Have you ever imagined a design without colors? It’s kind of impossible. Even black and white are colors too, aren’t they? As a designer, if you don’t give importance to colors then you will always face difficulty in making a “Perfect” design. Whether you just started your graphic design training or already working as a designer, it is must to know about the power of color. This blog has brought the top color trends in graphic design and useful discussion on the design element “COLOR”.
The Power of Color in Graphic Design
Color plays an important role in making a design creative, attractive, and functional. Using colors related to the name of a company will leave a good impression. You can see that brands use colors according to their work and services. Like Fanta uses orange because it gives a refreshing and cool vibe and the color of the drink is also orange. Pepsi uses blue and red in combination which is a complimentary color scheme. This color scheme is known to attract youths due to its high contrast.
What is Color?
Light has various tones and color helps you to see those tones. It has three main characters:
- Hue—Hue is the second name of color. Like we say “The color of the sky is blue” here we can also write like the “The hue of the sky is blue”. It conveys the same meaning.
- Saturation—Another term is saturation which shows purest form of a color. If the saturation is high the color will appear bright and natural, but if it is low the color will appear dull and fade.
- Brightness— Third term is brightness. With the help of brightness you can see different shades of a color from lighter to darker. If the brightness is high the color will appear lighter but if the brightness is low the color will appear darker.
Understanding the Color Wheel and Color Schemes
A color wheel is a diagram which shows the different shades of a color from lighter to darker. It generally has 12 hues. Through this wheel we can easily observe the relationship between the individual hues.
Key Components of the Color Wheel:
Below are three main components that forms the entire wheel.
- Primary colors– Red, Yellow, and Blue (These colors are naturally created by nature and cannot be created by mixing 2 colors)
- Secondary colors– Orange, Green, and Purple (Violet) (These colors are formed by blending 2 primary colors)
- Tertiary colors– Red-Orange, Yellow-Green, and Blue-Purple (These colors are made by merging primary and secondary colors)
Common Color Schemes
Color wheel is the main tool that helps designers to form different types of color scheme. These schemes are the popular harmonious combinations of 2 or more colors presented on wheel. We mix hues from both families (warm and cool) to give vibrant and cheerful feel. When using colors from a same family than we see an intense and stable color combination.
Though there are 7-8 color schemes but Let’s talk about individual type below.
- Complementary – Complementary scheme is made up of hues which are exactly opposite to each other in terms of cool and warm family for e.g. Red & Green. Here Red comes from warm family and Green comes from cool family on the wheel.
- Analogous – Analogous scheme is formed with three colors which are correspondence or next to each other on the wheel. They also blend well together and give a smooth texture. For e.g. Red – Orange – Yellow.
- Triadic – Triadic scheme also includes 3 colors but it is different from analogous. In triadic, we pick hues which are evenly placed on the wheel for eg. Red – Yellow – Blue or Orange – Green – Purple.
- Tetradic – It is so easy to use Tetradic scheme as it forms with 4 colors which are actually the two complementary colors. So, just pick two complementary pairs like Green & Blue one side and Red & Orange on other side.
- Monochromatic – Monochromatic is one of the most used color schemes. Mono means single thus here in this scheme we use single hue with its different tints and tones
There much more to explore yet.
Emerging Color Trends in Graphic Design in 2025
1. Earthy Tones and Natural Hues
We see designers are using earthy tones and natural hues a lot these days. Earthy tones and natural hues are related to the earth or nature. They connect the design with nature and give a natural and relaxing vibe. Olive green, peachy pink, copen blue, and much more. These tones are mostly preferred for interior designing, fashion designing, branding, etc.
2. Mocha Mousse: The Color of the Year
Have you heard of Mocha Mousse before? Please comment us as we would like to know about it from you. This color is similar to brown shade, has texture and gives a very smooth and creamy vibe. Similar to our first trend, Mocha Mousse goes very well with fashion designing and it is attending attention from fashion designers. Cloths comings in Mocha Mousse shade give rich and classy feeling.
3. Vibrant and Bold Palettes
Vibrant colors have a special place in the hearts of people in current era. That is why designers moving towards vibrant and bold palettes as they are attractive and look bold. They also show excitement, energy, passion, etc. People feel refreshed with the vibrant, bright and eye-catching hues. So, designers, you must follow this color trend.
4. Gradients and Color Transitions
How can we skip gradients in the list. Gradients are always been a part of every important trend. They improve depth and present a flawless transition between different colors in designs.
5. Eco-Conscious Design Palettes
Eco-conscious design palettes align very well with sustainability and environmental awareness. These palettes present natural, earthy, minimal, neutral shades and tones. We see their use in packaging, branding and product development. Even in interior designing you can find them easily these days.
Some of the examples of these eco-conscious palettes are clay red, moss green, oceanic blue, leafy green, floral hues, etc.
Principles of Choosing the Right Color Palette
There are some important principles you need to follow while making or choosing color palette for the project. Let’s find them below.
1. Learn Basic Color Theory
First of all, you need to give time to learn color theory. It is one of the easiest ways to understand how to create balance between the color and design.
2. Consider Psychological Effects of Color
A designer should understand what kind of emotion and role a color plays. Each hue conveys a different mood or emotion. As we can see in traffic lights, red means STOP as it is related to warnings, danger, and shows need to halt. On the other hand green is for GO because it contrasts with red and also shows movement and safety.
A few more examples:
- Yellow – Happiness, Cheer, and Creativity
- Purple – Royalty, Luxury, and Ambition
- Blue – Peace, Loyalty, and Trust
3. Match Colors with Brand Identity
While choosing a color palette, observe the services and the work of the company. Every organisation serves a purpose so colors too. Thus, decide the color palette accordingly as it will be a powerful tool to represent the brand identity.
4. Think About Cultural Meanings
Creating design culturally means when you understand the meaning of color in different cultures as well. For example, in western culture white color represents peace whereas in Asian culture it means mourning.
Useful Tools for Choosing Colors
We are mentioning some tools below from where you can choose effective colors for your design.
- Adobe Color – This is a free tool from Adobe which helps in generating beautiful palettes based on harmony rule. Try it on color.adobe.com
- Coolors – Another good tool for you where you can get help from AI to generate a palette quickly without spending much time. Visit Coolers to see how it works.
- Color Hunt – There is a big collection of ready-made color palettes for use. Check your pallet on colorhunt.co
- Material Design Palette – In this tool, you will be able to choose particular hues and then website will generate downloadable pallets with nice preview. Check more
material palette - Canva Color Palette Generator – Canva brought this tool for designers and artists to pick up the right hues from any image. Visit Canva to try out it yourself.
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Closing Words on Color Trends in Graphic Design
To create a design, your first step has to select a suitable color palette for your project. When you know which hue you have to use, you can create a design easily and this will save your time as well. By understanding and following points mentioned above you can easily transform into a professional designer. It will leave a good impression on your personality as a designer.
To get more tips and tricks from experts, check our most in-demand diploma course in digital media and graphics.
So, whether it is about graphic designing, UI designing, web designing or branding, colors play an important role. Because if the color will not match the brand identity it will be a huge loss to a brand. So, designers, starting paying attention to from today.
Thanks for reading, let us know your views in the comments below.
