Blend Color Trends and Flat Designs Perfectly
As we have mentioned in our previous articles, one of the latest trends in web design world is of Flat Design. This trend is being followed all across the globe and is being appreciated as well. People have had enough of designing that included almost every possible thing available for designing. Like I always say, if you are creative enough, you can make a simple design look attractive and this is exactly what our current designers are finally doing. Yes, we can finally put our eyes to some rest by looking at flat yet attractive designs. This article inspired through Designmodo Blog.
If you want to work on a flat design yourself, you must keep in mind one of the most important part of this trend i.e., color palette. Colors play a very important role is almost everything and same goes for websites as well. Your website will look pleasing to the eye only if it has a good combination of colors. Selection and usage of colors should be done very wisely as your color combinations should compliment your designing as well. Keeping a balance of designing and colors is never an easy thing. Let us recall what flat designing means and then we will move on to discussing color palettes for websites.
Flat Design:
Precisely, flat design is a process in which designers’ uses simple techniques with simple effects. A flat design does not contain any three-dimensional attributes. Any kind of effect or gradient is avoided in Flat Designing. If you look at it, the entire look of flat design can come across as very simple however; designing a flat design can be very complex as well. I personally think that the best thing about flat design is that the look is way too simple, which makes it user friendly. This is one of the major reasons behind its popularity.
Worth To Read :
Identifying Perfect Color Palette:
As I mentioned earlier, you need to be careful with your color selection when it comes to flat design. A lot of variation can be added but I have observed that designers are opting for bold and bright colors.
Earlier, flat designing was had no more than 2 colors however, the good thing is that designers are now finally expanding palettes and they are using 3-4 colors; sometimes more. Mostly the bright colors are seen that are mixed with grays and blacks to keep a good balance.
What I personally love about the flat design and color palettes is that designers are no longer following the traditional rules of color combinations. They are making new combinations and using a lot of new colors here and there hence, making the websites look great.
If you have a good color sense, I am sure you will notice that flat designs of today are a good balance of tone and saturation. Designers select each and everything very carefully and they make sure to mirror shades. If you are a designer, I will always recommend you to experiment in order to become a trend setter. However, if you are planning to play it safe, you should follow trends i.e., being more retro.
Bright and dazzling colors:
As you have read above, bright colors are now being associated with simple and flat designing in order to create a diverse feel. The best thing about bright colors is that they will work perfectly with a light background or a dark background. This keeps the balance and created a great contrast of colors which obviously looks very pleasing to the eye. As of now, you should consider this to be the biggest trend in flat designing.
For beginners:
If you are a beginner, I would strongly recommend you to visit FlatUIColors.com since it offers a huge list of the most famous shades used in flat designs. This website is a perfect guide for you to learn if you should use a bright blue or you should go for greens and yellows. The best thing about this website is that they allow you free of cost downloading of a color. So, you can download your favorite color and see if this is something that your site needs.
Designmodo has gone one step ahead by releasing Flat UI Free kit. This kit contains almost same bright colors however; it comes with a great interface kit as well. I think this is the best option for anyone who is not very good with mixing colors or who has just gotten into this field.
I think it is very wise of designers not to use primary colors with bright color in flat designing. Just think for a minute that bright blue and a pure red can and will never make a great color combination as far as flat designing is concerned. If you want to go with your personally selected color schemes, I will recommend you to keep things as simple as you can. You should go for colors with the same color tones and saturation.
Popular colors: Blues, greens and purples
Retro Color Schemes:
My personal favorite and yes a well-liked and poplar choice of designers when they are working on flat design projects. Retro color schemes are less saturated however, the usage of bright colors is still there but they are mixed match with light tones such as white and gray. The good choices of Retro Color schemes are yellow, red, orange and a few more. When it comes to retro color schemes, you will see a lot of usage of primary and secondary colors.
Popular colors: Oranges, peach or plum tones and dark blues
Monotone Color Schemes:
This kind of color scheme is gaining popularity like anything in the world of flat designing. In monotone color palettes, designer basically relies on a single color that is combined with a perfect combination of black and white. Basically the single color is used as a base color and 1-2 colors are used for further effects. This color scheme is particularly popular for mobile apps.
Popular colors: Blues, grays and greens
Conclusion:
Since the flat designing trend is actually new, it is getting interesting and fun with every passing day. Always be sure to come up with a color palette that compliments your project.