r/graphic_design 19h ago

Other Post Type Help with gradient resolution?

Post image

Hey guys, I’m not a graphic designer but a musician. I make very minimal cover art design for myself like this one because I don’t like thinking much about that side of things. I wanted to have a cool gradient vibe with the purple fading into the black since I usually just use full black and this is a special release. I hate however the way you can see each tone/layer of purple in this really pixely sort of way. Is that just inevitable since I’m using such simple colors, or did I do something wrong exporting and is there a way for it to look smoother?

Thanks in advance!

5 Upvotes

10 comments sorted by

10

u/TheAnzus 19h ago

There must be a problem with the image. Maybe it's not the correct file type (jpg can compress colors to save space) or the program you're using.

1

u/axolotl_is_angry 19h ago

Agreed. It either should be high resolution or vector based to avoid the compression effects being so visible

11

u/Dzynrr Designer 17h ago

This is just an artifact of compression; adding noise might help.

8

u/TheAnzus 17h ago

The noise sounds like a good idea i want to try that

1

u/AmbitioseSedIneptum 14h ago

Yup, noise is almost always the way. Or you just embrace the compression and accept it.

6

u/q51 18h ago edited 17h ago

What software are you using to generate the image? Changing the bit-depth to 16 bit is how I’d fix this, but that’s in photoshop. You could also consider adding just a tiny bit of noise. It will be invisible, but will break up the banding.

2

u/forzaitalia458 19h ago

Do you mean the banding? It so dark the purple, I didn’t even realize it was there.

1

u/davep1970 18h ago

need to know how your're making it, what programme, how you're exporting it - format etc. and what app the screenshot is from (where you're exporting to)

1

u/steaimh 11h ago edited 11h ago

You should use a png file with 3000 x 3000 pixels inside a 72 ppi [(pixel per inch) raster size of a pixel inside a square which is an inch wide and high ] this should be the usual size for Spotify covers. If you set your color profile to sRGB, which determines the range of your colors inside a defined space, you shouldnt be having any problems.

1

u/steaimh 11h ago

Oh and use inside the black color gradient the same purple a little bit, otherwise it will look too greyish.