Monochromatic (or monochrome) describes an artifact like design, a photograph, or a piece of art that contains one color (or shades, tones and tints of the same hue).

The word monochrome comes from greek mono-chromes that literally means one color.

Monochromatic vs monochrome

As adjectives monochromatic and monochrome are synonyms and they are used interchangeably. But monochrome can also be used as a noun to refer to the actual black and white photograph, or less commonly to a painting done in single color. Look at that monochrome!

The opposite of monochromatic is polychromatic, but multicolor or simply colored is much more popular.

With all the linguistic nuances out of the way, let’s look at how monochromatic color schemes are created.

Black and white is monochromatic

Monochromatic images or designs that use only shades of grey are called grayscale, or more commonly black and white. Many times these words are used interchangeably. It is especially common in photography.

Images and designs with limited number of colors are also often described as monochromatic, although technically they are not always using a single color. They might be using analogous colors, or they might be true monochromatic but with contrasting accent colors.

Monochromatic color schemes

Monochromatic color schemes are created by simply adding black (shades), white (tints), or gray (tones) to a base color (hue) of choice.

You can see the base color in the very middle. Note how the color changes as more white and black is added.

Monochromatic color palettes can be created manually by picking colors from a color picker provided in most modern graphic and photo editing applications.

There are also specialized tools that can be used to generate a color scheme, for example Adobe Color.

Learn more about creating monochromatic color schemes.

Monochromatic colors in use

Monochrome colors are used sparingly. They work great if you need to reduce visual complexity, or create a specific mood, but can easily become too… monotone… in other words too boring, or too plain.

Let take a look at some examples of monochromatic colors in use in design, photography, illustration, painting, and web design.

Web Design

Monochromatic color schemes make websites look clean and elegant.

See more examples of monochromatic colors in design.

Interior Design

Monochromatic color schemes in interior design seem to be gaining popularity. They help create harmonious and welcoming environments.

And it is not just about warm pastel colors. You can choose to go to the other side of the spectrum if that is what you prefer:

Photography

Monochromatic photos can be created from any photograph by post processing where colors are reduced to a monochromatic palette. But it is much more pleasing to look at the ones that are monochromatic without any manipulation.

It is actually not that hard to find monochromatic themes in nature.

And if you are willing to look closer, you can discover the whole world of macro and close-up photography.

Illustration

There are lots of monochromatic illustrations out there.

Art

It is very common to see single color paintings, especially monochromatic watercolor paintings.