Pattern Design: Creating Collections

In my course, Fundamentals of Pattern Design, I walk you through my entire process for creating a pattern collection.

What is a pattern collection?

A pattern collection is a series of patterns that are tied together through style, color, and topic. The prints are intended to work together to support each other to convey a cohesive feel. Collections usually begin with a “focus print” or the “hero”. This print commands the most attention, usually consisting of multiple colors and motifs, and will be the most interesting print in the collection to look at. Following the hero print, are the coordinates. Coordinates can sometimes be broken down into two categories: “secondary prints” and “blender prints”. Secondary prints are somewhere between a very exciting print that has a lot going on, and a very basic print. They are still going to be interesting to look at, but not as bold and exciting as the hero. Blender prints are simple and usually have a pretty limited color palette. They help to create a balance between the busier prints.

Most important tip for creating collections

When creating a collection, the most important thing I concentrate on is finding a really good inspiration topic that makes me super excited. I didn't always value this step as much as I do today. When I first began designing, I would sometimes choose inspiration based solely on the fact that it was trending, or because I thought it was something I needed to have in my portfolio. That led me to force myself to create designs that didn’t feel very authentic to myself, and that I wasn’t truly happy about. Today, I still keep trends in mind and strive for a well balanced portfolio, but I concentrate way more on what I want to be creating, and less on what I think I should be creating. I think it is important to remember to keep joy at the center of your creative process. When you truly love what you’re creating, it will shine through in your artwork.

How to keep the inspiration going

There have been times where I have been super excited about my inspiration and come up with a great idea for a hero, but then get a little stuck when trying to come up with ideas for coordinates. When this happens to me, I follow some go-to practices to help keep the inspiration flowing.

My first tip is to label some of the characteristics in your hero print. For example, in my Tips for Creating Coordinates resource, my hero print has:
- Winding branches creating a subtle stripe
- A densely packed layout

After making these observations, I brainstorm how to keep some of these characteristics the same, (in order to tie the collection together) but still different enough to make the patterns really stand out on their own. In this example I got the idea to create a coordinate still using a stripe motif, but this time making it a much more direct and obvious stripe.

Continue reading Tips for Creating Coordinates for additional tips, and join me in class to see my entire creative process from start to finish!