Aficionados of classic video games recognize 
the technique in a heartbeat: it causes background images (or words) to move at a different speed from foreground images (or words) while scrolling. As these two entities shift across the screen, the viewer can't help but be drawn in; the combination of depth and movement can be transfixing.
These aficionados are doing more double-takes these days as the technique, known as parallax scrolling, is popping up on more than just the obvious graphic design and marketing company websites that use it to flaunt their capabilities.
The inherent risk of parallax scrolling is it's easy to get carried away if you're not careful. The technique is not new, but it's new enough that marketers are still finessing how to make the most of it without overdoing it to the point of visual exhaustion. Acclimate your eyes to the scrolling with some winning examples and four sensible tips on how to use it:
Use Parallax to:
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Enhance your brand – if it's appropriate to do so. It can be a powerful tool that communicates volumes about your brand, but it's not right for every website. (In this way, a website can be like a cup of coffee; people who prefer theirs “just black” might recoil over the caramel latte experience of parallax.) Vet a test version carefully on your target audience to ensure they don't consider it too busy or flashy.
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Tell your story. Any company with a visual story to tell can make effective use of this scrolling. And isn't that every company? It should be, at least if there's a creative storyteller on the team. Parallax offers an opportunity to tell your company's story through provocative visuals – immersing the viewer in ways that a static page cannot. This golden opportunity must be handled with deft and skill.
Don't Use Parallax At:
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The expense of the user experience. A dynamic and dazzling page will quickly lose its appeal the moment a user clicks on a link – and goes nowhere. Navigation should always be a guiding fundamental of smart website design. Viewers are impatient and will move off a page that doesn't deliver in mere seconds.
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The expense of the written word. The depth and aesthetic appeal of shouldn't be used as a substitute for words; it should be used to complement them. Viewers still need finely crafted words to help them understand visuals, correctly interpret their meaning and direct their efforts. Visuals are subjective; words breed clarity.
As a tactic, parallax may present further proof that web and marketing trends continue to be as dynamic as ever. This should be reason enough for you to reach out to the experts at
