I’m one of those people who likes being abreast of what’s happening in markets you wouldn’t think of who are using motion graphics, animation and design to get their message across and how affective it can be if it’s done right.

Visual storytelling is an excellent way to get customers engaged with your brand or cause, no matter what you’re selling. Visuals, moving or not, speak to people in a way that simple audio or reading something in a magazine or newspaper do not when it comes to creating an instant connection with an intended audience.

As someone who’s been doing creative writing, drawing comic strips, and animating things since I was very young, I understand how powerful and engaging well crafted stories can be and what they can do as a selling tool for companies.

Before the internet the best way to reach people this way was through television, and for many advertising firms this is still the preferred method for plain old commercials. But the internet has opened up so many interactive possibilities to engage, teach, and bring potential customers into the fold of a product or service you have that it’s a very exciting time to be an artist or developer interested in tech. Having a TV spot, or a static image on a billboard isn’t the only option anymore.

Visual storytelling can be done with a different combinations of mediums, or with one thing done simply and well, it all just really depends on your budget, your message, and your plan for marketing. Whether you are a marketing department for Macy’s, or a brick and mortar mom and pop shop, well done marketing with visuals can go a long way towards making you a success.

Personally I find this is be a very exciting time for the technology of interactive signage and animated displays. These marketing tools bridge that gap between the physical and virtual world we inhabit in a way nothing else has before. Interactive signage pushes the idea of a non-linear visual storytelling in a new direction. This kind of tech let’s customers engage and enjoy the experience at their own leisure, or ignore it if they wish. If designed well, I believe these signs can be a pleasant, or fun feature of our lives in the future of retail, or of simply visiting a museum and interacting at a virtual display.

Lots of virtual displays are being used in big cities like New York City and Chicago, this holiday season to try and drum up engagement and interest with customers. Although the novelty of these kinds of visual tools will degrade with time as people become used to them, there are still installations and ideas out there that I find interesting and exciting to read about.

It makes me wonder what else in out there for the future of well done, engaging marketing tools, and where storytelling can find it’s way more into our everyday lives without being an burden or assault on the senses.