At our San Francisco product design firm, MAKO Design + Invent, we’re big fans of observing different design trends and what products are currently making waves in the market. One trend we’ve noticed lately is the use of monochromatic color tones in product designs.
Color choice has a huge impact on any visual art piece – especially in product design. Our decisions to purchase certain products are heavily guided by and based on what we think looks the most appealing or interesting, in addition to what provides the specific function we are looking for.
It’s undeniable that aesthetics play a large role in product design! So, we decided to explain the appeal of the emerging monochromatic design trend in this article.
Why the Monochromatic Trend Performs Well
It’s a proven fact that bold and bright colors easily catch the eyes of audiences. This rings even more true when they are used in combination with other eye-catching colors. Having a monochromatic design doesn’t mean that the product design will solely use a black-and-white color palette but that there will be varying shades of one specific color incorporated throughout the design.
Rather than using complementary colors, the designer is choosing to make a bolder statement with a product entirely designed using one color or varying shades of one color.
At our San Francisco product design firm, we believe that monochromatic product designs tend to perform well because of the way they stand out. They are unique and bold, which sends a message to audiences!
Although it’s nice to have a palette of complementary colors in the products you use and have around you, having a striking product made with bold colors can help add variety, style, and fun to your life.
How to Strategically Use the Monochromatic Trend in Your Product Design
Our San Francisco product design firm knows that there are a ton of approaches you can take to produce a visually stunning design using strategic color choices. There are also a variety of different ways you can do this with a monochromatic color palette!
Instead of designing the whole product using one exclusive shade of a color, you can test various shades of the color of your choice and see where you may be able to incorporate these shades to highlight certain parts of the product, create juxtaposition, or increase the overall visual appeal.
Create Contrast
Contrast is an extremely powerful tool to use when designing a product. Although a monochromatic design entails that the product uses only one color, adding contrasting elements through small details of your design can result in a more aesthetically pleasing and eye-catching product.
Not only does contrast effectively emphasize the monochromatic look of your product, but it can also serve as a way to highlight additional functionalities or features of your product design that may not be obvious to the user, thus improving their experience.
Use a Pallet of Shades
Another way that our San Francisco product design firm loves to integrate and strategically use monochromatic color is by working with a diverse pallet of the shade you’ve chosen for your product. For example, instead of using one specific shade of red for the entirety of your design, try using a varying palette of the color red.
This can include a range of lighter tones, more pink tones, more orange tones, and even darker shades of red to create an interesting and striking contrast. Having a palette of shades is a great option for making your monochromatic design more interesting and unique. It allows you to play around with color placement in your design.
To read our other expositions of popular design trends, check out the articles below:
If you have a great new invention idea and you’d like to learn more about this process, get in touch with MAKO and visit our website to find out more. Or feel free to give us a call at 1-888-806-MAKO, and we can set you up on a call with our product strategist!
About: MAKO Design + Invent is the original firm providing world-class consumer product development services tailored to startups, small manufacturers, and inventors. Simply put, we are the leading one-stop-shop for developing your physical product from idea to store shelves, all in a high-quality, cost-effective, and timely manner. We operate as one powerhouse 30-person product design team spread across 4 offices to serve you (Austin, Miami, San Francisco, & Toronto). We have full-stack in-house industrial design, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, patent referral, prototyping, and manufacturing services. To assist our startup and inventor clients, in addition to above, we help with business strategy, product strategy, marketing, and sales/distribution for all consumer product categories. Also, our founder Kevin Mako hosts The Product Startup Podcast, the industry's leading hardware podcast. Check it out for tips, interviews, and best practices for hardware startups, inventors, and product developers. Click HERE to learn more about MAKO Design + Invent!
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