Key insights
- Cheap-looking gradients usually travel too far across the hue wheel. Neighboring hues (teal → cyan) blend cleanly; opposites (orange → blue) create a muddy gray dead zone in the middle.
- Keep lightness moving in one direction. A gradient that gets darker, then lighter, then darker again reads as banding.
- Gradients work best as ambiance, not surface: a soft radial glow behind content beats a full-bleed linear wash on top of it.
- Subtle grain on top of a gradient hides banding on cheap displays and adds perceived texture.
Do / Don't
- Do: stay within 60° of hue travel, add 2–3% noise, and test on a low-quality screen.
- Don't: put body text directly on a gradient's mid-transition zone — contrast is unpredictable there.
