Watercolor is definitely not a new trend. It actually made a huge comeback a little over two years ago, but it’s still around and I can’t get enough of it.
If you’re looking into redesigning your blog this year, you might consider going with this trend. It’s soft, beautiful and the epitome of feminine.
And with the recent popularity of the Waterlogue iPhone app, watercolor is still blowing up! If you think you want to hop your blog onto this trend, it’s not too late and here are some ideas to get started.
Take a look at the gorgeous blogs below to see that this watercolor trend is not going anywhere soon!
How You Can Incorporate Watercolor Into Your Blog’s Design
Watercolor Design Elements:
You can add watercolor elements into your current blog theme or template if it’s already pretty simple to begin with. P.S. Some links below may be affiliate links which means (at no additional cost to you) I may receive a small commission if you purchase with the link. As always, thanks for your support!
Try using watercolor paper as the background texture of your blog:
Hey Gorg uses watercolor paper and splotches for her background and throughout her design.
Beautiful watercolor painting on canvas as the background of this blog
Orange Girl uses a watercolor mountain scene as the backdrop for her blog.
More watercolor splashes for this blog’s background. Simple yet beautiful!
Add watercolor social media icons, watercolor sidebar/section headings or buttons:
Mint102 uses a watercolor header in addition to splashes of watercolor behind their topic headings.
Wonder Forest uses watercolor social media icons as well as adorable watercolor floral elements in her header.
Replace your blog’s header with a watercolor background:
The beautiful splashes of watercolor in this header are soft and work so well with the Bombshell font of her logo.
Envye uses a watercolor splashed header
Big and bold, yet still soft, this watercolor header stands out.
Vine & Light uses very soft splashes of watercolor in her header and cute watercolor heart-shaped social media icons.
Here’s a tutorial on making your OWN watercolor header using crayola paints and an iPhone!
Go simple and create a logo out of a watercolor blot or brush:
Hello Monday uses a watercolor blot for her logo in addition to the beautiful watercolor roses in the corner of her background.
Or apply a watercolor effect to text:
Kayla Aimee adds a simple touch of watercolor as an effect on her logo text.
Pretty Prudent’s logo is a bold example of watercolor lettering
You can add little design elements throughout your blog, like in the sidebar, opt-in, header or footer areas:
Happiness Is uses watercolor graphics for her header background as well as sweet watercolor and hand drawn laurels around her sidebar photo.
Goop uses sweet little watercolor icons as well as a watercolor paper texture background.
Download Pre-made Watercolor Graphics for Your Blog
- You can download all sorts of pre-made graphics for your blog such as watercolor background textures, social media icons, logos and clip art.
- You can find a complete watercolor blog graphics kit.
- Or you can also create your own graphics or header by downloading some watercolor Photoshop* brushes.
Check out my watercolor trend collection on Pinterest where I’ve pinned a bunch of various resources, both free and premium.
Watercolor Blog Themes and Templates
Maybe you just want to do it now and go with a whole theme that’s already got watercolor design elements incorporated. If that’s the case, check out these gorgeous WordPress themes and Blogger templates.
Watercolor WordPress Themes
Chamomile // WordPress Theme $79
Chamomile, WordPress theme
Whisper // Responsive WordPress Blog Theme $39
Whisper, a responsive watercolor WordPress theme
Vintage Flowers // WordPress Theme $20
Vintage Flowers, a WordPress theme
Me + You // A WordPress Wedding Theme $70
Me + You, a WordPress theme
The Lucy Lou // Responsive WordPress Theme $70
This theme is also available for Blogger
Lucy Lou, a WordPress theme
The Amelie // WordPress Theme $70
The Amelie, a WordPress theme
Joyful // A Genesis Child Theme $50
Joyful, a WordPress theme
The Lisabeth // WordPress Theme $70
Lisbeth, a WordPress theme
Watercolor Blogger Templates
Penelope // Blogger Template $48
This theme is also available for WordPress.
Penelope Blogger template
The Annabelle // Blogger Template $30
Annabelle Blogger template
Sunny Lila // Blogger Template $35
Sunny Lila Blogger template
Watermelon // Blogger Template $35
Watermelon Blogger template
Raquel // Blogger Template $35
The Raquel Blogger template
Juliet // Blogger Template $48
The Juliet Blogger template
Summer of ’69 // Blogger Template $48
This theme is also available for WordPress.
Summer of 69 Blogger template
Charlotte Aqua // Blogger Template $34
The Charlotte Blogger template in aqua. Available in other colors.
Conclusion
Watercolors are fabulous when you’re wanting to give your design a calm and feminine feel, but you can also use brighter or darker colors to give your design more energy and vibrance. This makes the trend fairly versatile and easy to use in various types of designs.
Layering watercolors with a little transparency can have a really nice effect. Play around with some watercolor brushes or elements to see what you can come up with.
Geometric shapes or lettering with thin lines laid over a blotch of watercolor is very modern and makes for great logos or header images.
Are you using this trend in your blog’s design now? I’d love to see it if you are, so leave a comment with a link below!
Not using watercolor yet? Will you?
Such awesome resources here!
I’m not using watercolours on my site. One person that does them really well is Marta Spendowska over at polishlab.com. She tweets her watercolours a lot – they’re gorgeous.
Thanks Razwana, I’ll check it out!
I have to hand it to you, you really do have a beautiful blog! As for your Opt-in form in your sidebar, that could easily lead me to jealousy! 🙂 It’s always refreshing to see people that ‘practice what they promote’.
Karl
Thank you Charles! And FYI, i have a whole tutorial on how to beautify your opt-in! http://slidesha.re/1j7vifa
This is awesome! I think I might just change my blog’s background to watercolor.
Sorry, I didn’t mean to link that, I forgot to uncheck it!
No worries Nikki, you don’t have to uncheck it! 🙂 And yes, a watercolor background would look BEAUTIFUL on your blog!
Awesome. Simply Amazing collection here. It must be a lot of work creating those pics or even gathering all in one post. It is a task. I know it because I am compiling some pics of 40+ blogs.
Yes Keyur it is, which is why I don’t post more than once a week these days. 🙂
But thank you for your compliments, I am glad you enjoyed it!
Oh my goodness! I have a watercolor background on my Facebook page but never even thought about using it on my website. Now I’m going to have to go play a bit! Nice post and some lovely examples. Thanks!
Oh Kendra, too funny! It’s very pretty too, so definitely add it to your blog for a little extra prettiness 🙂
Awesome post Marianne. There are simply so many things i like about your blog and questions i need to ask for my blog ;p Opt in is one of them and i saw your reply to Charles so i will check that out first. Just a quick question regarding mailchimp, the embedded form i used didnt give a subscribe button when i put it on my site.. do u have any idea why and how to fix it? Thanks a million Marianne 🙂 To your Abundance!
Thank you Sandy, I hope that tutorial helps you out! As far as the button not showing up, the only thing I can think of is that you didn’t copy all of the code? I don’t know why that would be, it should automatically be included. If you still have trouble, you might have to contact MC’s customer service. They are very responsive and helpful!
Very pretty blog.
Even Prettier Themes. I am not sure how I would explain this to the guys if I actually started using one of these. Raised eye brows would be all over the place. Fantastic post!
Keep them coming!
Haha Josh, yes you’re right… watercolor MIGHT be a little too girly for your blog 🙂 Glad you still enjoyed it!
Amazing post I’m so into this watercolor trends!
THANK YOU FOR ADDING MY CHARLOTTE BLOGGER THEME TO THIS AMAZING COLLECTION! 🙂
Monika form Pastel Feather Studio
My pleasure Monika, I’ve pinned several of your themes because they are so pretty! I’m so glad you came over to say hi!
Sure, I’m honored to be mention here! And I love your blog – I’m highly interested with all the blog design post and stuff so your website is perfect!
yay it works!
Haha, what did you do differently? Did you add a photo to Gravatar?
Love all these graphics! I have a simple watercolor brush swash on my header, but want to incorporate more of it into my blog design. The templates you shared are really inspiring!
Love your article I had to add my watercolour blog makeover kit which is very popular on my site, and very economical:
https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/185752749/blog-makeover-kit-watercolour?ref=shop_home_feat_3
Check it out. K
Oh Kate it’s definitely beautiful, thank you for sharing it! I will pin it to my board for sure. And Bombshell font works so well with watercolor doesn’t it??
Hi Whitney, I’m glad you enjoyed it! Yes you could definitely incorporate a few more touches to tie in your header. Look for some watercolor social icons? Or maybe even a little brush stroke behind your sidebar headings? Just some thoughts!
Oh, I love water colors. I like the suggestions you gave Whitney. I use bold and bright on most of my sites, but just maybe, I can figure out how to watercolor the edges for a softer and more relaxing feel.
Hi Dawn! You could definitely incorporate some watercolor textures by replacing your background. Currently the colors are a little masculine, so you may first think about replacing the dark red with something a little softer. Would love to see if you make any changes, please come back and let me know if you do!
Marianne, really a pretty blog you have here. It’s like walking into a lace and satin craft shop. Love the soft feeling. It makes me want to take a nap right here…so cozy.
LOL Scott, thanks! (i think) 😉 jk, i’ll take it as a compliment!
Sorry, I was trying to say your blog looks great and has a warm feeling. Keep up the great work!
I know, I was jokin’ around 🙂 Thanks Scott!
These are really beautiful! There is something so tranquil and timeless about watercolors.
Thanks Deanna, couldn’t agree with you more 🙂
Very nice blog post – especially for me as watercolors are my life passion! Wonderful to see those soft and cosy designs. Also I downloaded the app you recommended and enjoy playing with it 😉
Hi Evita, thanks for the compliments, your watercolors are beautiful too!
I’m glad you like that app, I really wish I could play with it myself but I am on Android. :/
YAY! Hello Monday is my best friend’s blog and she’s such a great designer. Happy to see her featured in here – 🙂
The Watercolor trend is so rad, I love pretty much all of the designs I see and I believe Kristen is incorporating a bit of it into my new blog design.
Hi Lolly, thanks for coming by. I love Hello Monday too, she’s a very talented designer! I would LOVE to see your blog when it’s done, please come back and share the link!!
Thanks for including my blog in your watercolour examples! 🙂 This is a lovely post and a great resource.
Hi Fathima, my pleasure to feature your pretty blog! And I LOVE the new header even more!!
Such pretty designs! The watercolor look is definitely a fave of mine. I love that you collected so many resources and examples. Thank you!
Hi Erika, thank you! You have a very pretty blog as well! In love with those fonts!
Ah! Of course I’m a sucker for watercolor. And thanks for featuring a few of our themes. Great post with some good finds.
Of course I love your designs!
Thanks for the helpful post! off to check out the links
Helo… i want ask, what font do you used in ur blog? I like the look of the font. Light and simple.
Thanks Farah, the main copy font is Open Sans and the headlines are Oswald. Both are free Google fonts.
Wonderful article, I was just searching for some business watercolor examples. Thanks for sharing. I am working in presentation slides design and we start seeing watercolor trend there as well slowly. Especially to express creativity. Good to see the increasing use of watercolor style also in blog design.
That’s interesting Peter to know that’s a trend in slides too. Thanks for sharing!
Lovely post! I love watercolor, my blog header is watercolor too.
So it is Arkky and it looks great! I’m so glad you stopped by.
Thanks for sharing, your design ideas are amazing!