Animated logos

If you’ve still got a static logo, 2023 is the time to shake things up. Possibly literally. We’ve delved into animation in branding before, but it’s really taking off this year.

If a picture paints a thousand words, you might be able to fit War & Peace into an animated logo. This is ideal for brand storytelling, capturing attention, evoking emotion and all the other methods of engaging with an audience your marketing team is always banging on about. Connecting a human response with something as intrinsic to your brand can yield amazing results in brand recognition and loyalty.

Go simple by adding a little movement like WWF’s  adorable panda. Try something edgy like TikTok’s  glitchy, twitchy music note. Or create an animated opus like this great offering from Mastercard . Whatever you do, don’t get left behind in a gallery of oil paintings when your competitors are stepping onto the silver screen.

Vertical video

Sorry. The war against vertical video has officially been lost.

There are currently over 6 billion smartphone users worldwide, and forecasts expect this number to rise by more than a billion by 2027. With such a huge number of people viewing the internet on a mobile, we’ve got no choice but to embrace vertical video.

Whether filming video footage or creating animated shorts, a mobile-first approach is going to be the way forward from now on. This makes shooting candid or behind-the-scenes videos super easy, as anyone in your team can simply get out their phone and hit record. These types of casual, relatable content can be a great way to connect with your audience, and you can make them for approximately zero pounds. Which means they’re always within budget.

Scroll animations

Creating more engaging online experiences is another big trend in the design world, and scroll animations are a big part of that.

Strictly from a mental health point of view, we should really be trying to stop the scroll. However, as a marketer, it’s your job to encourage as much scrolling as possible. Get those fingers working! As well as creating excitement and intrigue as they appear before your eyes, they also help your website to load faster, as they only appear if and when a user scrolls to them.

Load times are a key Google metric, because they don’t want to serve a poor user experience. Scroll animations are a great way to boost engagement and keep eyes on your content for longer without tanking your rankings. If your website features lots of videos and animations, check your PageSpeed score and see whether you can control the scroll.

2D/3D mashups

Both big and small brands are embracing a quirky mix of 2D and 3D elements, creating an exciting and unusual visual experience for your audience. 2D3D does sound a bit like 2023, so this is definitely the year to give it a go.

Mashing up two different design styles is a great way to create an instantly recognisable brand identity. Whether you’re combining real objects with a flat design like this beautiful ad by product innovation tastemakers Grommet , or digitally animating 3-dimensional characters in a hand-drawn scene, the juxtaposition of formats means there are literally infinite options.

Maybe you’re the brand with all those paper cutouts in videos of forests and waterfalls. Maybe you’ve got a weird pink-on-pink theme going, layering 3D objects on a 2D backdrop for a bit of texture. Maybe you capture a cute claymation character running around your office at night on CCTV. Get weird with it. Why not?

Starting to feel a little animated?

Then I’ve got great news. DWH is excited to offer video and animation services to help our clients get their marketing in motion. Whether you’re looking to create a cinematic masterpiece that makes Titanic look like an episode of Tom & Jerry, or you’d like to add a little pizazz to your logo, we’re already waiting for you at the drawing board.

Get in touch with us to discuss your ideas and let’s create something amazing in 2023!