Right, I’ve spent a fair chunk of my career obsessing over billboards. We had about six seconds to catch a driver’s eye at 60 mph. It had to be spot on.
Today, the digital highway is faster, louder and infinitely more crowded. That scrolling thumb? It’s a weapon of mass dismissal.
As creators, our first job isn’t to educate, entertain, or sell. That comes later. Our first job is to create friction. We’ve got to insert a speedbump into that smooth, frictionless slide of dopamine. Because if you don’t stop the scroll, the brilliance of your ideas may as well not exist.
But here’s the tension I’m curious about: how do we stop the scroll without resorting to cheap, daft tricks? How do we earn attention through design and intrigue rather than just following the traffic?
Here are my thought starters for mastering the art of the scroll-stop.
1. Don’t follow the crowd.
The human brain loves a pattern, but it’s hardwired to notice when that pattern breaks. Most feeds are full of polished, perfectly lit, predictable stock imagery and AI generation. It’s all a bit “samey” a grey noise of “fine”. The scroll-stop happens in the gap between what the eye expects and what it actually sees.
Break the grid: If every post on a platform follows a strict vertical alignment, introduce a strong diagonal element that physically cuts across the feed.
Eat Surreal‘s recruitment post works because it visually disrupts the expected layout, forcing the eye to pause and re-orient.
2. The whisper that cuts through the noise
Coming from a design background, I consider words to be more than language; they’re also shapes on a page. A headline isn’t just a title; it’s a button you’re begging someone to press. The mistake most make is using the headline to summarise the content—”5 Tips for Better SEO.” Boring. I already know what that’s about, so I don’t need to click.
The reader is cleverer than you think: Leave some mystery in your messaging. Make them curious enough to find out the rest. Don’t summarise the movie; tease the plot twist.
Oasis comeback tour reveal was a masterclass in restraint, using minimal copy and intrigue rather than explanation to earn attention.
3. Format vandalism
Every platform has a native “language” the way people expect content to look and feel. When you follow the rules perfectly, you become invisible. To stop the scroll, you must be the glitch in the system.
Platform juxtaposition: Use a format where it simply doesn’t belong. Try a raw, hand-drawn sketch on a platform known for high-gloss renders. It’s about disrupting the expected visual cadence.
Loop earplug’s Instagram post breaks the unspoken visual rules of the platform, making it feel refreshingly out of place.
4. Front-load the climax
In the agency world, we used to talk about the “build-up.” Forget that. In the feed, you’ve got no time for a slow burn. If your most jarring stat or beautiful visual is buried in the middle, it’s dead in the water.
Give what they want: Start in the thick of it. Give the viewer that “Aha!” moment or the dopamine hit in the first 1.5 seconds, then use the rest of the post to explain how you got there.
When Brewdog was promoting its £1 pints, its social reel worked because the core message was delivered instantly, before the viewer had any chance to scroll past.
5. Leave the fingerprints on
We’ve reached “Peak Polish.” AI can generate flawless beauty in seconds, but it often feels a bit hollow. As a Creative Director, I’ve found that the most compelling part of a project is often the “messy middle.”
Human imperfection: Don’t edit out the grit. Share the rough storyboard, the unpolished voice memo, or the candid thought. In a world of automated perfection, showing your hand is a proper scroll-stopper.
Ryanair does this perfectly here by leaning into imperfection, choosing raw humour over polish to feel unmistakably human.
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