Turn Up the Glow: How Color Electrifies Web Design in 2025
The competition for people's attention has never been more fierce. Content creators, website designers, and everyone else are locked in a race to attract eyeballs. When it comes to color, many have turned to the nuclear option of trends: Vivid Glow. One of these fluorescent, vibrant colors took center stage in summer 2024 (see hex code: #8ACE00), and this coming year will tell the story of how we learned to embrace Vivid Glow.
Polish designer Martyna Wędzicka-Obuchowicz helped highlight this trend as part of Squarespace’s partnership with It’s Nice That. She's perfected its use in digital design in our collaboration on the new Vivid Glow template, leaning into the mindset that strong color makes a strong impact. Whether or not Vivid Glow resonates with you, it’s likely to claim more and more pixels in 2025.
What Vivid Glow really is, and why it matters
Vivid Glow is a contemporary color concept that doesn’t take things too seriously. At its core, the aesthetic is artificial—a product of our saturated information environment. Its use is often ironic and nihilistic, a nod to the often overwhelming and ridiculous aspects of contemporary visual culture. When you embrace it, however, it becomes optimistic, youthful, and playful.
Artists, designers, and other professionals often break colors down into three variables: hue (color), value (shade), and intensity (saturation). Vivid Glow colors are both bright (high value) and unnaturally vibrant (high intensity). In the physical world, Vivid Glow colors derive their fluorescence by taking non-visible ultraviolet light and converting some of it back into visible light. That’s why these colors seem to glow in an unnatural way. On digital screens, these qualities are replicated by dialing up a color’s value and intensity to the max. The colors feel artificial, much like the world around us, creating a strong association with the contemporary moment.
When to use Vivid Glow in website design
Vivid Glow is anything but subtle. The aesthetic is a deliberate rebellion against the refined, minimalist styles that have dominated branding and marketing until very recently. Bold and energetic, Vivid Glow represents a fresh approach that refuses to blend in. Keep your client’s ideal customer in mind when considering using this aesthetic on their sites.
Vivid Glow fits clients that have edgier brands or those who want to create a youthful, rebellious, and playful feel. It best suits clients who are already on-trend. That is, Vivid Glow is a viable option for an alternative rock band or music festival, but a stretch for the relaxing day spa.
The Vivid Glow template, available in the template store
Vivid Glow can serve as a flamboyant rejection of snobbery. It also acknowledges the artificiality of contemporary culture, making it—ironically—honest and authentic. In certain, rare situations, there is even an element of sophistication to the aesthetic, making it suitable for very specific luxury brands.
Incorporating Vivid Glow in client websites
Vivid Glow isn’t as simple as throwing together a chaotic clash of unconsidered colors. Instead, it demands skill and intention to balance it thoughtfully. Two rules of thumb can help you to avoid all-out pandemonium:
1. Think about the larger color palette
Vivid Glow colors can be used either as accents or in combination with other Vivid Glow colors. In either case, it’s often best to balance their high levels of intensity and value with black, white, or grayscale hues. Whites, blacks, and grays perform a few functions at once: they give the eye a break, don’t clash, and dial up the impact of the bright colors. Most designers tend to give plenty of white, black, or gray space between Vivid Glow elements. Vivid Glow colors tend to clash with lower-intensity and lower-value colors.
You can use Vivid Glow for any site element, from logos and graphics, to fonts and, in extreme applications, even backgrounds. They're most commonly used as graphical accents or font colors, as a little goes a long way.
2. Context matters
Another stylistic consideration is context. Because of their associations with rebellion, youthfulness, fun, and energy, Vivid Glow works well in a highly-graphical style. On the other side of the spectrum, it can also be used to playfully invert and disrupt an otherwise minimalist aesthetic. Minimalist aesthetics have the benefit of using plenty of negative space, which gives the eye areas to rest. Because Vivid Glow is polarizing and dramatic, deciding what does and doesn’t work requires a level of discernment.
Leaning on your design skills and basic art principles can help you evoke the energy and youthfulness of the Vivid Glow aesthetic. Find balance with the use of bold typography (like Instrument Serif), eye-catching colors, and geometric illustrations or elements, as seen in the official Vivid Glow template.
Go with the glow
Vivid Glow is the adaptive response to the population’s overworked dopamine receptors. Vivid Glow can be bold and dominant. But it can also be a refreshing embrace of digital culture. Used thoughtfully, Vivid Glow can create huge visual impact and strong brand associations.
Catch up on other emerging design trends:
Which 2025 design trend best matches your personality?
Want more?
Check out Squarespace Circle, Squarespace’s program for professional designers. Along with exclusive content, discounts, and other perks, Circle brings professionals together from across the globe to exchange advice while connecting with new clients and collaborators.
