I find this works quite well for a couple reasons.
First, it's appropriate for the brand and the type of content. It ends up looking like a news ticker, analogous to the types in NYC and Times Square that are all scrolling by at different speeds, based on how important they are or how quickly you need to consume them.
Second, it actually calls attention to sidebar in a subtle but clear way, which makes a pane of content (good content—not ads or useless fluff) more discoverable and useful because it's moving at a slightly unexpected pace. It could be distracting when trying to read the content in the center, but it turns out it's not—when reading content, I'm generally not scrolling. All is well.
Overall, highly creative and unique. An excellent UX device. I'll say, don't copy this exactly necessarily, but think of the process they must have used: what analogies could you take from your industry that could be subtly integrated into the UX to call attention to content and context effectively, and make users nostalgic for older versions of UIs in your space? That's an opportunity for some honest delight.
I find this works quite well for a couple reasons.
First, it's appropriate for the brand and the type of content. It ends up looking like a news ticker, analogous to the types in NYC and Times Square that are all scrolling by at different speeds, based on how important they are or how quickly you need to consume them.
Second, it actually calls attention to sidebar in a subtle but clear way, which makes a pane of content (good content—not ads or useless fluff) more discoverable and useful because it's moving at a slightly unexpected pace. It could be distracting when trying to read the content in the center, but it turns out it's not—when reading content, I'm generally not scrolling. All is well.
Overall, highly creative and unique. An excellent UX device. I'll say, don't copy this exactly necessarily, but think of the process they must have used: what analogies could you take from your industry that could be subtly integrated into the UX to call attention to content and context effectively, and make users nostalgic for older versions of UIs in your space? That's an opportunity for some honest delight.