Videos are being used more frequently in websites nowadays, either as content or even as the background at times. While the benefits of using videos in terms of engagement is certainly undeniable, it is important to remember that videos are a unique type of element that your overall design should take into consideration.
Simply put you will want to ensure that your web design is video-friendly so that you’re able to tap into the potential benefits of videos as effectively as possible. If you want to pull that off, these tips will help put you on the right track:
Make sure your video content is placed in a prominent position
If you’re incorporating videos as part of your content, it is safe to say that it is meant to be the center of attention. As such, you will want it to occupy a prominent position in your web design so that visitors will immediately focus on it, and typically that means placing it right below the headline. On top of that you should also pay attention to the visual hierarchy of the design itself, to ensure that your video isn’t competing for attention with other elements that could distract viewers and dilute its effectiveness.
Keep some white space between the video and other elements
As mentioned above, you will want to ensure that your videos don’t have to compete with other design elements for attention – and the visual hierarchy is important for that reason. Equally important is the amount of white space between your video and other elements in order to distinguish it and set it apart. While the exact amount of white space needed is subjective, the more white space that borders your video the more prominent it will appear.
Design for mobile devices
It is a safe bet that a large chunk of your audience will consist of users on mobile devices with smaller screens – and your web design should accommodate that. Use a responsive design to ensure that your website layout and elements adjust themselves for mobile devices, while still placing your video in a prominent position. Additionally the video element itself should be responsive, so that it displays properly on smaller screens and possibly adjusts its resolution accordingly as well.
Use ‘click to play’ instead of ‘auto play’
Although some websites do use ‘auto play’ to automatically play videos when a website is loaded – it is a risky proposition. In many cases automatically playing videos will annoy visitors and they may even leave instead of watching. Rather than taking that chance, utilizing the ‘click to play’ method is a preferable option and it has the added benefit of reducing loading time as well.
Only use video backgrounds when suitable
Recently video backgrounds have become more popular, but keep in mind that they should only be used in certain situations. Because video backgrounds increasing loading time as well as make a website look busier, they should only be incorporated in a design in situations where they are able to accentuate it. As a rule of thumb if there are specific elements that you want to have prominence, it might be best to avoid using a video background.
Based on these tips you should have a good idea of the steps you can take to ensure your web design is more video-friendly. In most cases it is a question of tweaking your websites design, though at times you may also want to edit video or optimize it to help improve certain areas (i.e. loading times or prominence).
Naturally design is subjective by nature and so there are no hard and fast rules that need to be adhered to. In fact you should definitely be as creative as possible and experiment with different types of web design while keeping in mind the tips listed above so that you can ensure that it is video-friendly.
