The sidewall effect caused by enclosed spaces of highway tunnel is one of the reasons why there are many traffic accidents happened in it. In order to solve the problem,the color,sizes and intervals of the tunnel sidewall patterns are experimentally investigated by using 3D software to imitate the driving environment of long tunnel and evaluation list to analyze the effect of different sidewall patterns.And the principles and methods of sidewall patterns design are studied and analyzed. The application design of highway tunnel sidewall patterns is presented after applying to a project,and it can be used to improve the level of visual environment and driving safety in the tunnel.