Gradients are a versatile element of any designer’s toolset, being able to be applied in a variety of situations including (but not limited to) emphasis of particular elements (such as call-to-action buttons), background enhancement, or image filtering, without suffering quality downgrades regardless of the screen size on which they appear.
Web design is a highly competitive field. (You can read more about the top web design companies here.) The only way to stay relevant in the design game is to keep track and perpetually adapt to the newest trends. While gradients aren’t a new trend per se, new methods of their applications are constantly being developed, assisting in multiple ways, including detail emphasis and overall website perception.
Therefore, working with gradients is an integral aspect of any designer’s skill arsenal, regardless of whether they are working solo or as part of a web design agency. If you are not familiar with gradients or only know of them in passing, you are well served to learn more about this essential tool for your profession as a designer.
What Are Gradients?
When looking at a page full of content, it’s easy for human eyes to allow everything to flow together. But there are aspects of a page that a designer typically needs to bolster and let certain elements stand out. If an entire page is designed in this manner, it becomes borderline unviewable, but dull colors all over the place stifle your site’s potential to garner desired attention.
To make things stand out and to make a bold statement, gradients are used. The colors prompted by these gradients jar the viewer’s open eyes, immediately drawing their attention to some aspects on the page. These gradients also invoke an emotional response, and when done correctly, it is a positive one. In these cases, gradients can manifest a strong connection with the viewer, make a powerful impression, and even compel the viewer to take a particular action.
However, overusing gradients will accentuate many colors on a page, which does not attain the same positive emotional result. Balancing the use of gradients is essential. But it is also not surprising that such an impactful tool has been a critical component that has stood the test of time and the ever-evolving design trends.
Types Of Gradients
While gradients are effective, it is essential to understand the various types that exist and the most effective way to utilize them. All gradients broadcast from a central point from which a particular color starts to blend with others. A pattern begins to emerge from the significant moment, as the paint starts to be surrounded by others that it blends into. The design depends on the gradient being used and its style, size, and shape.
Linear Gradient
The most common interpretation of a gradient is a linear one. In other words, the colors transition from the initial hue to the final one in a straight line.
Radial Gradient
The radial gradient applies the concept of fanning out colors from a central point in a circular pattern. This type of gradient is commonly found used in icons for apps. Its most common uses involve generating shadows or highlights for icons, which provides a sense of dimension and depth for them.
Angle Gradient
When the gradient forms a pattern that moves in a counterclockwise direction from the central point, it is an angle gradient. The angle itself is defined by the sweep of the line between the starting and ending points.
Reflected Gradient
A reflected gradient assumes a mirror-like effect. Applied commonly in the generation of images of shiny objects, icons, or items, as reflected on polished surfaces, a reflected gradient leverages the idea of reflecting color on both sides of the central color point.
Diamond Gradient
As the name implies, a diamond gradient creates a diamond shape with the starting color point at the center and the terminating points at the endpoints of the diamond.
Gradient Use In Web Design
There is a reason gradients have lasted as a design technique through the years. It’s popular with viewers of websites, regardless of whether they recognize or comprehend the gradient concept. Gradients are vital in helping to generate designs that not only gravitate the eyes to specific points but creating unique visual design patterns as well.
An excellent example of gradient use in design is Spotify’s duotone logo that gives the brand a sense of its own identity and invokes a particular emotion tied to their specific playlists. Using such gradient techniques in design, designers can make any design’s colors stand out and blend in their unique way.
Gradients can be used subtly to enhance an image with a soft overlay of color and provide seamless transitions on monochromatic backgrounds. They can also be used more prominently, like injecting bright colors to highlight particular elements and features.
Gradients can be applied with several strategic design strategies.
Enhancing Perception Of Dimension And Depth
Colors in nature are not subtle. While there are many variations and shades, none are dulled. Therefore, using gradients in design helps to achieve the natural effect of colors with varying shades and natural-looking shadows and highlights. With this technique, elements on the page benefit from a light source, casting the impact of element depth (such as the use of shadows to manifest a sense of a component being elevated) and giving icons a multi-dimensional shape.
Livening Up The Website
Using gradients correctly and subtly can seamlessly give a website a particular flow. It can be a tool that guides the viewer to the designer’s intended focal point of the site. While geometric design can make a place look too jarringly compartmentalized, subtle gradients can liven it up with a softer, more natural, realistic flow and projection.
Aside from charming up the visuals on a website, designers can also use gradients to impactfully bolden up the site’s design on a more impactful design that stands out more prominently to the site viewer.
Conveying Mood And Emotion
Color can assist in conveying a particular message to an audience on a deep level. There is a specific science to how color is used. It can trigger reactions, evoke specific emotions, and has the potential to alter one’s mood.
Using the correct colors for one’s brand can invoke an emotional response that casts a positive and inviting image. For instance, deeper color tones produce feelings of intelligence, a sense of calm, and trust, while bright colors, when used appropriately, can spur feelings of happiness and positivity.
Gradient Design Use Tips
Choosing The Right Colors
Think back to the color wheel concept you learned as a kid in elementary school. This wheel is not just a fun shape to attract kids’ attention. The colors on the wheel are positioned to link the most complimentary colors to one another. Choosing two random colors will not simply accomplish the design of a suitable color combination. You have to experiment with various combinations of shades that complement each other to achieve the flow and emotional response you seek.
Leverage A 3-Stop Gradient Design
Gradients with two colors sometimes produce a dull gray form in the middle of a blend. To address this problem, you need to identify a complementary color suitable for the two others to fill the dull gray space.
Draw Inspiration From Nature
If you are looking to get inspired for your design, you have to look no further for ideas than nature itself. Nature is arguably the best source of identifying naturally complementary gradients whether you look to the ocean, the sky, or sunsets in the tropics.
Acquire The Right Tools
Remember that the design tool you use is less important than what you seek to use it for. Whether you are using classic design software like Illustrator or newer tools like Figma, it is only helpful if you are familiar with leveraging its abilities at the end of the day. You must be ready with your source of inspiration and an understanding of color combinations. The chances are that if you are working for a design company, understanding your primary tool is something the company will assure you are familiar with before starting projects. If you are working on designs independently, there is a ton of great content if you Google it.
Conclusion
Gradients are a powerful and highly effective design tool in the right hands. Web designers worldwide try to implement this technique in a wide range of areas in just the right portions. Be smart and don’t overuse it. Combine it with other design elements correctly, and you will be able to create successful and practical websites.
