Scrollytelling in web design: Top examples and tips for getting started

When your website controls the pace of the user experience, your message tends to come across stronger. That’s why scrollytelling is such a great web design technique: It creates momentum as visitors scroll down the page and delivers important information in a more engaging format.

Read on to learn what scrollytelling looks like and how it can add value to your website. Plus, see examples of scrollytelling in action, then get tips for applying this design element effectively.

What’s scrollytelling?

Scrollytelling is a web design technique that uses scrolling to reveal a story or complex message in a specific sequence. As visitors move down the page, elements like text and multimedia work together to guide them from one idea to the next. 

In contrast, a standard web page contains content organized into static sections, which works well enough but doesn’t actively pull readers into engagement. And if there’s a lot on the page, visitors might not know what to focus on first and get overwhelmed. Scrollytelling turns those static pages into more immersive experiences, using motion and pacing to shape how visitors understand the story.

Key characteristics of scrollytelling

Scrollytelling relies on visual patterns and interactive elements to help reveal ideas in clear sequence. Let’s look at the most common scrollytelling design features.

Data or concept visualization

Data or concept visualization turns detailed information into visuals, such as:

• Charts
• Maps
• Diagrams
• Timelines
• Illustrations

These visuals often change as users scroll, so each new section adds context or highlights a key idea. Visuals make the story easier to follow, because they can add meaning words alone may not communicate as clearly — especially when the topic is complex.

Parallax scrolling

Parallax scrolling is when foreground and background elements move at different speeds or in different directions while users scroll. This creates a depth effect that makes pages feel more immersive, like the visuals are popping off the page. 

Parallax scrolling works best as a subtle addition, since too much movement is distracting and reduces accessibility through higher cognitive load.

Visual transitions and animations

Transitions and animations attract attention with movement, and they connect sections so the scrolling experience feels continuous. Scrollytelling relies heavily on visual transitions and animations like:

• Fades: Elements gradually appear or disappear to soften the shift between sections
• Reveals: Content is introduced in small chunks
• Slides: Text or visuals move into view at specific points
• Zooms: Elements scale up or down to add emphasis or shift focus
• Morphs: Objects dynamically transform to show change or comparison
• State changes: Buttons and images change in response to scrolling
• Layered movement: Multiple elements and images move on scroll at the same time to create depth and rhythm

Sticky or pinned elements

Sticky and pinned elements stay in place for all or part of the scrolling experience, while other content moves around them. You can use sticky design for charts, product mockups, and other focal visuals you want to remain in frame as the surrounding text updates. This helps visitors grasp how various points or steps connect.

Benefits of scrollytelling

Using scrollytelling on your website can:

• Boost engagement. Scrollytelling gives readers a reason to keep moving through the page by revealing content in stages and creating momentum.
• Strengthen brand storytelling. A scrollytelling page shapes how visitors experience your brand, because it lets you control pacing and emphasis.
• Simplify complex information. Scrollytelling breaks dense topics into smaller steps and only shows what’s needed at each moment. Instead of feeling repetitive or overwhelming, scrollytelling makes a long page seem like a guided journey with a clear sense of progression.

5 examples of scrollytelling in web design

Here are five website examples that use various scroll-based design techniques to create engaging experiences.

1. Cula

As you scroll through Cula’s homepage, designed by Refokus, a story unfolds in sections. This page begins by introducing the company’s larger mission, then gradually moves visitors into a stylized 3D environment that explains how Cula’s carbon removal process works in stages.

Sticky text and controlled scene shifts keep the pace slow, and layered motion controls pacing. These techniques help readers understand a complex technical process in a clear order without overwhelming them. Meanwhile, polished but slightly cartoonish visuals keep the tone light and ground the explanations in real-world imagery.

2. Agile by Design

Agile by Design’s homepage, designed by Diego Toda de Oliveira, starts with a challenge to conventional agile thinking: “Agile is broken.” This grabs attention, and the rest of the page builds a strong argument through:

• Video footage to add visual variety
• Hand-drawn arrows to emphasise important text
• Parallax scrolling to add depth against a plain background
• Animated textual elements to hold reader interest

Instead of presenting claims as isolated blocks, each section builds on the last, moving from critique to explanation to pitch. By the end, the intended message is clear — that Agile by Design will help you optimize your agile workflows.