Graphic Design Trends: Monochromatic

By definition, Monochromatic means containing only one color. This means artwork with a monochromatic color scheme contains only one color, but many different shades of it. I chose to play with this graphic design trend, I used a monochromatic color scheme and focused on lights and shadows to display the artwork and typography.

I started my monochromatic graphic design by choosing the color I wanted to highlight. Forest Green, HEX #84A98C, was the focus of this graphic. Then I opened Adobe Illustrator and a new art board, starting with the typography. I chose the Adobe font “Coquette Extrabold” and transformed the words to 3D with the 3D and Materials menu, making sure they were the same Forest Green color. I chose the 3D transformation ‘inflation’ to round out the words and played around with the shadows. I then moved on to the 3D artwork, choosing a couple of Monstera leaves to trace with the pen curvature tool using the same Forest Green color. I also took the Monstera leaves to the 3D and Materials menu and tried to copy the exact way I transformed the typography. The next step was to save the typography and leaves in Illustrator and take them to Photoshop. I chose a Forest Green background to place and arrange the typography and Monstera leaves on, finishing the Monochromatic piece. The next step I took was to style this Monochromatic graphic as a color swatch. I started this look by opening a white art board and placed a black border, size 15px, around using the Rectangle tool. I then pasted the Monochromatic piece into the top half of this art board and placed a similar black border around it, size 10px. To add some texture, I pasted a textured image fitted over the monochromatic piece and added a ‘Linear Burn’ filter to it. The word “Monochromatic” was added in the Adobe font “PT Serif” for the finishing touch to the Monochromatic graphic design.

Sources

Read, 7 M., Read, 8 M., & Read, 6 M. (2022, March 3). The art of monochromatic design. Design Pickle. Retrieved April 24, 2022, from https://designpickle.com/creative-hub/graphic-design/the-art-of-monochromatic-design/

Berg, A. (2021, February 15). Design trend 2020: Monochromatic color palettes. Envato. Retrieved April 24, 2022, from https://www.envato.com/blog/monochrome-design-trend-2020/