10 Amazing Backgrounds Every Graphic Designer Should Own

What types of backgrounds are the perfect graphic designer backgrounds? Here's a collection of some of the best background graphics from Envato Elements to add to your collection. If you're looking for background design ideas or trendy backgrounds, you're in the right place.

Space Background for Graphic Design

Watercolor Graphic Design Background

Paper Graphic Background Designs

Cool Design Backgrounds

Polygon Trendy Backgrounds

Bokeh Designer Backgrounds

Envato Elements is an amazing source for some of the best background graphics out there. It's packed with cool background ideas, and the best part is, you can download the entire collection of cool design backgrounds for one, low price. It's all included: the entire library, all types of backgrounds, with no limitations.

The Concrete Background Texture

Looking to give your designs an instant cool edge? Concrete textures can look grungy and distressed, or minimal and urban—take your pick from this selection of concrete backgrounds to find the perfect partner for your designs. They come in different cool simple backgrounds and effects for unique takes on concrete.

1. Concrete Textures (EPS, PNG)

Concrete is an on-trend material across the board right now—in interior and product design, as well as graphics—so it makes a great addition to designs that need to look contemporary and aspirational.

2. Concrete Graphic Design Background (JPG, PNG)

Download these high-quality backgrounds to add some texture to your work. You can use them as is, or use them to build something even bigger. Try adding color or mixing different concrete textures together.

3. Concrete Background for Graphic Design (EPS)

Check out this vector background design pack. This pack comes with 40 trendy backgrounds featuring concrete, stone, and so much more. Add some grit to your designs with a few simple clicks. Concrete can appear cold in the wrong context—warm up your design by pairing the texture with a warmer metallic tone, like copper.

The Space Background Texture

We all wanted to be an astronaut at some point in our childhood (or, indeed, adulthood), but you can bring a touch of celestial wonder to your designs without leaving Earth. All you need is an amazing design background.

1. Space Graphic Design BG (JPG)

Scenic space backgrounds might not be the plainest of backgrounds, but they're surprisingly versatile. These trendy backgrounds look fantastic layered behind poster artwork and can help to create a more immersive online experience when placed as a background skin on a homepage.

2. Space Trendy Backgrounds (JPG)

Space backgrounds have an instant psychological effect on the viewer—they can inspire feelings of adventure and intellectualism (perfect for science media or business pitch documents), but they can also be calming and spiritual. Their stunning beauty requires only simple typography in the foreground to make them shine.

3. Space Designer Backgrounds (JPG)

Check out these space backgrounds. There are 12 different options to choose from, and notice how these are a bit more ambient. They could give a soft galaxy vibe to your latest design project.

The Grunge Background Texture

Grungy types of backgrounds and grunge textures will never go out of style—they always give a cool, edgy look to designs. Look for peeled paint textures, faded edges, and gritty color schemes.

1. Grunge Backgrounds (JPG)

Grunge backgrounds and textures look great because they contain so much detail and visual interest. They're versatile too—try layering a grungy cool texture background under photos and setting the opacity to multiply to bring through some of that interesting texture and give your images an aged, vintage-style effect.

2. Grunge Graphic Designer Backgrounds (JPG)

Try adding these trendy backgrounds to a festival flyer, a gig poster, or a magazine cover to add depth and interest. These unique grunge backgrounds will also look fantastic placed in games and apps, bringing a more immersive quality to digital designs.

3. Grunge Graphic Background Designs (JPG)

Grunge backgrounds can also bring a vintage aesthetic to your work. Imagine this aesthetic for outdoorsy projects, like camping, or for something involving carpentry or machinery.

The Polygon Background Texture

Polygons might not seem like the most exciting building block for graphic backgrounds, but the final effect is incredibly versatile and professional-looking. It's why they make for such cool designs for backgrounds.

1. Polygon Graphic Design BG (JPG)

Polygon textures have a tech-forward style that suits corporate media, like reports, business websites, or expo displays. They make really cool simple backgrounds.

2. Polygon Cool Design Backgrounds (JPG)

They're a great way to add polished texture quickly, which is a great timesaver for corporate pitches. They also have a very modern, even futuristic quality that helps businesses to look forward-thinking.

3. Polygon Backgrounds (JPG)

If you’re looking to add texture to apps, polygon designs are perfectly suited for the job—they’re stylish without being obtrusive, and they balance flat and 3D styles to keep your designs looking on-trend.

The Blackboard Background Texture

Different blackboard backgrounds will be a real workhorse for your design projects. Set behind simple or cursive typography, they’re great for emphasizing points in sales pitches, on educational materials, or on motivational posters or flyers.

1. Blackboard Background for Graphic Design (JPG)

Team a blackboard texture with a handwritten or, even better, a chalkboard typeface for the ultimate back-to-school pairing. This will work just as well on college lecture slides as it will for advertising early fall sales with a back-to-school theme.

2. Blackboard Graphic Design BG (AI, EPS, PNG)

Chalk has such an interesting texture that it can both hold its own and be an interesting starting point for building more complex backgrounds. This particular collection is an interesting one, as you get vector files with your download.

3. Black Chalk Graphic Background Designs (JPG)

You can also push this aesthetic in other ways. Experiment with chalk textures and color to achieve many different looks. This can be a really creative one if you're looking for background design ideas.

The Watercolor Background Texture

Want to add a painterly, artistic touch to your designs? Watercolor backgrounds and painterly textures are perfect for bringing a craft-inspired look to your designs, without needing to pick up a paintbrush.

1. Watercolor Graphic Designer Backgrounds (JPG)

Watercolor textures aren’t just suited to advertising art sales or craft fairs—because they represent something that's hand-crafted, they're perfectly suited to branding and packaging for organic products or independent businesses.

2. Watercolor Trendy Backgrounds (JPG)

Watercolor textures can bring a very different character to your layouts when set in different colorways. For example, a clear turquoise blue has a summer holiday vibe (great for hotel flyers or websites).

3. Watercolor Beautiful Backgrounds for Design (JPG)

Watercolor can be such a great starting point if you're looking for cool background ideas. Experiment with overlaying them together to build something new, or use this amazing collection of beautiful backgrounds for design work, overlays, and more.

The Bokeh Background Texture

Bokeh backgrounds and abstract light textures are made up of diffused light pixels to create an ethereal effect. These trendy backgrounds can add a dreamy, idealistic quality to your designs.

1. Bokeh Graphic Design Background (JPG)

Suited to all sorts of media, bokeh textures are great for softening layouts, helping to add a beautiful, soft-focus style to websites, magazines, book covers—you name it. Bokeh backgrounds are also perfect for fashion catalogues, wedding stationery, or simply showcasing beautiful photos or typography.

2. Bokeh Graphic Background Designs (JPG)

Keep a collection of bokeh backgrounds on hand for when a client wants to tone down a design or make it appear softer and more calming.

3. Bokeh Designer Backgrounds (JPG)

Collections like this make some of the best background graphics because you get so much content and it has so many uses. They're also amazing for mixing and matching. If you're brainstorming some cool background ideas, bokeh can be a perfect start.

The Paper Background Texture

I personally find paper backgrounds to be one of the most versatile and heavily used texture styles in my own work, and I'm building quite the collection as a result. These good backgrounds add subtle texture to posters, flyers, stationery, and web pages.

1. Paper Background for Graphic Design (JPG)

For vintage-inspired and flat-style designs, a paper background is indispensable—see your designs magically transform from crisp and contemporary to suitably aged in an instant.

2. Paper Graphic Designer Backgrounds (JPG)

Even if you’re intending to print your items on paper or card, adding a ‘fake’ paper background will only add to the tactile feel of your finished item. It’s also a great trick for making a printed item feel more luxurious if your budget won’t stretch to printing on expensive paper.

3. Paper Graphic Background Designs (JPG, PNG)

Check out this collection of wrinkled paper textures too. It can add even more texture to your work. Try it as a background for illustrations, greeting cards, and so much more.

The Brick Background Texture

Bricks are a fantastic texture to have to hand, ideal for placing behind mocked-up framed images, or for sitting behind graffiti-style typography. They can have a worn, grungy look, or a clean, red-brick style, making them suitable for a range of projects and styles. Brick also makes for cool art backgrounds.

1. Bricks Graphic Design BG (PSD, PDF)

This broad range of brick textures has styles to suit every taste, from clean burnt terracotta to distressed painted walls. Download 20 different textures for the perfect brick background for your designs. Also included is a quick vignette layer for a dramatic effect.

2. Brick Types of Backgrounds (JPG, PNG)

If you're looking for an even larger collection of brick graphic designer backgrounds, give this collection a try. Bricks can be a really fun one to experiment with if you're collecting background design ideas.

3. Brick Texture (JPG)

This clean, professional background texture would be a perfect fit if you're looking for a high-resolution solution. Use it in print projects, for 3D textures, and much more.

The White Background Texture

While cool white backgrounds lack in color, they're infinitely adaptable as a result and are an instant hack for giving print designs a polished look. Layered behind or over graphics, typography and other textures on posters, stationery, websites, cards, and covers, they give an instant ‘texture-boost’ to layouts.

1. White Trendy Backgrounds (JPG)

This collection of white abstract textures contains ten hi-res cool white backgrounds with design and bokeh and glittered effects. Watch them quickly become the most used cool white backgrounds in your collection.

2. White Beautiful Backgrounds for Design (JPG)

These abstract beautiful backgrounds for design work could prove to be so versatile. Lower the opacity for something subtle. Or try color and you could simulate something more intense, like frosting.

3. White Graphic Background Designs (JPG, PNG)

If you like a geometric look and feel, you could give these white designer backgrounds a try. They're another choice with an interesting neutrality to them that you could play up or play down in so many different ways.

Your Ultimate Background and Texture Collection

Awesome backgrounds and textures are the backbone of any great design layout, adding subtle detail, depth, and color, while allowing the main elements to shine.

This collection of ten cool graphic backgrounds will see you through any design project, whatever the theme and whoever the client:

The concrete background
The space background
The grunge background
The polygon background
The blackboard background
The watercolor background
The bokeh background
The paper background
The brick background
And don’t forget... the white background

With this unbeatable team of textures and cool designs for backgrounds at hand, you'll be able to take your future creative projects to the next level in an instant.

Even More Amazing Backgrounds From Envato Elements

But why stop there? There are thousands of amazing, trendy backgrounds and textures on Envato Elements, so here are some more bonus options for your personal collection.

1. Lines | Abstract Wavy Backgrounds | Vol. 03 (JPG)

The abstract design of Lines makes for some awesome backgrounds. This pack includes nearly 70 graphic backgrounds you can use for a wide range of projects. Make wallpaper, social media ads, or website headers.

2. Sky Textures x10 vol2 (JPG)

If you like to live with your head in the clouds, get some good backgrounds to match. Sky includes ten different professional background textures that are artfully crafted. Place your logo over these high-res design background images or use them for social media posts.

3. Showcase Backgrounds (JPG)

The best use for the awesome backgrounds of Showcase is right in the title. This pack of cool graphic backgrounds can be used for a logo reveal or a product mockup. If you need a white background with a design, try out Showcase.

4. 100 Rock Photo Textures (JPG)

100 Rock Photo Professional Background Textures

Rocks can make for a cool texture background, as seen in this Envato Elements item. This bundle of professional background textures includes 100 JPG files for you to use. Each of them provides a realistic and appealing rock texture.

5. Micro Grids (JPG)

If you're looking for the perfect creative background design for fabric prints, banners, invitations, and more, Micro Grids is your choice. The pattern is interesting and can fit with many creative styles. It's one of the best graphic design backgrounds online.

6. Speckle Paint Textures (JPG, PDF)

Speckle Paint Professional Background Textures

The detail that went into making Speckle Paint Textures make it such an awesome graphic design background. It's actually made from real paint speckles and spatters! Zoom in and see the little paint drips that make up this cool texture background.

7. Colorscapes Lite (PNG)

Colorscapes Lite makes cool art backgrounds out of striking visuals. This pack includes 12 design background images that can be applied almost everywhere. If you need a creative background design for stationery or giftwrap, you'll like Colorscapes Lite.

8. Smooth Flow Backgrounds (JPG)

While the last featured creative background design grabbed attention with jagged edges, this one does it with a Smooth Flow. It mirrors lines seen in nature creatively. This set of cool graphic backgrounds is perfect for hi-res wallpapers and other graphic design projects.

9. A1 Halftone Textures (PNG, TIFF, PDF)

A1 Halftone Professional Background Textures

Halftones always make for an amazing design background, and A1 is no exception. These 25 professional background textures are high-res and high in detail. You can use them for overlays or noise and screen effects.

10. Colourful 3D Abstract Rings Background (JPG)

Colourful 3D Abstract Rings Graphic Design Background

We round out our list with these wonderful, trendy backgrounds. With abstract ring shapes, this graphic design background pack has ten different options for your creative projects. Try out these awesome backgrounds for your next poster or Instagram ad design!

11. Bubble Background for Graphic Design (JPG)

This is such a fun collection of backgrounds, perfect if you're looking for some trendy background design ideas. They're also an awesome source of color palette inspiration.

12. Smoke Cool Design Backgrounds (JPG)

A smoke graphic design background can bring some serious drama to your composition. Look how mysterious this example looks. Try it with typography or pair it with a photo as an overlay.

13. Flow Beautiful Backgrounds for Design (JPG)

This is another versatile collection of graphic design background imagery that you could use in so many ways. Try turning the opacity down or setting them to multiply for a subtle overlay, or mix and match them to create something new.

14. Colorful Dust Types of Backgrounds (JPG)

If you are looking for cool background ideas that are unusual, playful, and full of potential, why not try a dust-inspired aesthetic? You could play this up or play it down, and experiment with the colors too.

15. Motion Cool Design Backgrounds (JPG)

Add some implied motion with stylish designer backgrounds like this one. Notice how the line work directs our eyes. This could be a great way to add movement to a specific part of your compositions.

Dive Into the World Of Graphics With Envato Tuts+

If you’re still on the hunt for cool art backgrounds or professional background textures, be sure to swing by Envato Elements and check out the huge range of great-value textures there.

Discover our essential selections of the best graphics, templates, and fonts to add to your collection: