Guide on Using Textures in Your Design

Textures are widely used in design nowadays. You can see textures on website templates, logo design, and digital artwork. Textures are often confused with patterns as the terms are used interchangeably. Patterns are man-made designs that repeat while textures are the patterns on natural objects like leaves and tree bark. 

The Uses of Textures

The texture is an indispensable tool for designers. The right textures can call to attention the content of your website. It will be able to emphasize the elements like main headings, titles, and buttons. You should be using it minimally to avoid distractions. The most common way of using textures to grab attention is by using a textured logo. It works the same if you use a clean logo against a textured background.

Textures can act like a divider, such as a line and boxes in the website design. To reach the best result, you must use it in conjunction with other methods of architecture in your website. The texture you use must fit the topic of the website. The rest of the elements on the website must be custom-designed for the website theme. 

Maintain Legibility

It is important to maintain the legibility of the content of your website while you are using texture in the design. There is no point in using a texture that you feel makes your website look good if your audience cannot read the content. You should do a lot of experiments to find out the best way to incorporate texture into the design. You can apply textures in places that you have never applied before.

Choose a Logical Texture

You need to always keep in mind to choose a texture that is logical to your design. For example, if your website is about patio furniture, you can use wood texture in the background. Textures are to be used to build the identity of your brand. They are not to be used just for the aesthetic appearance of your website. You should always emphasize the usability of the texture before applying it to your website design.

Download Free Textures

You can spend time searching and downloading free textures on the web. These textures can be organized into different folders so that they are easy to find. In this way, you simply have to browse your folder when you need a texture. You don’t have to go through images and visit different websites to find the texture you want. You can also collect brushes around the web for use in your design in image editing software. 

Snap Photo of the Textures

If you can’t find the texture you need, you can create it yourself with an image editor. You’ll need to use your digital camera to snap some photos of textures. The smartphone camera will also work as long as yields a decent photograph. It can be anything around you such as water droplets, brick, and wood texture. Using a unique texture that you create yourself can make your website stand out.

Using full auto mode to snap a photo of the texture is the best option. Flash can release a bright light and cause you to lose some details in the photo that you are taking. A rule of thumb is to always take multiple photos of the texture image. Afterward, you can select the best photo snap and edit it in the image editor. 

Draw the Textures Yourself

You can also draw the texture design on a piece of paper and scan it into the image editor. It is recommended that you scan the texture on a high resolution from 600 – 1200 DPI. In high resolution, you can see the small details of the photo you have snapped clearly. In this way, you will be able to isolate the specific spots in the image for use as a texture. High-resolution texture can be adapted for use in large prints.

Combine the Textures

You can combine textures with the layer blending modes feature in the image editor. You can experiment with different types of filters to see the effects on your texture. Usually, the image editor will allow you to adjust the value and level of the filter with a toggle. You can use masks when you are experimenting with your design.

Don’t Sacrifice Quality for the Loading Time

The quality of the texture image is not to be sacrificed for the sake of speeding up the loading time. Your website will look outdated if you sacrifice the quality of the texture image you use for your website design. One way is to repeat the texture patterns. When you repeat the texture pattern, you are only using a single texture image file. The internet connection speed around the world is rising so you should put too much emphasis on compressing the texture image file to reduce its size.