The short version
- A brand background should suit your existing colours, carry your words clearly and still be recognisable at thumbnail size.
- The ground, dark or light, sets the mood of a background more than any single accent colour.
- Texture carries meaning: grain reads as print and craft, silk as luxury, glass and chrome as technology.
- Test a background with your own headline in a feed post, a story and a wide banner before committing to it.
- In Gradiently you can design with any unclaimed Mark for free, so you can try a look on real work before you claim it.
On this page
To work out how to choose a background for your brand, judge each candidate on six things: whether its colours sit well with your logo, whether its ground is dark or light, what its texture says, how much it moves, which typefaces it wears, and whether your words stay readable on it at every size. Then test the two or three that pass with your real headlines before you commit. A background you post on every day becomes a brand asset, so it deserves the same care as a logo.
In Gradiently that background is a Mark: a recipe of two to eight colours, up to three stacked materials, light, grain, motion and a type voice, rendered live behind everything you design. The questions below apply to any background, but the examples use Marks because each one can be tried for free.
Start with the colours you already have
Most brands already own a colour or two, in a logo, a shopfront, packaging or a website. The background does not need to match them exactly. It needs to belong with them. Look for a palette that contains your main colour or a close neighbour, and check your logo sitting on top in both its light and dark versions.
If you are starting from nothing, choose the mood first and the colours second. Brand colour examples and the psychology of colour are good places to calibrate.
Dark ground or light ground
Every Mark sits on a ground, either a deep void or a pale paper, and the ground decides the feeling before any accent does. Dark grounds make colour glow and read as premium, nocturnal or technical. Paper grounds read as printed, calm, editorial and friendly. Choose the one your customers would expect to walk into.
What the material says about you
Texture is read before it is noticed. A material makes a gradient look like a surface, and surfaces carry associations. Mark materials explained covers them family by family; as a quick guide:
Look for
Example materials
Look for
Example materials
Look for
Example materials
Look for
Example materials
Look for
Example materials
How much motion you want
Marks move. Some drift so slowly you notice only when you look away and back; others shimmer and pour. Slow motion suits brands that want to feel calm and expensive, and works under still words in stories and on screens in a shop window. Livelier motion suits events, launches and music. If most of your posts are still images, motion matters less, but a slow loop is a useful extra for stories and Reels backgrounds.
The type voice it comes with
Every Mark carries a type voice: a display face for headlines, a text face for everything else, a weight, spacing and letter case. It is the starting point, and you can change it on any line or set your own fonts in the brand kit. Still, a voice that already matches yours saves a step on every design. A Mark's type voice explains how it works.
Test it with your own words
A background that looks lovely on its own can fall apart under a real headline, or in a shape it was not chosen for. Before you commit, put your words on it in the formats you actually post.
Candidate one in a feed post.
Candidate two with the same words. Ask which one your customers would recognise at a glance.
- 1
Search by what you see
In the Market, type colour words like "deep teal" or "warm sand", or filter by colour, ground, mood, material and style.
- 2
Shortlist three
Save the candidates to your favourites so you can compare them side by side.
- 3
See it worn
Each Mark's page shows it on a poster, a story, a post, a slide and more, and you can put your own name on them.
- 4
Design something real
Open the Studio on a candidate and make next week's post. Designing with any unclaimed Mark is free.
- 5
Check three shapes
Look at a 1080×1350 post, a 1080×1920 story and a wide banner such as 1500×500. The look should hold in all three.
- 6
Claim the winner
Claiming makes you its only owner, with your name on its public record and a numbered certificate.
Mistakes to avoid when choosing
Avoid
- Choosing from a thumbnail alone
- Picking the busiest, most striking look for daily posts
- Matching a competitor's colours
- Ignoring how it looks behind a logo
Do
- Testing with real headlines at real sizes
- Choosing something you could post on every day for years
- Looking for a look nobody in your field uses
- Checking light and dark logo versions on top
The last point matters most. A background only becomes recognisable if you are the only one using it. Because every Mark has exactly one owner at a time, claiming one means no other brand can post in it, which is the idea behind owning your look.
Questions people ask
What makes a good background for a brand?
One that suits your existing colours, keeps words readable, holds up in every format you post and is distinctive enough that people recognise it without your logo.
Should my brand background be dark or light?
Dark grounds make colour glow and feel premium or technical; light grounds feel printed, calm and friendly. Choose the one that matches how customers already experience you.
Can I try a Mark before claiming it?
Yes. Anyone can design with any Mark nobody has claimed, for free. Exporting needs the Mark to be yours.
How do I find a Mark in a particular colour?
Search the Market with colour words such as "deep teal", or filter by colour, ground, mood, material and style.
Written by Gradiently
The team behind Gradiently, a design tool built around Marks: living gradients that make everything you design look like yours.
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