Reasons to Use Gradients in your Web Design

Posted by Adam Mathews on January 2nd, 2020

Using Gradient styles has made a remarkable come back after years of flat, minimalistic, and materialistic design practices. Todays' web designers for hire have started emphasizing using different shades of colors to create a better visual effect for the users and to increase more user engagement through an excellent looking User Interface.

In Web and App design practices in recent years, using Gradient style is again gaining popularity, and there are evident reasons behind that.

Backgrounds Create Interest :-

A gradient creates visual interest, and the users love to browse through a design. It sticks users' eyes to adhere to a different portion of the interface and signifies different essential blocks into the same.

Gradients are highly useful, engaging design tools and adding an intuitive spark and intrigue to a wide range of projects. There are several ways to use gradients/ angles. The most popular among them is as a background collaging, adding in components including images, text, and the like layered/ water-marked. Often this practice builds a specific color branding for a company/ brand along with visible Logo or corporate pictures.

The gradient persists through the rest of the page, helping users remember where they are while navigating. It also highlights the main navigation with an effect that resembles a halo.

Lettering Provides a Focal-Point :-

You can use a gradient in the background and also as a foreground element. Your choice of color gradients will vary according to the types of applications that you are building. The use of "gradients" contributes to the overall popularity of the web/mobile app. You can use a foreground gradient as the fill for lettering on a more understandable background. Hence, you can highlight and drive attention to the text you want your visitors to focus on. 

Colour choice has to be important underlying the facts like font styling, font size, and font color for the readability purpose.

Overlays Can Energize/ Revamp a Bland Image :-

A color-overlay adds interest to a bland image. A gradient-overlay does fix any image with low resolution or poorly composed photographs. It can only add more pop to a simple scenario.

Gradient-overlays can help establish a brand, and also the voice, tone, vibe, and personality of the website/ application. Bright colors communicate something quite different from more muted options.

Help Move the Eye :-

A high gradient helps move the eye of your visitor through your design in a manner that helps build intent among the users. Most users follow an F-pattern while reading. They start at the top left and move down and across the screen.

You can use the lighter and darker areas of a gradient color scheme to transport the eye of the visitor from a starting point, e.g., a logo or an original message to the primary call-to-action. The eye will first move to the lightest areas of color and then move to the darker spaces, designing and placing the gradient color to repeat and reinforce this eye movement.

Create Memorable Projects :-

Gradients are becoming highly popular among users. It is because every color combination is somewhat different, and it clings to the memory of the users. A killer color combination can stand out and stick with a user's mind helping them remember your brand or message.

Emphasize The Brand Colours :-

You must use a gradient if you have brand colors that allow themselves to be paired. For brand new brands or websites trying to establish their positions in the market, gradient slopes can be a reliable means to create and enhance branding and connection with their users. 

Easy to Create :-

Adding a Gradient color is all about choosing a proper shape and picking up a few colors for mixing. The output of a Gradient effect comes from a color with which an effect is started, stopped, and overlapped. Gradients, concerning shapes, are predominantly directional: from left to right/ up or down, or they could be radial as well, where color variations emerge from a single point in a circular pattern. A design can include one or more gradient styles. Choosing colors for the slope may be the most challenging step for you. If you use colors that are closer to the color wheel, you will get the most harmonious and natural gradients.

There are few tools which you can use to understand Gradient styling and use the same in a Web or Mobile Application:

WebGradients: 180+ Gradient Swatches available in PNG, CSS, Sketch and PSD formats

GradientButtons: CSS for gradient buttons with animated hover states

Gradient Wave Generator: Pen to make a fresh gradient wave using your colors and starts and stops.

Colour Fades feel Natural :-

Gradients often come with natural-feeling colors and combinations.  Hence, gradients are a natural choice when you opt to go for a combination of colors. Color changes are exciting enough to stand alone as a design statement.

Gradients Are Trendy :-

Gradients are highly usable elements to add for a touch of something trendy without feeling overwhelming. Even though gradients have fallen out of preference from time to time, they have made a comeback rather quickly because of its almost universal appeal.

So this was all about why using gradients has become all necessary for web designing.