What is ScrollyTelling? [A Complete Guide with 15 Great Examples]

What is ScrollyTelling

Have you ever read an online article that kept you hooked till the end? The one that integrated story-telling into scrolling and kept you glued all through? You might have seen the effect of ScrollyTelling.

Recently, scrolly-telling or scrolling stories have emerged as one of the most common forms of digital storytelling. This allows artists to convey information more attractively, thus ensuring the reader’s comprehension.

This complete guide to ScrollyTelling looks into its essence, mode of operation, and reasons why it has proved to be an effective method of telling a story. Let’s get started.

What is ScrollyTelling?

ScrollyTelling is the modern storytelling in the internet era whereby users are allowed to scroll through different pages containing different information. The combination of ScrollyTelling with storytelling enhances its effectiveness and enjoyment for users through immersion. This approach helps content producers make their message compelling and engaging through an entertaining means of showing information.

The approach entails composing a narrative where the unfolding is tied to the process of scrolling through the content. It frequently integrates text, pictures, videos, as well as animation to build up an uninterrupted narration. Content creators can achieve this through the use of scrolling, which helps control users’ perception while creating a feeling of discovery.

When to Use ScrollyTelling?

1. Data Visualization

ScrollyTelling is one of the most efficient means of communicating complicated information in a graphic manner that can be easily understood. Content providers can take the users on a walk-through of the data by utilizing interactive charts, graphs, and infographics.

2. Storytelling

ScrollyTelling works well if one wants to tell a narrative that flows as the person scrolls down. ScrollyTelling can help content creator make their audience feel like they are part of the story – be it a historic event, a personal narrative, or even a fictitious tale.

3. Explainer Content

ScrollyTelling makes the user follow instructions or an explanatory process from point A to Z. Using small pieces of information broken down into understandable components plus some interactive elements would help content creators make sure readers grasp all details properly.

4. Product Presentations

ScrollyTelling can be a powerful tool for showcasing products or services. By presenting the features and benefits of a product interactively and engagingly, content creators can capture the user’s attention and increase their interest in the product.

5. Tourism and Travel Guides

ScrollyTelling can be used to create immersive travel guides that take users on a virtual tour of a destination. By combining stunning visuals, interactive maps, and informative content, content creators can inspire and inform potential travellers.

6. News and Journalism

ScrollyTelling can revolutionize the way news and journalism are presented online. By combining text, images, videos, and interactive elements, content creators can provide a more engaging and immersive news experience that keeps readers informed and captivated.

7. Presentations and Reports

ScrollyTelling can be used to create dynamic and interactive presentations and reports. By presenting information visually appealing and interactively, content creators can capture their audience’s attention and make their content more memorable.

How to Create ScrollyTelling Stories for You?

Understand the Concept of ScrollyTelling

ScrollyTelling refers to a technique whereby scrolling and interactivity are employed to present riveting narratives. Users can scroll through a web page or an article as the story progresses attractively and interactively, helping them digest material on their terms. For one to come up with ScrollyTelling stories, it is necessary to know what these concepts are all about and their workings.

Select The Proper Platform or Tool

Several platforms and tools can be used in developing ScrollyTelling stories. Most people also use shorthand as a means of taking down abbreviated notes swiftly and conveniently. The software is easy to use for everybody as it has different components like visualization, annotation, audio recording, etc. Other such sites as ScrollMagic and ScrollStory also provide this type of functionality. Select a platform or device that is appropriate for your needs, such as being able to be customized as required.

Plan Your Story

You need to plan and sketch your story before ScrollyTelling. Identify the fundamental components of your story, like the primary message, the structure of the narrative, and the interactive features you intend to include. Be aware of the plot line and how one section flows into the other as the reader scrolls down. Planning your story will help you create a cohesive and engaging experience for your audience.

Use Visuals and Multimedia Elements

ScrollyTelling stories rely heavily on visuals and multimedia elements to captivate the audience. Use high-quality images, videos, and animations to enhance your storytelling. Visuals should be relevant to the content and should help convey the message effectively. Consider using parallax scrolling, where different elements move at different speeds as the user scrolls, to create a sense of depth and immersion.

Incorporate Interactive Elements

One of the key features of ScrollyTelling stories is the interactivity. Use interactive elements to engage your audience and provide a more immersive experience. This can include interactive maps, charts, quizzes, and animations. These elements should be intuitive and enhance the storytelling rather than distract from it. Ensure that the interactive elements are responsive and work seamlessly across different devices and screen sizes.

Pay Attention to User Experience

User experience is crucial when creating ScrollyTelling stories. Ensure that the scrolling experience is smooth and responsive, with no lag or delays. Test your story on different devices and browsers to ensure compatibility and optimize performance. Consider providing navigation cues or indicators to guide users through the story and help them understand the structure and progression.

Optimize for Mobile Devices

With the increasing use of mobile devices, it’s essential to optimize your ScrollyTelling stories for mobile viewing. Design your story with a mobile-first approach, considering the smaller screen size and touch interactions. Use responsive design techniques to ensure that your story adapts to different screen sizes and orientations. Test your story on various mobile devices to ensure a seamless experience for mobile users.

Keep it Engaging and Concise

ScrollyTelling stories should be engaging and concise to capture and maintain the audience’s attention. Use clear and concise language to convey your message effectively. Break down complex information into digestible sections to make it easier for the audience to understand. Use storytelling techniques such as compelling narratives, emotional appeals, and cliffhangers to keep the audience hooked and encourage them to continue scrolling.

Test and Iterate

Once you have created your ScrollyTelling story, it’s important to test it thoroughly and gather feedback. Test your story on different devices and browsers to ensure compatibility and responsiveness. Gather feedback from users and make necessary improvements based on their input. Iterate on your design and content to create the best ScrollyTelling experience for your audience.

Promote and Share Your Story

After creating your ScrollyTelling story, it’s time to promote and share it with your target audience. Utilize social media platforms, email newsletters, and other marketing channels to reach a wider audience. Encourage readers to share your story with their networks to increase its visibility. Monitor the performance of your story and analyze user engagement to gain insights and improve future ScrollyTelling projects.

Some Amazing Examples of ScrollyTelling Stories

1. IDEO and World Health Organization’s Playbook for Health Workers

This innovative ScrollyTelling story dives into the stories of health workers around the world, exploring the difficulties they face to protect their communities. Through interactive data visualizations, videos, soundscapes, compelling photography, and text, the storytelling narrative delves deep into how they use simple yet effective techniques, such as handwashing, basic supplies, correct advice on healthcare procedures, etc., to save lives.

2. UN Women’s Plan to End Violence Against Women

This is a powerful ScrollyTelling story that illustrates the complexity of ending violence against women. It begins with an overview of the “Breaking News” followed by a deep dive into each stage of progress toward ending gender-based violence worldwide, including Prevention (Programs & Policy), Protection (Public Use & Services), and Prosecution (Justice).

3. The Economist and BlackRock’s A Brief History Of Climate Change

By combining facts with graphics and charts from various sources over a period of time, this ScrollyTelling story highlights how Earth has changed since 1750 until today due to global warming resulting from human activities like deforestation and burning of fossil fuels. As well as visually discussing what climate change is doing to our planet – its effects on our future outlook are also discussed along with definitive expert views on what needs to be done to take preventative measures starting now for a better present and future tomorrow.

4. BBC Myanmar’s Mobile Jumpers – Data Storytellers

Putting a focus on four young mobile journalists in Myanmar using interactive multimedia stories for people who own smartphones but not computers or laptops; this ScrollyTelling story celebrates their creative works, such as comic strips which not only deliver news rapidly but also capture local nuance all too often unaccounted for by other media outlets covering their regions news stories.

5. Sydney Opera House at rest

Such a scrollytelling example follows the Sydney Opera House during the early period of COVID-19. The haunting images tell their own story with minimal words. With the use of Scrolly telling, information is presented clearly and immersively.

6. The tale of two pandemics

Stuff’s Scrolly telling report on the continuing COVID-19 crisis in Auckland, NZ, is riveting. The scrolling timeline and dynamic graph vividly portray the effects of that disaster. They provide a fuller understanding than written words as to what is going on in these troubled times.

7. The lost tablet and the secret documents

BBC’s investigative report on a clandestine Russian mercenary group. Discover the findings in detail with interactive maps and satellite imagery along with scrolling text. Scrollytelling puts the dynamic images front and center but with enough context.

8. Built to keep Black from white

The editorial history of segregation in the United States is an examination by NBC News. Such maps show that racial segregation has yet to end. The written words meld with the maps, creating a compelling visual story.

9. The Road was Long: Voices from Ukraine

This Scrolly telling example from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) is a first-person account of fleeing after an invasion by Russia. In the story, pictures are interspersed in Kristina’s words. With Scrolly telling, the storybook effect creates a heightened emotional impact.

10 . KPBS San Diego Aftermath – The Remains Of War Prosthetics App

Developed assist medical teams in local hospitals treating victims of traumatic war injuries endure treatment recovery process reverted to gruesome realities faced by stricken countries — helps bring a unique humane approach to those still struggling sustenance physical bodily functions lost conflict carnage!

11 . Allure magazine & Procter Gamble Uncharted Beauty Exploration Center

Based on colourful paintings by dreamscape artist Ray Caesar’s full interactive version streamed live to audiences, the 2019 Fashion Week party held in Toronto showcased a range of media art installations inspired by body shapes, a variety of kinds of beauty, accepted norms societal structures allowing greater levels self-expression something felt everyone attending!

12. Cancerfondsrapporten: Divisionist screenage

In this Scrolly telling report, we look at national cancer screening programs in Sweden. With Scrolly telling and interactive design, what would have been a boring report is turned into an interesting experience. To make the information more accessible, scrollmation is used to visualize data.

13. “Snow Fall: “The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek,” by The New York Times

This was a ground-breaking ScrollyTelling story that vividly narrated the tragic occurrence of an avalanche in Washington State, USA. Readers are taken on a virtual tour through photographs, videos, interactive maps, and texts narrating the sequence of events that led to the avalanche and its disastrous effects.

14. “The Refugee Project” by Hyperakt and Ekene Ijeoma

An integrated map, dubbed The Refugee Project, provides stories on refugees’ displacement in the world. As such, users will be able to discover various locations or timelines that show how enormous and multifaceted this case is.

15. “The Evolution of Trust” by Nicky Case

“The Evolution of Trust” is an educational game that involves learning about the relationship between social interaction and trust. Several interactive case studies provide the users an opportunity to explore various approaches for developing trust.

Final Thoughts

Thus, in summary, ScrollyTelling is an effective method of storytelling that integrates scrolling alongside interactive components for intriguing digital stories.

Whether it’s a news article, a product demonstration, or a historical narrative, ScrollyTelling has the potential to transform traditional storytelling into an interactive and immersive journey. It not only captivates and engages audiences but also provides a unique and memorable way to convey complex information.

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Nisarg Pandya
Project Manager

Experienced Project Manager and Scrum Master at KrishaWeb, delivers expertise in Scrum methodologies, Laravel, React.js, UX design, and project management, ensuring efficient project delivery and agile implementation.

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