A 3D website design is an online experience that uses 3D graphics to make it more immersive and interactive than 2D websites. Users can explore a 3D website more in-depth as it often feels like a real space.
What is a 3D website?
A 3D website is the evolution of a 2D website. 2D websites deliver information, but 3D websites create experiences that evoke emotions and leave lasting impressions.
3D websites have special features that make objects and environments look like they have depth and dimension. They let users explore these environments in a lively way that is simply not possible in 2D.
They focus on interactivity, like clickable and movable objects, free movement, and dynamic visuals. This makes users more engaged.
They want to go beyond regular website design and create a visually appealing user experience. This will help show products in more detail and with better quality. It will also make it easier to understand complex information and tell a story visually.
Benefits of Using a 3D Website
3D websites let you make experiences that focus on people and keep users interested. It promotes what people naturally crave - an experience as realistic as possible. 3D makes it easier to understand products, stories, and complex processes by conveying them in a simpler, more compelling, and realistic way.
Here are some helpful examples. You can use a 3D design on the web to tell stories visually. This makes information more interesting and keeps users on your site longer.
Viewing products in 3D design helps people see more detail, interact with them, and think they're higher quality. A 3D storytelling experience can show the manufacturing process, making it easier to understand and more interesting to follow.
Because of this, more people like spending time with your company and products. They remember them well and are more likely to tell others, which affects buying behavior.
3D Website Types
The 3 different types are 3D enhanced websites, 3D storytelling and immersive experiences. The 3 types use the same technologies, but they focus on accessibility and immersivity in different scenarios. They also vary in complexity during creation. Let’s cover what each of these includes:
3D enhanced websites
3D-enhanced websites are closely related to conventional 2D websites. We make these websites by prioritizing performance while keeping the structure and layout the same.
3D website design is incorporated into the design across the page to make this experience stand out.
These types of 3D websites can be swapped for 2D anywhere without experiencing limitations while making the user experience more engaging.
3D scrollytelling
3D “scrollytelling” is a way to use visual 3D animation on a web design to show a story, course, or process as you scroll through the website. The animation is in the website design background. It can be a 3D setting or just small elements.
The user scrolls to navigate. UI elements appear on the screen with the animation and overlay the 3D background. In addition, the user can interact with the 3D environment by clicking and moving. The 3D scrollytelling web design is like a regular website, but it needs more power and is less accessible.
Fully immersive experiences
Immersive experiences on the web break rules to fully immerse users in a 3D web design. Its web design is similar to that of a video game, the rules of which the user first has to get to know in order to then be able to explore the world. However, immersive experiences are demanding on performance and offer less accessibility.
As expected, they have the best opportunities to deliver the most exciting and impressive experiences. Some ways to use this 3D technology are through configurators, metaverses, web games, interactive experiences, visual storytelling, and virtual events.
How are the 3 website design types connected together?
Your company's web design is crucial as it represents you online and should provide key information in a user-friendly manner.
On top of that, you can then decide to what extent 3D should be used to make this experience even more engaging. The previously known structure and layout are still required.
A 3D-enhanced web design can completely replace a normal website design because accessibility and performance can be maintained perfectly.
The other two experiences merely represent a website extension and should never completely replace it. 3D scrollytelling can be used on individual subpages for individual products, events or campaigns.
Immersive experiences, on the other hand, are treated like a type of app that resides on your website design and can be opened separately. Since the experience is complex and requires effort for users to truly experience, it is not worth loading users directly or randomly into the experience.
By placing it separately and describing it from the outside, you ensure that users decide for themselves and consciously when it is time.
What technologies are used to create 3D websites?
We speak of 3D websites when 3D graphics are used in such a way that they have an immersive and binding effect on the user. You can use 3D for images, videos, and websites. It works best for immersive experiences when rendered live.
Various JavaScript frameworks, like ThreeJS, React 3 Fiber, BabylonJS, and PlayCanvas, use this 3D technology to display and animate 3D in real-time on the web.
Where are 3D websites used?
3D web design is mainly used for marketing, followed by internal company use and as products. Why marketing makes up the majority of 3D graphics on the web can be easily seen from the points listed above. In marketing, using 3D graphics can make brand experiences more attractive and engaging.
So it makes sense that the applications of 3D's different experiences are relevant to many different industries. At the top are:
- Gaming
- E-commerce
- Tech & software
- Art & entertainment
- Automotive
- Music and Festivals
- Architecture and Real estate
- Education and training
- Travel and tourism
- Museums and Cultural Institutions
- Healthcare
- Events and Conferences
- Clothing
- Food and drinks
3D experiences, especially for big companies with large marketing budgets, are a perfect fit for websites that are a valuable long-term investment.
3D website examples
Here are a few well-known, very successful 3D experiences that represent examples of all 3 types of experiences.
- https://lusion.co/
- https://www.immersivestudios.de/
- https://ferrumpipe.com/
- https://dogstudio.co/
- https://www.magische-spiegelungen.de/
- https://www.motleycrowd.live/
- https://egghunt.merci-michel.com/
