Gradients and Ombre

Gradients, The New Kids In The Block?

One of the most important and powerful ‘Elements Of Design’ are colours. Now, as design is a process of evolution, our awareness of colors and the ways that they are used, are always evolving too.

It is being noticed that there is an innovative and renewed trend in design which involves a prominent use of gradients in fields like Fashion, Interiors, UI, branding, illustration, typography and more. It appears that the world got tired of all the existing colors in the palette, and hence the need to create new ways to showcase them.

A gradient is created by using two or more different colors gradually fading between them. All major software allow the user to create a gradient. Gradients let designers create something that feels like a new color.

We can trace the roots of gradients back to using ‘Ombre’ colours.

“Ombré /ˈɒmbreɪ/ (literally "shaded" in French) is the gradual blending of one color hue to another, usually moving tints and shades from light to dark. It has become a popular feature for hair coloring, nail art, and even baking, in addition to its uses in home decorating and graphic design. Using shading or creating an ombré effect is ubiquitous. For instance, in fabric printing, using a special printing block called a "rainbowed" block, was used in the early 19th century to produce textiles with graduated color designs.Ombré as a textile treatment came back into fashion in around 1840 and was used throughout the 19th century. In machine embroidery an ombré effect was achieved by dyeing the threads in graded colors beforehand.” (Source Wikipedia).

So, are flat colors old-fashioned now? Only time could tell because anything different these days is considered a “trend”( or Fad if we I may call it so). We all know that most of the trends change over the years, and most of them will become old-fashioned with the passage of time.

Why gradients have made a niche in today’s trends?

1. Gradients are noticeable

As gradients are something we don’t see much, our eyes catch them as something different. We remember these uncommon visuals much better because we aren’t used to see them yet. We are surrounded by flat colors, we all know them since we were little and we identify them in an instant.

2. Gradients are exclusive

There are only 7 colours in a rainbow and 12 colours in a colour wheel. There are tints and shades of colours, but even that gets limited after a certain point. So, the creation of a gradient, colours merging subtly into the other becomes exciting. An exclusive colour is created thus, which attracts attention.

3. Gradients are natural

If you carefully observe the natural world around us , gradients will be visible in God’s creations. The yellow green gradient of a lemon or a red orange yellow green of a mango in the process of ripening, a flower with red-orange-yellow gradient petal or a blue-purple petal can be very enchanting to view.

4. Gradients are colorful and playful

Humans love colors. We are attracted to colors by our nature. The rainbow also has the colours graduating into each other in a set pattern. We can vary these settings , add tones, tints and shades and create more interesting gradients to use in our designs.

So, happy colouring dear Designers … Have a good time.