5 Subtle, Minimal Text Background Ideas (+ Free Bannerbear Templates!)

Text is important in all kinds of graphics, videos, and documents because it communicates a clear message to your audience that pictures might not always achieve. But equally important is text design. It’s not enough to put words on a page—how you choose to present it can dictate whether or not the audience wants to read it at all.

One important factor of text design is backgrounds. When used effectively, text backgrounds create visual hierarchy, make elements stand out, and reinforce branding. This can be especially helpful when generating large batches of images for social media, marketing, or e-commerce applications. By defining consistent text backgrounds, you can maintain a cohesive look across your brand assets.

In this article, we'll provide a quick overview of how to apply text backgrounds to your Bannerbear designs. We'll also include a few sample templates for you to duplicate and play with on your own. This will give you a hands-on opportunity to experiment with text backgrounds and customize them to fit your design needs.

By the end of this tutorial, you'll have a solid understanding of Bannerbear text backgrounds and how to leverage its properties to add depth, dimension, and visual interest to your images. Let's get started!

When to Use Text Backgrounds

Text backgrounds can be both decorative elements and functional additions to improve readability. You can create different effects depending on the colors, size, font, shape, and transparency you use.

Whether you’re designing a graphic, document, or video, consider using text backgrounds when:

• You need to establish hierarchy among several text elements
• The background is visually loud and inhibits easy reading
• Your text elements need some pizzazz
• You want to reinforce branding
• You’re using text elements to evoke a certain look and feel

Text backgrounds can be extremely versatile, going from subtle and professional to wacky and eye-catching. That means there’s never really a wrong time to use them—it’s how you choose to apply them that matters.

How to Add Backgrounds to Your Text in Bannerbear

Adding text backgrounds to your Bannerbear template is incredibly easy and can be done while you set up the rest of your design. Log into your Bannerbear account (or sign up for a free trial account if you don’t have one—no credit card required! 🥳), create a new template, and navigate to the editor. Then, follow these steps:

Step 1 - Add a Text Layer

Add a new text layer to your template by clicking the + symbol in the New Layer section.

Since Bannerbear’s text layers can be dynamically modified with new data, any background designs you make will be applied to the new text.

Step 2 - Customize Your Text

Use the toolbar to customize your text element as desired. Add text, and adjust the font, size, and color.

You might also find it helpful to customize the background and any static elements to get a better idea of the final product. This will help you see whether your text design matches your vision.

Step 3 - Add Text Box Property Values

Now, it’s time to customize the background of your text box. Select your text element, then navigate down to the Text Background section on the right sidebar. Insert property values to change the look of your text box.

Text box and background properties you can modify on Bannerbear are:

• Padding (of Text Box)
• Border (of Text Box)
• Color
• Border (of Text Background)
• Border Weight
• Horizontal Padding (of Text Background)
• Vertical Padding (of Text Background)
• Shadow
• Radius
• Shift

You can change some or all of the properties to create your desired look.

Watch the changes be applied to your text element, and make adjustments as needed.

Bear Tip 🐻: Want to make your text pop? Read our guide on drop shadows to give more dimension to your text boxes.

5 Simple Text Background Effects to Try

A subtle text background can add a little pizzazz to your graphics, making your words stand out without overwhelming the rest of the design. They can be used along with shadows, highlights, and other effects to create a beautiful text design.

We have some inspiration to get you started. You can duplicate any of our examples into your own Bannerbear account, then tweak it to fit your own design.

Rounded Even Shadow

Rounded edges make a text box look soft and approachable. Different font and color combinations can make it go from sleek to playful. In this sample, we round the edges of the textbox and add an even shadow to make it pop!

Minimal Rounded Corners

Reducing the radius of the text box's corners creates a very different look, often feeling more block-like and professional. These corners can soften the sharp lines of other design elements without creating too big of a contrast. In this sample, we limit contrast by matching the font color to the background.

Semi Transparent

A semi transparent text box makes it easier to read text on a noisy background while maintaining harmony. It's also helpful when you're working with video and background shapes are changing. In this sample, we use a simple slightly rounded textbox at 85% opacity.

Semi Transparent + Outline

Adding an outline to a semi transparent background changes the style of the text box entirely. In this sample, we pair a lower opacity semi transparent background with an outline and rounder edges to evoke a modern, playful feeling while maintaining readability.

Cutout

A cutout text box can be as subtle or as bold as you want it to be. You can make it blend into the background and lightly lift off the page, or you can use high contrast to place more emphasis on your text. In this sample, we match background and text colors to create a seamless feel.

Conclusion

Text box backgrounds are powerful design elements that create hierarchy, add dimension, and reinforce branding in your media. By leveraging text box and background properties, you can create a range of effects to complement your  design aesthetic. Use the Bannerbear editor to experiment with sizes, shapes, and padding to bring out a flavor that matches your needs.

Ready to get started? Sign up for a free trial today!