Sometimes a trend emerges and disappears quickly in web design, but a few of those trends should never have gone away. The use of gradients in web design is getting another look from web designers with good reason. Here are several reasons gradients are making a comeback and why your company should consider using them.
Gradients Grab the User’s Attention
Gradients are an excellent way to gently guide a visitor to your website’s homepage to what you want them to pay attention. The change in color as it fades from a lighter shade to a darker one helps the user’s eyes follow a path, highlighting what you want them to see. A natural interest is peeked in them when they see gradients, and this is what makes it such a valuable design tool. It can take a potentially bland design and make it much more appealing. While there are several options of how you can use a gradient in design, perhaps the most popular way to use it is as a background with a mixture of text and eye-catching images overlaid.
Gradients Make an Unremarkable Image More Interesting
A pedestrian graphic or logo can be made much more appealing by adding a gradient to the page. Gradient overlays are perhaps the best way to improve a bland web page without totally redesigning it. It is effective even with an image as simple as just your company’s logo. A gradient overlay is surprisingly effective at setting a tone with simple images; such as a fade from dark to light.
Help to Establish Brand Identity
Using a gradient is an effective way to convey your brand when a user visits your website. You can use colors approved in your company’s branding style guide in the gradient along with approved imagery and typography to send a strong message about your company’s brand.
A Memorable Brand
The color combinations used in your gradient will not only guide the user’s eyes where you want them to go; it gives your site’s homepage a burst of color that stands out from other sites. When a website makes an impact on a visitor, it will remain in their memory and make it more likely they will make a return visit in the future. Not only are you making a dull webpage more appealing when a gradient is applied, if used in conjunction with established branding guidelines, but you are also building brand loyalty with your customers. Repeatedly seeing your brand’s color scheme in gradients will lead to identifying those colors with your company’s brand. When a customer sees a storefront or vehicle with the company’s color scheme, they will instantly recognize it as belonging to your company and will further cement your brand in their memory.
Simple to Use and Add Versatility
Whether you add a gradient to an image or create one from scratch, it is not an overly complicated process. It may be as simple as selecting a few colors and then choosing a shape for the gradient and how colors will begin end, and overlap. Gradients typically are directional, from left to right or top to bottom; or radial, where various colors originate from a single point in a circular manner. Gradients are versatile, so it is possible for a design to have several styles of gradients. Gradients typically are directional, from left to right or top to bottom; or radial, where various colors originate from a single point in a circular manner. Gradients are versatile, so it is possible for a design to have several styles of gradients.
If you have been struggling with a way to make your website more appealing and have had no success, gradients may be just the thing to get the results you want.