For about two years every cover I made had a gradient on it. Purple to pink, usually. It looked fine in isolation and forgettable in a feed.
The problem with gradients is that they don’t age. A solid colour is a decision. A gradient is a mood, and moods go out of style faster than decisions do. The burnt tomato I use now looks like 1970 and 2026 at the same time, which is harder to achieve than it sounds.
There’s also a practical reason. Gradients hide sloppy structure. When everything fades into everything else you don’t notice that nothing has weight. Taking them away forced me to figure out where the eye should go.
Here’s roughly what I used to write, and what replaced it:
/* then */
.cover { background: linear-gradient(120deg, #7c3aed, #ec4899); }
/* now */
.cover { background: var(--accent); }I still use one gradient, technically. It’s the paper grain overlay at four percent opacity. You would not call it a gradient and neither would I. It’s texture, and texture earns its keep.
> A solid colour is a decision. A gradient is a mood.
If you’re starting out and everything you make has a gradient on it, try removing it and see what’s left. If nothing’s left, that’s useful information.