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What is monochrome color


The Ultimate Guide To Monochromatic Colors In Graphic Design

“One can speak poetry just by arranging colors well.”
– Vincent Van Gogh

The burst of joy, the tone of seriousness, or a splash of personality, color is absolutely definitive in any design. The colors you pick for a design play a massive role in the final outcome. Color influences communication. If you know a thing or two about color psychology, you'll be familiar with how different colors are associated with particular meanings, and therefore the human brain associates them with particular feelings and ideas. Our color choices in art and design are a vital component in the process and end result.

Experimenting with a stack of different color techniques helps you become a more well-rounded artist and able to offer your clients a diverse range of options.

The more variety of skills and techniques you have under your belt, the deeper you’re able to go with your creation. So in case you haven’t experimented with a monochromatic color scheme, or you wish to take what you know about it further, keep reading because in this article we’re going to explore how you can get the most out of monochrome.

What Are Monochromatic Colors?

The Tate art museum defines monochrome as follows:

"Monochrome means one color, so in relation to art, a monochrome artwork is one that includes only one color."

That totally makes sense, especially when you break the meaning of the word down from its Greek roots:

  • Mono= “one”
  • Chrome= “color”

However, it’s not as simple as “one color.” Designers will understand just how many varieties there are of a single color. Monochrome colors are all the varieties of a single hue - the tints, shades, and tones. A monochromatic color scheme will range between lighter and darker versions of the base color or hue. So before continuing, let’s catch up on some color theory.

Image Source: Wikimedia
Quick Catch Up On Color Theory

In case you need a refresher, or you’re totally new to this stuff, let’s establish some basics:

Hue - basically means “color. ” If you dive into the definition, you’ll find all kinds of technical color theory information like how the hue is the dominant wavelength in a color. Painters understand “hue” as the purest form of a pigment when dealing with paint color, so try and think of it like that - a pure color before it’s altered by shade, tint, and tone.

Tint - Makes a color lighter. Tints are created by adding white to a color.

Shade - Makes a color darker by adding black.

Tone - Refers to a color’s vibrance. They are changed by adding grey. A color with more grey will be a duller tone than the original color, while one with less grey will be a more saturated version of that color.

Image Source: Public Domain Pictures

On the color wheel, each segment represents the color family of a single hue. There are subtle differences between each variation of the hue, all of which would make up a monochromatic color palette.

When using this scheme for design, each of your elements will be a range of tints, shades, and tones based on one selected base color. Because there are variations for each hue, you are free to get creative and express in any way you choose with a monochrome scheme from bright and bold to cool and muted.

Tips And Ideas For Using A Monochromatic Color Scheme

Choosing Your Base Color

So you’ve decided to go with a monochromatic color palette for your design. But oh my, which hue do you use for the base color?

Remember that the rest of your color palette is going to be a variation of the base color, so it’s important that the hue you decide on is on-brand, on-fleek, or simply communicates the right message (remember what we said about color psychology?).

It depends on your communication objectives and the intended audience. If you’re simply dabbling in a creative project for yourself or your personal brand, you could go straight for your favorite color and play with the various shades and tones of that.

If you’re creating a graphic design or illustration for a brand, you might want to make the base color the same as that of the brand’s C.I. If you want to make a statement, choosing a memorable color such as something neon could work to your advantage, if you use it right.

Creating Your Color Palette

Monochromatic schemes usually consist of 3 to 7 variations in your one-color palette, made up of darker shades and lighter tints of the original color.

It’s always good to start any design project by experimenting. Digital graphic design tools such as Photoshop or Vectornator make it really easy to experiment and create a palette, simplifying the design process.

Play around with creating variations of your base color and narrow it down to the few you feel work best together. You might decide to combine a few monochrome variations with an extra color, perhaps even a complementary color, to add an extra layer of intrigue to your design.

If you’re new to design and need to learn about how to create a digital color palette with your design software, you can find plenty of helpful videos on YouTube such as the one below.

Brand Identity

Monochromatic design is perfect for creating visual cohesion. There are many design elements that go into creating a visual identity, but color will play a major role in defining the brand.

When choosing the color, you’ll start where anything in marketing starts - knowing your audience.  You’ve got to choose a color that will resonate with the intended audience as well as communicate what the brand stands for.

Applying a monochrome technique to brand identity is a great way to create unity and will make designing anything for the brand that much easier going forward as all the colors has already been chosen.

Create Vibrant, Bold Designs

You can have fun with bold colors such as neon or red in a monochromatic scheme.

The benefit of incorporating lighter tints and darker shades of a striking, bold color into a design is that you can make a statement without the design being overwhelming or too bright. The variety of shades and tints helps to balance out bolder colors, making your bright base hue function as an accent color.

Create Calming, Muted Designs

Neutral tones look oh-so chic together in a monochrome design. This type of scheme is fantastic for lifestyle brands and looks classy on social media.

A neutral color palette keeps a design simple, and brings a sense of peace and connection to nature. Various shades of beige and brown are gentle and calming, especially when combined with white. Darker shades of neutral can also be used to create a warm ambiance.

Make Your Illustration Irresistible

Monochromatic images are beautiful. This illustration takes just one color found in a sunset and enlivens it with ambiance by basing an entire illustration on a purple monochrome palette.

Sibi has used a range of tones in purple to bring depth to the artwork by creating the illusion of shadow and silhouette. Contrasted by lighter shades of purple, the monochrome image is perfectly dynamic by just using one color.

Play With Grayscale

There are tons of fun and sophisticated ways to incorporate grayscale into designs. You might refer to this as an achromatic color scheme, meaning that it is without color and purely made up of shades and tones. One technique you could try is combining an achromatic theme with a pop of color for a strong visual statement.

Ramius Aquiler plays with monochrome in grayscale by combining a pop of yellow. Bright and expressive colors contrasted against grey work beautifully together.

Grayscale can be cool, classy, and simple, and there are more variations than you’d think. You could add an undertone of beige, yellow or red to create variations of warmer grays or diversify your color options with a sharp contrast between black and white.

Going grayscale can be a good option for print projects, as it is much more affordable to print.

Produce Packaging That Pops

Monochrome color schemes make for some really inspiring packaging designs. This technique works particularly well when packaging products that come in a set. Each item can be differentiated by having its own variation from the color palette as seen below.

Going with a monochrome look in grayscale would be a suitable packaging solution for affordable printing.

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Use It In UI

You can use color as an innovative communication technique in UI design. Use variations of a color to show relationships or to differentiate segments on an interface. In the example seen below, variations of orange are used to communicate degrees of temperature. You can use color to cleverly communicate all kinds of things to make for an easy and pleasant user experience.

Use It For Simplicity

A monochrome palette is the perfect solution for honing the beauty of simplicity. It makes the design process itself simpler, as you don’t need to combine different colors, and it communicates simplicity to the eye. Even a bright and vibrant monochrome scheme is simple for the fact that there is no stark variation in color, offering a sense of unity that’s inherently uncomplicated and effortless.

Create Dynamic Photographs

There is so much fun to be had with monochromatic color photography, and overlays.

A monochromatic image is bound to stand out as an editorial design, on a poster, or on social media. You can combine a monochrome color scheme with photography by intentionally photographing a monochromatic scene, or in the editing phase by applying a tinted overlay on top of a photograph.

Image Source: FOODISM360 | Image Source: Willian Justen de Vasconcellos | Image Source: Adam Gonzales

Try Texture

By playing with texture, or the illusion of texture, you can create an entire design in just one color, without any variations, and still have something totally dynamic. Think embossing. Think patterns. Think 3D. There are plenty of ways to make an image interesting just by applying texture to minimal color.

Image Source: Jack B

Make Infographics Interesting

Infographic design has evolved exponentially in the last few years. Designers are getting really creative and making some gorgeous infographic designs.

There are even graphic design software tools that help non-designers easily create infographics too because they have become such a valuable piece of content. As a graphic designer, it will be worth your while to be able to produce captivating infographics. But even if you're not a trained designer, you too might need to create one at some stage in your job or studies.

Applying a monochromatic color scheme can make for a creative and engaging infographic that strikes the perfect balance between being interesting enough to draw the eye in whilst not distracting from the information itself.

The infographic below uses shades of blue to create variation and intrigue in its design.

Wrap Up

Whether it’s baby pink for a bubblegum brand, greyscale with blue accent color, or a range of dark shades in green to create a moody illustration, there are many ways to go with monochrome.

Hopefully, this article has given you some ideas for different techniques and styles so that you can try something new with your designs. If you’re just getting started or you’re a seasoned graphic designer looking for something fresh, be sure to try out our free vector design software.

What Are Monochromatic Colors? Definition & Examples

You might say, well, your fave color reminds you of your favorite place, or makes you feel warm/inspired/happy.

There are probably some colors you don't tolerate well, either? Maybe you find yellow too acidic, or blue too cold and melancholic. The point is that colors are meaningful and most of us have one color that really speaks to our soul.

via GIPHY

This one color is often repeated in the products we buy, the food we eat, the clothes we wear, and how we decorate our rooms.

Colors can work together in a myriad of combinations – using primary colors together (red + blue + yellow), or juxtaposing complementary colors with each other (for instance, green + red).

You can also use similar colors together in what is called an analogous color scheme (green + blue-green + blue).

You can also opt to use only one color in a design, and this is called a monochromatic color scheme.

A monochromatic color scheme is a one-color palette including darker shades or tones and a range of tints. Using such a basic color scheme makes a bold statement in any design, photograph, interior, or other visual.

Adding a pop of color can bring about a host of emotions in a viewer or the user of an app.

Creating an image in one particular hue can be used powerfully to bring a message across or to create a strong sense of order and uniformity.

What's in this article:

  • What Are Monochromatic Colors? 🎨
  • Monochromatic Colors Examples ✅
  • How To Use Monochromatic Colors 🖌️
  • Monochromatic Style Use Cases 🖼️

What Are Monochromatic Colors? 🎨

Let’s first define what we mean by “monochromatic”.

“Monochromatic” is an adjective used to describe the use of a single color – monos in Greek meaning “single” or “one”, and khroma meaning “color”.

So, if you describe a picture or setting as having a monochromatic color scheme, you would be referring to it as having a single hue (or color) repeated in lighter tints, darker shades and/or grayer tones.

To understand how this works, let’s deep dive into some color theory.

  • What Is Color Theory?
  • Cultural Relativity Of Color
  • The Properties Of Color

What Is Color Theory?

Modern color theory was born when Sir Isaac Newton published his various experiments with optical prisms and his discovery that white light existed out of seven visible colors – the colors of the rainbow, or the ROYGBIV model.

via GIPHY

Newton is also the inventor of the color wheel that we so often use in art and design.

In the ancient world, Aristotle also shared his theory of color: that all colors were rays of light sent from heaven in either white or black and connected to the four elements (wind, earth, water, fire).

We know today that Aristotle wasn’t too far off, as proven by Newton’s optical experiments with white light. However, scientifically speaking, color is light traveling at different wavelengths.

The reason why we can see light as different colors is that these wavelengths fall into the visible spectrum (our eyes are sensitive to and stimulated by light at these wavelengths).

Each distinct color is categorized into a range of wavelengths and is called a hue, or monochromatic light.

Properties of light

Color theory doesn’t stop there. The polymath Johann Wolfgang von Goethe did his own studies on color beyond the purely scientific notions of Newton. Goethe argued that color is more than a physical phenomenon; it’s an individualistic psychological and emotional experience.

Today, the study of the effects that colors have on human experience and behavior is referred to as color psychology.

Goethe's poetic interpretations of each color are still used today to help artists express emotions in their work, assist web and app designers in creating visual prompts, and inspire interior designers in choosing color schemes for homes and offices.

via GIPHY

Moreover, the emotional and psychological effects of color influence every aspect of life – from the clothes we wear, to the food we eat, to the things we buy.

Goethe associated colors with certain characteristics, as follows:

  • Red with the beautiful – gravity, dignity, and awe
  • Orange with the noble – energetic, warm, cheerful, and agreeable
  • Yellow with the good – exciting, happy and optimistic
  • Green with the useful – simplicity, repose, and contentment
  • Blue with the common – cool, contradicting, and contemplative
  • Purple/Violet with the unnecessary – progressive and enlivened

Goethe’s Color Wheel (1809) via Open Culture

Cultural Relativity Of Color

While we are all mostly able to perceive color in the same way, interpretations of color are not universal.

Several studies on the names for colors around the world have found that certain cultural groups don't have generalized or abstract terms for specific colors.

In non-manufacturing regions (places where goods are not mass-produced) where you don't often see the same thing in different colors (e.g. a red t-shirt vs a blue t-shirt), colors have a more holistic meaning tied to their application, context, and the natural world.

For instance, the people from the Candoshi village in Peru would call red the name of a ripe fruit if it was on a ceramic surface, whereas they would call it the word for blood if it was on the floor.

Certain cultures use a single word for both green and blue. The Himba people of Namibia found it very easy to distinguish between two different tints of green, but it was difficult to distinguish blue from green.

When the same study was repeated with British people, the opposite was true: it was difficult to distinguish the lighter green from the darker green, but easy to point out the difference between blue and green.

The Candoshi people say "kavabana" for any color between green and purple, but use "kamachpa" to describe dark green.

Kamachpa is the word the Candoshi use for unripe fruit, in other words, the meaning of dark green is interpreted according to something natural, seasonal, and relevant to their particular context.

In certain African and Oceanic languages, colors are described as "dark" and "light" or by their texture, sensation, or specific purpose.

In Europe, there wasn't really a word for the color orange until the sweet orange fruit was introduced and popularized in the middle ages – before then, Europeans talked about "yellow-red" to describe the color!

There are also exceptions to how colors are biologically perceived.

People who have color vision deficiency (color blindness) don't have the full set of cones in their retina in order to be able to see all the colors most people can see. This is true for about 4% of the world's population.

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Color blindness types simulation

This means that people living with color blindness learn through socio-cultural applications what different colors mean – knowing when to stop or go at traffic lights, or which bottle contains ketchup or mustard.

They learn to recognize the subtleties in the limited spectrum that they can see as different colors.

Another biological phenomenon that changes the way people perceive colors is synaesthesia.

Synaesthesia is a condition with various manifestations where a person's senses, or rather the neural pathways through which senses are interpreted, are mixed. In other words, a synaesthete might be able to hear colors, taste smells, or smell sounds – or any other combination of the senses.

The way synaesthetes experience color is very different from those who don't have this condition, so it only makes sense that colors will mean something very different to them!

As you can see, interpretations of color are socio-cultural as well as biological and can change over time. For instance, today we use red and yellow to signal danger and warning, or errors and urgency.

Red may also be associated with love or lust, or bloodshed. What it really comes down to is that we have emotional reactions to colors, and colors are used in design elements to draw attention and lead the eye.

We’ll look at how to choose and apply a monochrome color scheme later on in this article!

The Properties Of Color

Further to the color theories and cultural interpretations of color that we’ve already looked at, we speak of color as having certain properties. Color properties are especially helpful for the arts and graphic design, where we need to be able to differentiate an almost infinite range of colors.

These three properties help us describe colors: hue, chroma (or saturation), and value (or brightness).

  1. Hue: the name of the wavelength range or color family, e.g. blue, red, yellow. With regard to paint color, this would also mean the purest form or natural pigment of a color.
  2. Chroma (saturation): the degrees of vibrance or dullness of a color depending on the amount of gray added to it (tone). A highly saturated color would be a pure hue, while a desaturated color would have a tone of gray.
  3. Value (brightness): the degrees of lightness or darkness of a color depending on the amount of white (tint) or black (shade) added to it. A brightened color would look washed out, while a darkened color would look like black.

So far we’ve learned about what colors are, how we perceive them, and how we can describe them. Now we’re going to look at some examples of monochromatic colors and their variations.

Monochromatic Colors Examples ✅

First of all, it’s really important to note that a monochromatic color scheme uses only one color, with variations in chroma (saturation) and/or value (brightness).

In other words, if you choose a secondary color like green as your base color, adding variations in yellow-greens and blue-greens would not be monochromatic as this would change the hue. Look at the example below:

In this color palette, the central block “PMS 354” can be seen as the pure hue. See how the greens become more yellow at the bottom of the grid, and more blue at the top?

This shows hue variations by adding other colors (in this case, the two primary colors that make up green – blue and yellow).

However, if you look at “PMS 354” in the center again and follow the blocks horizontally, you’ll see that the variations are monochromatic – in other words, the hue doesn’t change, but the color becomes lighter to the left (tint) and darker to the right (shade).

To understand the subtle differences between these color options on a monochrome scale, especially when you're doing digital design, you can use your graphic design tools to manipulate the single base color that you've chosen.

I've chosen Fuchsia as my base color in the examples to follow.

Random fact: Fuchsia and Magenta are exactly the same color!

The Hex code for Fuchsia is #FF00FF, or (255, 0, 255) in RGB.

Hex codes are the values given to colors being used for websites and other code-based applications; RGB stands for 'Red, Green, Blue' and these are the primary colors of light.

Remember Newton's findings on white light? When you mix all three primary colors of light together you get white.

Each color in RGB has a maximum value of 255, which would mean its purest hue. In other words, the RGB value for white is (255, 255, 255). The opposite is also true: in the absence of colors there is no light, so RGB (0, 0, 0) is equal to black.

Fuchsia is a combination of pure Red (255), no Green (0) and pure Blue (255).

Since we're working on light-emitting devices like computers and mobile phones, we need to think in these terms and values when picking and manipulating colors for monochromatic design schemes.

Now let's look at how to create a tint, a shade, and a tone. 🧐

  • Creating A Tint
  • Creating A Shade
  • Creating A Tone

Creating A Tint

Using Google's color picker tool, we start at the RGB value for pure Fuchsia (255, 0, 255).

Moving the color picker across the top from right to left, you will notice that the color is becoming lighter – we are moving through a range of tints of monochrome Fuchsia.

See how the values for Red (255) and Blue (255) stay the same, but the value for Green is picking up with each lighter tint. This is because the more Green you mix into Fuchsia, the closer it comes to white light (255, 255, 255).

Creating A Shade

Let's do the same exercise with pure Fuchsia, but we'll move the color picker from top to bottom to see the various shades.

Notice how the Fuchsia color is becoming darker as the values for Red and Blue decrease. The value for Green remains (0), in other words as the values for Red and Blue move closer to (0), the more black the color becomes.

Creating A Tone

Creating a tone means that the color will become grayer and grayer, or desaturated. We get gray by mixing black and white, so it only makes sense that we will be moving the color picker diagonally from right to left.

Notice how the Fuchsia color is not only becoming darker, but also less saturated – this is because the Red and Blue values are now decreasing, and the Green value is increasing.

In other words, the Fuchsia color is becoming both more white and more black at the same time.

Something strange also happens: once you pass the center of the color picker palette, the value for Green starts decreasing again as you move closer to black (0, 0, 0).

👉🏼 Go ahead and try this exercise with your favorite color using a digital graphic design tool or Google's color picker tool.

How To Use Monochromatic Colors 🖌️

The digital color picker exercise we've just done helped us to understand how monochrome colors work, and will also help in choosing color variations for your monochromatic design project.

Let's look at a few ways to use a monochromatic color palette.

  • Choosing A Monochromatic Palette
  • How To Create Contrast In Monochromatic Designs
  • Using Gradients

Choosing A Monochromatic Palette

When creating your monochromatic color palette, you should consider the types of variations you can get out of the range of tints, shades, and tones in a particular hue.

How do these single-hue colors look together? Do they convey the feeling you want to get across?

1. Choose A Base Color That Suits Its Application

You want to make sure that the hue you begin with is really the right color for your project.

We've discussed how colors are perceived differently depending on the socio-cultural context, so you need to consider who your audience is when choosing a base color.

Here are a few of the common color connotations:

💙 Blue is a tranquil, masculine color in Western societies, but in China it's a feminine color. In India, blue is associated with the deity Krishna, and many other cultures around the world use blue for religious purposes. Blue is considered a 'safe' color to use for most design applications.

💚 Green might be a tranquil, natural color for you, but green also connotes adultery (China), or death (South America). Olive shades of green are also almost universally connected to the military, so that's another interpretation you need to consider!

💛 Yellow is mostly known as a happy, courageous, imperial color, but in some Latin American and Middle Eastern cultures it is used to signal death.

🧡 Orange is connected to the spice saffron and is a sacred color in India. As the national color of the Netherlands, it signals patriotism and royalty. In the US, orange is mostly associated with fall and Halloween.

❤️ Red is used for many garish Christmas decorations, but it makes sense since it most often means joy, success, excitement, and happiness. In India, brides wear red on their wedding day as a symbol of good luck and long life. In China, red is used when celebrating New Year. However, in certain Middle Eastern countries red is the color of evil.

💗 Pink, a tinted variation of red, means trust in Korea. It is considered a positive, feminine color in most Western societies today, and has been used in Swiss prison cells as an attempt to keep prisoners calm and positive. Pink is also a traditional color for architectural exteriors in many parts of the world, such as Latin America and South Africa.

💜 Purple means nobility, honor, wealth and progress in many countries, however in Thailand it is worn by widows. Purple also signals mourning in certain countries in Latin America and South America. In Buddhism, the color is sacred and is worn by high-ranking monks.

2. Test The Monochromatic Scales Of The Base Color

If you want to create a sense of unity in your color selection, you should work through a few tests of monochromatic variations of your base color.

This could take some time, but it's worth the exercise if you want to create a visually pleasing monochromatic image! You could repeat the color picker exercise we did earlier in the article using your digital design tool.

You could also use another image to find your colors. Simply search for an image that you like, or a photograph that you'd like to recreate as an illustration.

Use your design software to set the hue of the image (make everything one color) to help you see the image in monochromatic colors.

Then, use the color picker tool to pick out the monochromatic colors you'd like to use for your design.

3. Decide How Many Variations You Want To Use And Stick With Them Throughout The Entire Design

At first, try to create 2 variations of your chosen color and then apply them to a test image – or apply them directly to your project.

Then, add one or two more variations if needed. You should stick to anything from 3 - 7 variations of your color. Remember – the secret to a great monochrome color palette is in keeping it simple.

It's a good idea not to use too many different variations of the same color in your monochrome project.

Firstly, if you fill up your color palette tray with a bunch of similar custom colors you might start to get confused about which colors you're using in which areas of your design.

Secondly, it's especially important to limit the scope of your color palette if you're creating symmetrical, patterned designs and need to keep a uniform look.

Another trick that will help you differentiate your monochrome colors in your digital color palette, is to name each of the custom colors you set for your project and save the color palette.

This will make it easier for you to return to your project (especially when working on multiple deadlines!) without getting confused about which colors you were using.

It will also enable you to reuse the monochrome palette, or parts of it, for other projects. As you develop in your graphic design career, you'll establish certain color palettes that give your work a distinct style or flavor.

Creating A Monochromatic Color Palette Using Tints, Shades, and Tones

How To Create Contrast In Monochromatic Designs

Using a monochromatic scheme is beneficial because it makes it easier to find the colors for your palette, and you can be sure that they’ll work together since they’re all exactly the same hue!

Be careful not to choose shades, tones, and tints of your color that are too close together with little variation in chroma and value – when using monochromatic colors you need to rely on saturation and brightness to create contrast in your image.

  • Try to place a lighter shade and a dark shade next to each other to create a sharp contrast without using a bright color.
  • You can use strong shapes with sharp edges to further differentiate blocks of color.
  • Use a lighter tint or duller tone for the background.
  • If you're wanting a softer look, you can pick monochrome colors that are very close to each other. This will give your design lower contrast and the variations will blend together in the design.

Using Gradients

Adding a monochromatic gradient to a design or background can be a really simple, elegant way to style an image or design element and create some interest.

A gradient is a smooth transition between colors by gradually mixing them at various points.

Gradients can be linear or follow an algorithm – this is usually an option you can choose in your digital design software. Moreover, you can choose the direction of your gradient and also add more than one tint, shade, or tone, at various points.

This means that you can create super dynamic and interesting gradients using monochromatic colors, which will add interest to your image or create a three-dimensional, abstract effect.

Gradients can be applied to shapes or backgrounds and tend to go in and out of fashion depending on design trends at the time.

This is especially true in graphic and web design – so be sure to keep up to date with what's trending so that your designs stay fresh!

Monochromatic Style Use Cases 🖼️

If you're looking into doing some monochromatic designs, or simply looking for fresh ways to use one color in your room or your wardrobe, it's a good idea to check what other people are doing for inspiration.

We've looked up a bunch of designs and other pieces below to help you get some ideas!

  • Painting
  • Sculpture
  • Photography
  • Street Art
  • Graphic Design
  • Packaging Design
  • Social Media
  • UX/Web Design
  • Interior Design
  • Fashion
  • Retail
  • Tattoo Design

Painting

Painting with only one color can create an overall sense of unity in visually striking images. See how the artist of this painting used monochrome blue to create depth and interest in their artwork?

Using a very dark shade of blue in the foreground in combination with a very light tint of blue in the background creates the perspective of a light source being directly behind the subject in the center of the piece.

The artist would have added white paint or diluted paint in the blue hue to create the tints and would have added black paint to create the shades.

Sculpture

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Classical and modern sculptures tend to be monochrome, specifically when they’re made out of one material (for instance, marble or clay) or when they’re painted with one color.

Because sculptures are three-dimensional, you will see darker shades and lighter tints of the material’s color depending on how the light falls on the sculpture and where shadows are formed.

This inflatable sculpture by artist GoldenDean is made of a gold-colored, shiny material, but we can see many monochromatic variations based on the lighting.

Photography

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A post shared by Chloe Obermeyer (@create_with_cleo)

Traditional black-and-white photography is in fact not monochromatic color photography, but achromatic – these photographs contain no hue at all (absence of color) and only consist of tones and shades.

However, some photographic processes produce monochrome images with intense color.

Cyanotype is a traditional photographic process where chemicals are applied by hand to archival paper or other materials and a "positive" (the image that must be reproduced) is placed on top before exposing the paper to UV light.

This process creates stunning blue monochromatic images.

Street Art

Graffiti artists have a way with colors! This mural was painted in Setubal, Portugal, and features a bird figure made up of many complex shapes in varying tints and shades of red.

This artwork is a great example of how a complex design can still have a uniform look through the use of a great selection of monochromatic colors applied throughout.

Graphic Design

In monochromatic design, as we've shown above, you would take a basic color and create a range of tones and/or shades and/or tints to create a monochrome image without the use of any extra color.

Using a digital design tool makes this especially easy because the software will allow you to manipulate image colors, add a hue to the background, change the hue, brightness and saturation of the design and use a color picker to create your palette.

You can add interest to your designs by adding various elements like patterns, shapes, other images (as in the design above where black and white photographs were added) and text.

Packaging Design

Using one color is not new in packaging design. In fact, as printing processes developed and more and more products vie for attention on shopping shelves, packaging has become increasingly complex and colorful.

The problem is that the more complex packaging is, the more resources are needed to produce it and the more difficult it is to recycle or reuse. In this sense, product packaging is generally not very sustainable and presents a huge problem in terms of wastage and costs.

It only makes sense then that more designers and companies are looking at more earth-friendly and cost-saving ways to produce great packaging.

Monochromatic packaging has become a notable trend as more brands are placing emphasis on the quality of their products, as well as their concern for the environment.

One particular designer, Jonna Breitenhuber, took soap on a rope to another level by creating sustainable plastic-free bottles using soap.

These designs are minimal, with molded lettering to indicate the product. This makes a really bold statement about keeping it simple, "natural" (not plastic), and remembering that we should buy products for their function and not for the flashy packaging.

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Monochrome design can be applied to reach your communication objectives.

Using the same color in the foreground in combination with a white background will draw the viewer or reader's attention to a particular message that you're trying to convey.

In this image, color selection was carefully done by matching the light green in the t-shirt with the dark green in the escape sign.

UX/Web Design

Image Source: Very Peri

Colors are really powerful for User Experience (UX) design, especially when creating online tools and websites.

The Very Peri website was created to showcase the 2022 Pantone Color of the Year.

Below you can see an animated view of one of the experiences built into the website, where you can use a slider to move through the various tints of the Very Peri color.

It's really interesting to think that you can "paint" with code 🖌️

Image Source: Very Peri

Interior Design

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Monochrome color schemes are often applied to interiors. You might pick a color that expresses a particular attribute of yourself or your family, or a favorite color that evokes a certain feeling or brings back special memories.

Oftentimes color choices for interior design depend on what's trending in the market at the moment.

Monochromatic spaces are trending right now. You can decorate your interiors with variations of neutral colors to create a neat, spacious, and uniform look. The example above shows a room decorated in a monochromatic style with variations of a neutral beige color.

The reason why this interior design composition works really well is that the designer combined various textures in the same hue. Notice how the stark contrast of dark and light in the marble pattern of the arch is repeated in geometric patterns on the loose carpets?

The chairs also repeat the same beige tint used on the walls, contrasted with the light drapes and window frames.

Another really great trick that the designer used is to combine glossy and matte surfaces. The matte tiles, fabrics, vases, and wood offset the shiny marble, kitchen surfaces, and light fittings.

Overall, the combination of soft and hard, matte and glossy, freeform and geometric is what makes the neutral monochromatic color scheme in this interior so harmonious.

Fashion

Using monochromatic colors in fashion creates a timeless look. Fashion house Avenue Calgary created a monochrome ensemble using variations on a peach color (orange-pink).

Notice how the model’s handbag is the darkest, with her sweater being a lighter shade, the coat being a lighter tint than the sweater, and finally, the color of her pants looking almost washed out in front of the light peach background color.

This outfit works well because it complements the model’s light skin tone and hair. Choosing a monochromatic outfit makes a really bold statement and places the emphasis on the wearer's sense of individuality and style.

Retail

Shopfitting has also been influenced by the monochromatic design trend.

Whereas traditional shopfitting is usually pretty drab and boring, a monochromatic color scheme can be used to brighten up a shop without distracting from the product/service being sold.

On the other end of the spectrum, retail shops tend to be overcrowded with advertising and different colors and cut-out shapes shouting for the customer's attention. In this sense, a monochromatic color scheme can be used to simplify the shop layout and create a sense of sophistication.

See how this boutique tastefully uses the same color throughout its decor to effectively "brand" the shop and create a unique experience, without distracting from the clothing on display.

Tattoo Design

Even though black is the most popular ink color for tattoos, monochromatic color tattoos are also extremely popular.

Red ink tattoos are gaining popularity as this tattoo ink color has greater longevity on the skin. It also gives the wearer a unique tattoo design without black borders, which is most common in color tattoos.

Since ancient times, impermanent henna tattoos have shown exquisite ways to decorate your body with monochromatic designs (without needing to commit to a single design for the rest of your life).

Wrap Up 📝

You should now have a pretty good in-depth understanding of what monochromatic colors are, how to create a color palette for your creative work, and the various ways in which you may apply it.

Choosing one color for your creative work is a bold move, but when done well it can really make your designs stand out.

If you're looking for ways to use a certain color to bring a message across or to evoke a specific feeling in the viewer or user, a monochromatic color scheme can help you do just that.

Remember that the secret to any good monochrome design is to carefully choose the right hue for its application, whilst making sure that you create a selection of tints, shades and/or tones that will create a visually appealing and meaningful composition.

Consider your audience and their particular tastes and interpretations of colors in order to make designs that are relevant to their socio-cultural experiences.

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    Monochrome color combination - based on a combination of colors of the same color tone, in the presence of shades with different lightness and saturation.

    • color combination

    This may include:

    • shades of the same lightness with different saturation;
    • shades of the same color tone of different lightness, but the same saturation;
    • shades of the same color tone, different lightness and saturation.

    Such compositions are calm, balanced, restrained, but at the same time static (similar to an achromatic color combination). Dynamics of such a composition can be given by creating a strong contrast in lightness and contrast in saturation between colors. Monochrome compositions are the simplest, but it is not advisable to use them in creating an interior, since the monopoly of one color causes discomfort in a person and can even cause a psychophysical disorder. On the hair, this combination looks calm and is often used.

    It is worth noting the fact that achromatic color combination can be called one of the varieties of monochromatic color combination. They are so close to each other that in some literature the achromatic combination is not even singled out as a separate category.

    Examples of monochrome color combinations

    • Monochrome colors in the composition

    • Monochrome art composition

    • Monochrome combination in fabrics

    • Monochrome colors in the visual arts

    Other materials in this category: “Ahromatic color combination Harmonic combinations of similar (related) colors”

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  • Monochrome: clear and elegant attire

    Monochrome outfit is not at all a black and white gamma, as many people for some reason believe, it is an ensemble consisting of things belonging to the same color tone, although the shades may vary. Monochrome khaki outfit can include cream and brown shades - in all cases, we are talking about lighter or darker members of the same color family.

    If it seems to you that, dressed from head to toe, for example, in orange, you will look at least strange, then you will not be far from the truth in your fears. Since in monochrome does not stand out in color, the silhouette of the dress should be perfectly clear, proportions are verified, and a minimum of jewelry. This is especially important for black and dark colors. No carelessness in clothes, accessories and even hair.

    Compliance with a simple rule will allow you not to merge into one spot and look stylish: a clear silhouette + a balance between color and texture

    In a monochrome ensemble, all the individual items look like they were born to be worn together, and the image is very clear and elegant. Although it's better to have excellent quality, monochrome can turn an inexpensive outfit into a luxury item. For monochrome ensembles, neutral colors are most often chosen, but you can take bright ones if you want to attract maximum attention.

    Monochrome ensembles benefit from the use of texture or metal inserts that play the same role as color accents. A sequined T-shirt or even a silk blouse will go well with a gray outfit, which in itself will serve as an accent on a gray background. The main thing is to make sure that the outfit has more variety (no matter how it is provided - variations of colors or fabrics), so that the outfit does not merge into a solid mass.

    Monochrome set in one color

    So that such a set is not boring and does not merge into one color spot, its things should be from different textures. We combine smooth with textured, matte with shiny, dense with transparent, knitwear with fur, and so on.

    Monochrome set in different shades of the same color

    You should not strive to pick up things of the same color if they have the same texture.


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