConsultancy, but what I don't like is feeling like I've been transported back into the early 90's.

A recent article I read on their blog infuriated me, but it wasn't the content of the article that was to blame, it was the overly distracting animated elements positioned on the page right next to the article.

Let's get something straight. I'm a marketer and have nothing against advertising; if I did, I'd be terrible at my job, but when the elements used on a page ruin the design aesthetic and kill the user experience, it annoys me and if it annoys me, you can bet it will annoy some of your audience too.

Whilst there is no disputing the power that video and animation has to engage, a good understanding of page aesthetics and the user experience must always remain at the top of priorities in terms of both web design, and website or blog monetisation.

How the brain responds to a busy web page

When a user is bombarded with stimulus, a subtle stress response kicks in. With multiple elements vying for our attention our brains processing ability has to step up a gear as we attempt to make sense of what we are seeing.

When too many elements on a page are competing with each other, we have to make snap decisions on where we should focus our attention.

This selective attention requires us to continually filter out all of the other elements that are still vying for our attention. As well as ramping up stress, this also makes it more likely that we will not be paying full attention to the thing we've chosen to focus on.

Too many distracting ads serve only to further encourage the adoption of ad blockers

For marketers, this inevitably erodes the strength of your messaging. What's more, the irritation caused by too many distracting ads serves only to further encourage the adoption of ad blockers by the very people you are trying to engage with.

From a users perspective, when I attempted to read the eConsultancy article (above) that irked me so much, there were 3 separate flashing right hand side page elements fully visible on the screen by the time I'd got down to the second paragraph.

It did my head in, so I stopped reading the article and closed the page.

Think about that. The over-use of moving elements, in this case, all of them ads, had the exact opposite effect to that which was intended. So why are some website's over-using video and/or animation and moving backwards in terms of the user experience they provide?

Design clarity means greater impact

Yes video is effective, and yes the use of animated .gifs can grab peoples attention. Start over-using either of those elements however, and you do so at the expense of your user experience, and no one should be seeking to purposely spoil the user experience through bad design.

Moderation leads to clarity, which is the key to ensuring maximum impact of your messaging.

Web design moved on from spinning globes, endlessly opening envelopes and flashing text for a reason.

Updated to add...

To their credit, eConsultancy responded to my Tweet this morning in a really positive way, saying they've now removed one of the .gifs. I'll go back and read that article now then.