cool drawing designs black and white

The perfect marketing campaign, graphic, or logo makes a strong impact on your target audience, drawing attention and encouraging engagement with your brand. But how do you create the perfect visual every time? It can be overwhelming to sift through information on color pairings, new typography styles, and the latest design trends. Fortunately, there is a classic theme you can always return to: black and white designs.

A black and white theme can be a fantastic alternative to color graphics. Timeless and practical, the black and white combination is also powerful. The high contrast between black and white can increase the impact of your graphic, and this color scheme tends to appear sophisticated and high-end. Colors affect people in unique ways, and the black and white combination has certain meanings that may work perfectly for your brand. Are you ready to see just how beautiful and effective this color scheme can be? Take a look at the following black and white design ideas to find inspiration for your next project.

1. A Nod to Film Noir

Nothing engages an audience quite like a mystery. Draw your viewers into your website or graphic by using elements of the film noir style, as this graphic does. This particular example incorporates the noir color scheme and silhouettes sporting period styles. It immediately creates intrigue, a key element of a memorable graphic.

2. Strong, creative patterns

While there are many beautiful full-color patterns, using a black and white pattern instead will help your design stand out in the best way. You'll convey elegance and sophistication, while the high contrast means your pattern can include detailed elements, such as hand-drawn illustrations .

3. Stunning typography

When you're considering black and white graphics, don't forget about the impact you can make with the right typography. Because black and white contrast so strongly, using black text on a white background or vice versa draws even more attention to interesting and unique letterforms. In this design , the lettering itself is so artistic that the piece doesn't need any additional images. It's the perfect way to make sure your audience understands and remembers your message.

4. Interesting perspective

Your viewers see thousands of graphics where text moves linearly from left to right and graphic elements are confined to a vertical/horizontal plane. Change things up to make your design stand out from your competitors. There are countless black and white design options that utilize a different perspective, including this one , showing how big of an effect perspective can have on simple numerals.

5. Movement

Take the change in perspective one step further and look for black and white design ideas that give the optical illusion of movement. These designs are naturally intriguing, and the feeling of movement captures the viewer's gaze. In this particular example , the black and white design on the concentric circles makes them appear to spin. Integrating one of these optical illusion black and white designs into your graphic can capture attention and make your image memorable.

6. Large-scale typography

You've already chosen a color palette with maximum contrast; take it to the next level by upping the size of your type to make a bold statement. In this example , the font is so large that it takes four different posters to spell out the band's entire name. This creates a stunning effect when the viewer sees the separate pages on a bulletin board and makes the connection to read the entire band name. This concert seems completely unique as it cuts through the clutter of single page posters.

7. (Black) white space

A good graphic makes use of white space to draw attention to certain elements, frame text, and prevent a cluttered appearance, but white space doesn't have to be white. This example utilizes both traditional and black "white space" for a high level of contrast and easy-to-read text.

8. Negative space

Embrace the negative space in your design for a fun result that encourages viewers to spend extra time studying your graphic. Clever black and white designs, like this one , convey ingenuity and playfulness, and are easier to scale than busy designs full of images, textures, and typography.

9. Texture

Another way to set you graphic apart is with texture. Black and white or shades of gray are especially good for textured backgrounds because they're subtle so they don't overshadow your message. Take this example , which uses a blurred, grayscale photo of feathers as a background. No part of it is distracting, but it creates an overall feeling of softness and tranquility.

10. Soft watercolors

Not all black and white graphics are of the "big and bold" variety. Take a softer approach by embracing a watercolor style with shades of gray and flowing typography, like this example . You still get the elegance and sophistication of black and white contrast, but this style is gently understated instead of in-your-face loud.

11. Geometric shapes

Numerous black and white design ideas rely on geometric shapes. Why is this? The clean lines and sharp corners on these designs align perfectly with the strong black/white color contrast. Using a single shape or mixing a few geometric shapes together makes a vibrant, eye-catching design.

12. Strong lines

If geometric shapes don't feel exactly right for your project, what about lines and stripes ? These offer a similar feel as geometric shapes: bold contrast and sharp lines. However, lines and stripes tend to feel slightly more serious and orderly than quirky shapes. Black and white stripes are also classic; they'll never go out of style or look outdated.

13. Themed typography

With such as simple color palette, you have the freedom to draw attention to your message through unique means. In this example , the lettering itself reinforces the theme of the piece, using butterflies for "life" and roaches for "death."

14. Sophisticated illustrations

Black and white illustrations offer a beautiful alternative to photographic images and sharp typography. A simple color palette showcases the illustration's details and can give the entire design a vintage or traditional feel, an interesting change from the ultra-modern theme of many black and white graphics.

15. Effective imagery

Photographs can give your graphic a sense of reality, and can help reinforce your branding if you choose one that relates to your industry or company identity. You don't have to stick with color images, however. Using a black and white picture gives an entirely different feel to the piece, and can help your audience focus on the theme and message of the graphic rather than being distracted by the colors themselves.

16. Symmetry

Amp up the impact of contrasting black and white designs by embracing symmetry. In this piece , the clean white lines on a black background create a beautiful and symmetrical snowflake. The fluid white swirls are balanced by an underlying grid of vertical, horizontal, and diagonal intersecting lines. The overall effect manages to feel both artistic and orderly at the same time.

17. Unique framing

Use the color contrast to create lines that frame your content. Using a frame or grid helps viewers focus on each individual part of the graphic while also drawing these pieces together to form a cohesive whole .

18. Different point of view

This stunning black and white piece combines several aspects to create an eye-catching final result. Vertical text is a nice change from the typical horizontal writing, and this takes it a step further by using an unexpected bottom-to-top writing style. The slanted text and shadows create a three-dimensional effect, adding another layer of complexity to the overall design.

19. Minimalist masterpiece

Going with a minimalist design can make a strong statement and prevent your message from getting lost or overshadowed by the graphic itself. Black and white already feel minimalist, and you can play up that theme even more by choosing a simple but evocative design, like this one .

20. Natural textures

This gorgeous background uses black, white, and countless shades of gray in an abstract pattern to create a look reminiscent of natural marble. This nod to a strong and durable material links your brand with reliability and security. The curves naturally draw the viewer's gaze around the image with the feeling of movement, giving you extra time to get your message across with your text.

21. Depth

Black and white may seem simple, but just a few minor changes can create an image with three-dimensional depth. The broken or curving lines that create the effect form an interesting contrast to the linear, straightforward feeling of the black and white color scheme. The simple colors give the illusion of depth even more impact, as there are no bright colors to distract the viewer.

22. Structured lines

Reinforce your brand's focus on technology or scientific pursuits with black and white graphics that resemble technical drawings, like this one . The simple lines appear orderly while the overall curve of the pattern gives some movement and depth to the design.

23. Maximum contrast

Going with a minimalist style lets the contrast between black and white do all the work for you. You don't need patterns, illusions, or fancy typography to make your message jump off the page. Keep the the overall design simple, as in these examples , and trust the sharp color contrast to make an impact on your audience.

24. Elegant branding

The whole point of creating physical representations of your brand's identity, such as logos and slogans, is to help your target audience learn about and remember your company. The right black and white branding campaign can be extremely effective, especially when it's a drastic change from the slew of brightly colored ads in the marketplace. Take this branding project , which relies primarily on black and white contrast. The white text over the grayscale photo is particularly stunning, and the elegant same style carries over to business cards, stationery, and signage.

25. Mixed shapes and patterns

On the other end of the spectrum from minimalist black and white options are bold graphics that mix and match shapes and patterns. These loud designs seem to jump off the page, and they can work well to convey a strong, outside-the-box message.

Why should you go with black and white designs? For one thing, it can help your customers focus on the true nature and superiority of your products or brand rather than highlighting secondary aspects that color-based advertising typically promotes. In fact, a study in the Journal of Consumer Research indicates that black and white advertising can help consumers make smarter purchasing decisions by drawing attention to the underlying quality and primary features of a product. When you want your ad or logo to illuminate your brand's core message or set your product apart from low-quality competitors with flashy style, a black and white design is ideal.

Build your black and white design in Shutterstock Editor. Choose a classic black and white image from Shutterstock's collection, or upload your own image to Editor. Then customize the design with text, shapes, filters, and more. It's an easy-to-use yet powerful design app that helps you quickly make creative solutions for your brand.