Background textures and images can add great interest to a web design, transforming flat background colors into something with more interest which draws the eye and completes the overall stylistic qualities you envision.
When designing for the web, whether this be your latest blog makeover or a free template you will offer to your readers, chances are you’ll be on the look-out for some stylish backgrounds to use in your design.
In this article, I’ll share my top ten favorite resources for free background textures and patterns which you can use for your own blog and web design projects. All of these sites are free to use, though do ensure you are aware of any restrictions for use such as non-commercial use, distribution caveats and author credits.
1. Squidfingers Patterns
This site offers 158 high quality seamless background patterns for use in your designs.
There are many color variations and styles to choose from, which has made this resource a favorite among web designers and bloggers alike.
2. Kaliber 10000 Pixel Patterns
This is among the oldest sites for pixelated background images, and offers a community based system where users can upload their own designs or vote on the designs of others.
A useful search function enables you to find the style and color of background pattern you need, while detailed usage clauses explain how each pattern can be used.
3. BgPatterns
I absolutely fell in love with this site when I first discovered it! In my experience, this is the most useful background pattern generator currently available online.
The interface allows you to choose any pattern, the colors of the foreground and background, the texture of the image, the position and size of the patterns themselves.
Furthermore, you are able to preview the effect your patterns will create in the actual background of the web page before downloading them. This truly is an excellent resource!
4. Color Lovers
Color Lovers is an excellent resource for finding and generating color schemes. You will also find an excellent section of patterns, and can create your own seamlessly tiled patterns using the pattern generator.
I’ve found this to be a hugely useful interface when designing background images to complement colorful web and blog designs.
5. DinPattern
Evan Eckard’s resource features thumbnail sized previews of tileable background images. When you click these thumbnails, the background of the site changes to match your selection, allowing you to see easily whether your choice will be suitable for the design you envision.
There are dizens of beautiful and unusual background patterns available here, whihc are offered for both personal and commercial use.
6. milleseicentopercento
This one-page portfolio of background images offers a unique approach to the presentation of design. Currently showcasing 33 elegant tileable patterns, each is presented as the background to a division in the page.
7. Grunge Textures
Grunge Textures specializes in stock quality, high resolution textures and images with a grunge-style theme. Many of these images are ideal for large CSS backgrounds (Web Designer Wall recently posted an excellent tutorial about this effect), or could be adapted in your Photoshop projects.
Textures are offered under a Creative Commons license so they are free to use though attribution will be required.
8. Citrus Moon Patterns
This site hasn’t been updated in a couple of years, though you can still find some beautiful elegant background pattern designs.
The site itself is quite basic, though navigation is easy using the links in the left hand column. Choose to view the gallery by color or pattern type. All patterns are free to use, and commercial use is permitted.
9. Kollermedia Pattern4U
This German based site offers a large selection (currently over 270) of user-submitted background patterns and textures for use in your web designs.
Choose from a selection of categories and download your chosen patterns as Zip files.
10. Repeat XY
This site offers literally hundreds of tileable background patterns. You can find your perfect background by choosing a color and navigating through the gallery associated with that particular color scheme. Alternatively, you can edit images and create gradient backgrounds to suit your visual needs.
11. Brusheezy Patterns (Bonus!)
Brusheezy is famed for it’s Photoshop brushes, and also has a category for patterns which you can use to create your own tiling background patterns.
While it is not strictly a resource to download images directly (you will need to edit in Photoshop!), I have found this to be an excellent and highly useful resource of high quality backgrounds.
I hope you enjoy browsing through these resources for web backgrounds. Please feel free to add your own suggestions in the comments below.
Awesome. I didn't these websites exist. I shall blog more about them once I get to explore a little.
Just started a seamless tile resource, with very large backgrounds in various colours and topics. Plus users can request a tile (for free) as I need the inspiration. A new tile everyday (except weekends). Additionally, I have some basic tutorials on working with tiles.
My recent post Red Ribbons