Types

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  Gradation Pattern

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  Gradation describes the systematic progression of a design element across a surface. In surface pattern design, it appears primarily as colour gradation - the ombré or gradient effect where a hue transitions smoothly from light to dark, or one colour flows into another. Scale gradation (motifs progressively shrinking or enlarging), shape gradation (motifs morphing from one form to another), and directional gradation (angles incrementally shifting) are less common but equally valid applications. Gradation is a structural principle rather than a specific visual style: it applies across abstract, geometric, and figurative pattern categories.
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  Gradient Pattern

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  A gradient (also called a colour gradation or degradé) is a continuous tonal or chromatic transition between two or more colours across a surface. In surface pattern design, gradients are used both as a background technique behind motif-based compositions and as the primary visual element in their own right - gradient-wash backgrounds, ombré textiles, and gradient-fill geometric patterns. The gradient technique has been used in print and textile production since the 19th century and is now a core tool in digital design software, particularly Adobe Illustrator.
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  Ombré Pattern

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  Ombré (from French, meaning "shaded") describes any design or dyeing technique in which colour blends progressively across a surface rather than changing sharply. The transition may move from dark to light, from one hue to another, or from saturated to washed out. The key characteristic is continuity: the shift is gradual and seamless, with no visible boundary between zones. In surface pattern design, ombré applies both as a standalone design technique (the entire fabric or wallpaper is the ombré gradient) and as a compositional element within more complex patterns (ombré backgrounds behind repeat motifs, or ombré colouring applied to individual motif elements). It functions as a colour technique rather than a motif type. Sombré - a softer, more gradual version - is occasionally distinguished from the more dramatic ombré transition.