How to Make a Duotone Halftone Effect

Duotone maps an image to two colours — one for the shadows, one for the highlights. Add a halftone dot screen on top and you get a look that feels both modern and printed: think Spotify covers, festival posters, and bold editorial spreads. Here's how to build it.

How duotone and halftone fit together

On their own, duotone gives you the colour story and halftone gives you the texture. Together, the dots carry the transition between your two colours, which is what makes it look printed rather than like a flat photo filter. The image stops being a photograph and becomes a piece of graphic design.

Choosing your two colours

• Pick a dark shadow colour and a light highlight colour with clear contrast between them.
• High contrast between the two keeps the image readable.
• Unexpected pairings (e.g. deep purple and acid yellow) read as deliberate and modern.
• Tints of a single hue give a subtler, more photographic duotone.

Keep the subject readable

The risk with duotone halftone is mush. If your two colours are too close in brightness, the subject disappears. Push contrast in the source image first so there's a clear separation between light and dark, then apply the colours. The face or focal point should still be obvious at a glance.

Where it shines

Duotone halftone works beautifully on posters, playlist and album art, event branding, and hero images that need to feel designed. Export SVG if it's going large or to print so the dots and colours stay crisp; PNG is fine for screens.