Why Infographic Videos will Determine Storytelling in 2021?

Quality storytelling is the foundation of successful marketing. While social media and blog posts have become the habitual information field for most modern people, the key to success in any promotional, political or social campaign lies in the ability to translate the message in an engaging and digestible manner.

Not so long ago numerous studies have claimed that visual content will determine the future of storytelling. The growing popularity and capitalization of video hosting portals and social media platforms like YouTube and Tik Tok only prove those allegations.

However today we see the appearance of trends within the trends. The video content itself started to divide into more and fewer prospective deployments. And with the growing demand for informative content with accurate data, infographic videos have the potential to become the leading trend in video content in 2021.

What is so special about infographic videos?

Infographics themselves are a perfect way to make complicated and dry data appealing and digestible. Using visual elements, design, and appealing images, infographics help to raise awareness, spread information, or explain to a potential customer all the benefits of the new product. Quite perspective themselves, infographics obtain a whole new level of storytelling once combined with animation and turned into video content.

While animated videos are the most successful type of video content from the point of engagement, the informative feature of infographics helps to evaluate and benefit the most from it.

An infographic video is a way to visualize the data in a form of an animated clip, turning it into an explaining video. This kind of content is suitable for the various auditorium. On the one hand, the element of animation makes data look more absorbable and appealing for a less knowledgeable viewer. At the same time, the informative feature of infographics removes the prejudice about animation and makes it suitable for specific, professional, and advanced content.

However, this symbiotic effect of infographics and animation does not mean that any video content will from now on become successful, once a graph is turned into a cartoon. Since they are so perspective, infographic videos become a highly-competitive type of content. The requirements for animation quality, presentation, and SEO features of every video are growing.

Interactive animation and Infographic videos

With the ongoing informational overflow, it is pretty natural that more and more users are looking for ways to control the dosage and quality of data they receive today. At the same time, customers have always appreciated the personal approach that turns any storytelling into a more individual and exclusive experience.

This phenomenon explains the rise of interactive video content that allows a viewer to be in charge of his experience from a commercial, tutorial or entertaining video. Of course, this trend has influenced the concept of infographic animation.

In 2021, infographics won`t just come to life due to the efforts of animators but will provide a personalized experience for every viewer. In the neverending flow of information and data, every user will be able to determine which aspect of every topic deserves his particular attention without having to scrape through tons of irrelevant information.

This trend will instantly evaluate the storytelling efficiency of infographic videos, making them even more user-friendly and engaging.

The growing demand for real-time infographics

The recent events have demonstrated to us how important it is to have relevant data and how fast can breaking news turn into an old maid`s tale. Therefore real-time infographics, created with quality animation, have the potential to turn into an innovative and most credible information field this year.

Real-time data visualizations are informative and engaging. They provide a viewer with a sense that he is in control of the situation and keeps his finger on the pulse. This kind of content looks most credible and therefore can become the most perspective way to translate a message and inspire a viewer to learn more about a subject or start communicating with the brand. For example, the real-time infographic animation of environmental pollution is most-efficient to raise awareness about a certain issue. This method has proven itself during the peak of the Pandemic of COVID-19 when real-time infographic animation was demonstrating the raising numbers of infected people and lethal outcomes.

In the post-Coronavirus economy, real-time infographic animation will help to attract investors into developing projects, promote charity campaigns and demonstrate the superiority of certain brands over competitors.

VR and AR – the advanced infographic animation

With the digitalizing of customer experience in various spheres, Virtual reality (VR) and Augmented reality (AR) become the ultimate space for the so-called phygital user experience. They help to combine the benefits of an offline and online experience.

The ability to immerse in the topic almost physically into the event itself, become a part of it or just observe the situation from the first raw live – this is what makes VR and AR technologies so attractive today. And while Infographics remain pretty schematic, VR and AR technologies will help to make information a physical matter. Expressed in three dimensions, information becomes tangible and looks more credible.

This technology has always been most interesting for fields that have to deal with complex multi-level data with a lot of analytics. However, this application does not add popularity to the technology that would allow to call it a new trend in video content in the eyes of a regular viewer. But due to the emerge of distance education and search for innovative technologies that would make information more digestible and education more engaging, the idea of VR and AR application in education becomes more and more attractive. And the introduction of infographic animation will be exactly the engagement tool that the developers are looking for right now.

Smartphone adaptation

Once a luxury device, today smartphones are not just habitual, but essential. The amount of smartphone users is growing every day and they become younger. Hardly will you be surprised to see a 5-year-old with a mobile device in his hand, who knows exactly how to operate it and find his favorite apps.

Being the most approachable and engaging source of information, infographic videos skyrocket today since so many parents have recently faced the challenge and dilemmas of staying with their children at home while having to work remotely. The idyllic pictures that social media is trying to draw are far from reality. Hardly will you meet a parent today, who would say that during the Lockdown he or she was spending all day long playing educational board games with kids. Everybody eventually had to give their children smartphones and started looking for engaging educational content that would keep them busy for a while.

The simplicity of infographics combined with animation has helped to create and launch numerous educational apps and video content portals for children. And since the situation remains unclear and many parents have to keep their children at home, the industry of video content for children will only grow and develop in the future, adopting animated infographics as the most efficient way to engage and communicate with the younger viewer.

However, not only children have become the main target auditorium of infographic animation recently. The entire world was simply forced to move online. And the rising numbers of mobile internet users last year demonstrate that most users prefer smartphones and other mobile devices to desktop browsing. Being adjustable and appealing, animated infographics became the main tool to attract user`s attention, raise awareness, or promote products online. And since this method of information spread has proven itself most efficient, and so many users claim to continue sticking to online shopping and teleworking even in the post-Coronavirus era, Infographic videos now have all the chances to become mainstream video content.

Kinetic Typography

Every infographic consists of two parts: image and text. While the purpose of an image is to draw attention and engage, the text is supposed to provide the actual information. The way the text is written of course has a crucial meaning. That is why infographic typography became the main trendsetter in the industry.

Kinetic typography is a means to bring infographic to life through moving letters. It is easy and relatively cheap to design, while the effect of this kind of infographic is astonishing. Since designers noticed that even the slight movement is enough to attract the viewer, kinetic typography has become the trendsetter of the general infographic this year, making it the foundation for the overall animated infographic domination in the nearest future.

GIF Infographics

Being the derivative of kinetic typography, GIF infographics take over the visual design industry today. And though the GIF infographics cannot be entirely called video content, however, they combine all the trends that make animated Infographics so relevant today:

• They provide information in an engaging and digestible manner
• The traditional wow-effect from animated elements make it more attractive and therefore – efficient
• They are short and clear. The ability to express all the information clearly while not taking too much time off a viewer`s life is the key to the success of video content today.

Therefore, not entirely a type of video content, GIF infographics deserve themselves a rightful place on the top of the trend rates in 2021.

Infographic video design trends in 2021

While the dominating role of infographic videos is pretty clear in the content creation industry of 2021, it is important to understand, how infographic videos will look this year to become most efficient.

Here are several fundamental concepts that may distinguish the image of infographic video for the nearest future:

• Falling into extremes. While entering a highly-competitive field, infographic videos have to find a strategy to attract a viewer with recognizable and engaging images. The most popular extremes are historic references and futuristic speculations. A more realistic approach is a comparison between the two eras. However, Infographic Videos this year will be mostly the then-and-now type of content.
• Color combinations. While the fashion industry and design have recently fallen the victim of Nordic charms, providing minimalistic designs and pastel color patterns, Infographic videos choose their approach. Aiming at the wow-effect and instant engagement, they seem to adopt flashy, contrast colors and the principle of color blocking.
• Back to 60-s and 70-s. The flashy, confusing, but so attractive psychedelic color patterns and images seem to become the main trendsetters in the infographic videos this year. They may seem pretty shocking and even vague in the beginning, but this is exactly what catches the modern viewer`s attention and forces him to keep watching. And while some might say that all new is well-forgotten old, graphic designers and content creators answer that as long as this approach works, they will adopt it for infographic videos in 2021.

Modern content is all about two things: data and dynamics. And if several years ago it was enough to build a simple graph, today`s user demands to provide him information in an engaging and approachable manner. Otherwise, he will just go to a different information provider, talking about his views, likes, and comments – aka money – with him. At the same time, video content creators are facing more and more challenges today, and competition is the main one.

Creating content today is not just about providing information or drawing attention – it is all about persuading a prosperous customer that he or she is making an informed decision while purchasing a product, investing money, or following certain instructions. Infographic video content the most powerful tool of modern content: they inform like infographics, engage and entertain like animation and inspire like videos. The combination of those powerful features, personalized approach, and limitless space for development make infographic videos the core and most perspective path for the further evolution of content creation. And while videos have already become the most powerful tool of storytelling, infographic videos will determine the whole concept of storytelling in 2021.

Prayan Animation Studio