# Aesthetic backgrounds: how to make your own [Canonical HTML page](https://gradiently.design/guide/aesthetic-backgrounds) Downloaded backgrounds are shared by everyone who found the same page. Making your own takes an afternoon, and the result matches your phone, your desktop and your posts. ## The short version - An aesthetic background is usually a soft, low-contrast field of colour with gentle light and a little texture, rather than a busy picture. - Most aesthetic looks come from a narrow palette: three to five colours close in lightness, with one slightly deeper tone for depth. - A touch of grain makes soft gradients look like film or paper and hides the stripes that smooth gradients can show. - Make one look, then export it for each shape you use, such as a 1080 by 1920 phone background, a 1920 by 1080 desktop and a 1080 by 1350 post. - Keep the calmest area of the background where clocks, icons or words will sit. An **aesthetic background** is, in practice, a soft field of colour with gentle light and a little texture: a peach haze, a sage morning, a lavender dusk, a dark film-like brown. To make your own, choose three to five colours close in lightness, blend them softly with one gentle light source, add a touch of grain, and export the same look for each screen and format you use. The result feels calm, personal and consistent, which is most of what people mean by aesthetic. This guide gives you ready palettes with codes, the method for making your own, and a set of sizes so your phone, desktop and posts match. For the colour thinking behind it, see [pastel gradients](https://gradiently.design/guide/pastel-gradients) and [colour theory basics](https://gradiently.design/guide/color-theory-basics). ## What makes a background look aesthetic Look closely at backgrounds people save and share and the same traits keep appearing. None of them are about a specific colour: they are about restraint. - **Low contrast.** Colours sit close together in lightness, so nothing jumps out. - **Soft transitions.** Blends are long and gradual, with no hard edges. - **A light source.** One area is slightly brighter, like window light, which gives the field depth. - **Texture.** Fine grain or paper tooth makes it feel physical rather than digital. - **Space.** There is nothing to look at, which is exactly what makes it good behind icons, words and photos. - Peach haze: `linear-gradient(160deg, #fde2d4 0%, #f9c6c9 50%, #e8c5e5 100%)` - Sage morning: `linear-gradient(180deg, #eef2e6 0%, #cfdcc4 55%, #a9bfa3 100%)` - Lavender dusk: `linear-gradient(165deg, #e9e4ff 0%, #c9bdf2 50%, #9d8fd9 100%)` - Butter light: `radial-gradient(circle at 30% 20%, #fff6d6 0%, #fbe3a4 45%, #f2c78b 100%)` - Cloud blue: `linear-gradient(180deg, #f3f7ff 0%, #d7e6fb 50%, #b9cfee 100%)` - Ballet pink: `linear-gradient(180deg, #fff0f3 0%, #fbd3dc 55%, #f2aebf 100%)` - Dark academia: `linear-gradient(170deg, #4a3b33 0%, #2e241f 55%, #171210 100%)` - Midnight film: `radial-gradient(ellipse at 70% 20%, #3a3560 0%, #1c1a33 50%, #0d0c18 100%)` Eight aesthetic backgrounds as single CSS gradients. Each keeps its colours close in lightness, which is what makes them calm. Light and dark aesthetics follow the same rules in reverse. Light ones keep every colour pale and let a slightly deeper tone gather at one edge. Dark ones keep everything deep and let a single warmer or brighter pool act as the light, like a lamp in a dim room. Dark backgrounds need grain even more, because banding shows most in shadows; [dark gradient backgrounds](https://gradiently.design/guide/dark-gradient-backgrounds) goes further. ## How to make your own aesthetic background 1. **Pick a mood word** One or two words: *slow Sunday*, *seaside morning*, *old library*. Moods lead to palettes more reliably than colour names do. 2. **Collect three to five colours** Sample them from a photo that has the mood, or build them by hand. Keep them close in lightness, with one slightly deeper tone. [Pulling a palette from a photo](https://gradiently.design/guide/color-palette-from-image) shows how. 3. **Choose a light direction** Decide where the light comes from, usually the top or a top corner. Put the lightest colour there and let the rest fall away from it. 4. **Blend softly** Use long transitions with stops spread out, or a few overlapping radial pools for a softer, cloud-like field. Avoid sharp stops. 5. **Add grain** A little noise over the whole image. Enough to feel, not enough to see from arm's length. [Grainy gradients](https://gradiently.design/guide/grainy-gradients) explains why it works. 6. **Export for every shape** Render the look at each size you need, rather than cropping one image, so the light stays in the right place. - Linen: #fbe9dd - Apricot milk: #f4d3c2 - Rose clay: #e9bfb4 - Dusty mauve: #d7b8c9 - Depth: plum shadow: #a88ca6 A worked palette for a *slow Sunday* mood: four close, warm tones and one deeper plum that adds depth at the edges. > **Why soft backgrounds band** Gentle gradients with close colours are exactly where screens show stripes, especially in dark tones and compressed images. Grain hides them. If you see bands, read [gradient banding](https://gradiently.design/guide/gradient-banding). ## Aesthetic backgrounds for phone, desktop and posts The point of making your own is that everything can match. Make one look and export it for each place it lives. Phones are the tallest: many modern screens are taller than 9:16, so export a phone background with extra height, or check your screen's exact size, as explained in [phone wallpaper size](https://gradiently.design/guide/phone-wallpaper-size). - Phone background 1080×1920: 1080 × 1920 - Desktop 1920×1080: 1920 × 1080 - Post 1080×1350: 1080 × 1350 - Square 1080×1080: 1080 × 1080 One aesthetic, four exports. Place the light for each shape instead of cropping a single image. Each shape has its own busy zones. On a phone lock screen, the clock sits near the top and notifications in the middle. On a desktop, icons usually line an edge. On a post, the words need a calm area. Move the light source so the calmest part of the field sits under those elements. A portrait post with a short title on a soft, warm gradient background A post on the aesthetic: words sit in the calm upper area. A vertical story with a short quote on the same soft gradient as the post The same look as a story, rendered for the taller shape rather than cropped. ## Keeping it from looking generic Soft pastel gradients are popular, which means the defaults are everywhere. A few small choices make yours recognisably yours. ### Generic - A two-colour preset from a generator - Perfectly smooth, no texture - Evenly lit from corner to corner - A different look for phone, desktop and posts ### Yours - Four or five colours from your own mood - Fine grain, like film or paper - One clear light source - One look rendered for every shape If you would rather start from something already crafted, Gradiently's Market has thousands of Marks, living gradient backgrounds with colour, material, light, grain and motion, that you can search by colour words like "soft peach" or "deep teal" and design with for free. The Studio can then lay the same look out for your phone, desktop and posts. ## FAQ ### What makes a background aesthetic? Usually a soft, low-contrast palette, gentle transitions, a single light source and a little texture such as grain. Restraint, rather than any specific colour, is what gives the look. ### How do I make an aesthetic wallpaper for my phone? Choose three to five close colours, blend them softly with the light near the top, add fine grain, and export at a tall size, with extra height for phones taller than 9:16. ### What colours are aesthetic? Any colours can be, if they sit close together in lightness and saturation. Popular families include peach and rose, sage and cream, lavender and grey-blue, and deep browns for darker moods. ### Why does my soft background have stripes? Smooth gradients between close colours show banding on many screens, especially after compression. Adding fine grain and exporting at high quality usually hides it.