Why does every newbie design use the same gradient purple and blue?

I was scrolling through a beginner design feed on Dribbble last week and I swear 8 out of 10 posts had that same purple to blue gradient background. I get it, it looks cool at first but it makes everything blend together. I even caught myself doing it on a logo project for a local coffee shop in Austin. The client literally said "looks like a crypto app" so I had to redo it. How do you guys pick colors that don't look like a default template? I'm trying to get better at using 2 solid colors instead.

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simon_black1mo ago

Man that Austin coffee shop story hit home. I did the same thing for a buddy's podcast brand and he was like "bro this looks like a fintech startup" so I feel your pain. The trick that finally worked for me was picking one warm color and one cool color, then just using a dark version of the warm one instead of a second random color. So like burnt orange with a deep brown, or olive green with a muted tan. Also I started pulling colors from actual photos, like a sunset or a rusted sign, instead of the default swatches. That forces you to use weird shades you'd never pick on your own. Once you stop reaching for the same 6 colors everyone has memorized, your stuff stops looking like a template.