Top Reasons to Use Gradients in Web Design

We are truly living in an age of perpetual innovation and change. New trends and applications of old trends are perpetually looming on the horizon in digital and non-digital spheres, awaiting to introduce the world to new viewpoints or new applications to classic concepts. In the digital realm, these new ideas have introduced many revolutionary and lucrative applications over the years.

While the design has shifted from flat formats to ones that utilize a more gradient flow, many older concepts have been rendered obsolete. Gradients have been around for a while but did not get a lot of attention, while designs of websites were mostly static and simple. Recently, however, they have stormed back into the contemporary design as designers began to recognize the power of their application. Recent years have been introducing more variations of gradient design use than ever before.

Those in the web design industry must always strive for greatness in learning new things and implementing them in their projects. Top web design agencies always make sure that their teams are in a constant process of professional development. And there’s a good reason for that. The market overflows with web design contractors. It is ruthless to those that aren’t creative, hardworking, or smart enough, leaving them on the outskirts of the industry. Because gradients are now one of the most popular contemporary trends, grasping their application and concepts is more vital than ever.

Gradients In Web Design

The Encyclopedia of Pastel Techniques defines gradients as the visually artistic technique of transitioning between hues, shades, or textures using space, atmosphere, distance, volume, and rounded/curved forms as some of the resulting visual effects.

To put it another way, gradients are the transitions between colors, shades, and textures. But why is their use so important in website design? Let’s dive in.

Logo Creation

Gradients can help you develop an audacious and bold logo to present to your audience. When a visitor arrives at your site, your goal is to keep them there and have them look around until something captures their interest enough to take further actions instead of bouncing shortly after arriving. Because color gradients evoke an emotional response, the visitors’ brains are compelled to continue looking at the site for more extended periods.

Gradients have been used in the past, with transitional hues being used to navigate between sites. Still, it was Instagram’s rebranding effort in 2016 that was the catalyst for other brands to lean heavily into the use of gradients to cement their logos in their visitors’ minds. For instance, Spotify began to utilize duotone gradients to communicate emotion through particular playlists.

Color Prominence

Every designer wants their website to speak to visitors via its color tones. Therefore it is not a surprise that more and more designers are leveraging gradients to accomplish this effect. Gradients make this result simpler to achieve as they inherently promote visual appeal by making website elements appear more prominent and playful, an art form that, for a time, websites had lost.

These days, gradients have reemerged as a premium design trend as they help spark the creative portions of users’ minds by creating unique digital experiences. Good use of angles can empower beliefs and enhance judgment.

Deeper Compositions

In the past, gradients were widely utilized, with a slew of digital markets looking to incorporate various color-based effects across their websites. But the color diversity utilization was not the ultimate goal.

Gradients are effective in many ways, but one of the most crucial ones is their ability to balance the background appearance of sites to amalgamate more effectively with all of the site’s design elements, logos, and fonts, thereby enhancing the site’s core composition. As AI and machine learning develop, the world is shifting into more immersive, realistic, 3D-based concepts, with augmented and virtual reality set to become prominent mainstays of the modern design era.

Attention To Calls-To-Action

Not all gradient styles are equal, of course, but most designers agree that they are highly effective in promoting various interface elements. Single or duotone gradients have been repeatedly shown to be dominant in this sense throughout the website design.

Websites with a minor spacing scheme have a more challenging time making proper use of gradients. Still, those that apply larger spacing designs can use gradients to draw attention specifically to the call-to-action elements.

Of course, most designers would also agree that over-prominence can be counter-effective. Without being opaque to a particular degree, the bolstering of certain elements causes the gradient-based effect to be lost somewhat, eliminating the power of the charm that they otherwise afford.

Balance Between Colors And Images

Color overlays have become one of the most commonly accepted design choices. Still, recent observations have led to the notice of a jarring shift from a single-color overlay to gradient design. Because gradients, when used accordingly, strike a balance between images and colors on a website, designers are applying them regularly to draw visitors' attention specifically to elements that require a call-to-action.

The proper combination of images and hues in colors can trigger visitors’ subconscious minds, guiding more visitors to take the designers’ desired action ultimately. It is, therefore, not surprising that those designers who make use of gradients have more successful websites in terms of user engagement than those that do not.

Memorable

Human minds are naturally programmed to remember magnanimously adoptive and unique things in nature, prompting our senses to observe gradient-design colors better than those in a flat one. Think about it this way: when you look at the sky at dawn or dusk, what do you see? If you could vividly picture what those visuals look like, you probably have a good idea of how gradients can be embedded in memory.

Website design is similar in the same way when gradients are involved. It makes the viewer more instantly be able to recall a website without even looking at it actively. As a general rule, as humans, when we see something we have not seen before or is overly unique, it is retained in our memory banks far more solidly than anything we are familiar with.

This stimulating effect retains our most vivid recollections, making these observations ones with the maximum impact. As gradients promote just such an effect, their website design makes those websites instantly more memorable to users.

The Bottom Line

Top-notch web design can be a trying experience as it tests both the creativity and skills of the designer. In a competitive realm such as web design, designers need to utilize any tools at their disposal to bolster their designs. Gradients go a long way in helping websites have a more personal feel, memorable impression, and setting a natural tone.

Take your time and review the tips described above. Master the art of gradients and use them professionally, improving every one of your web design projects.