What is Surface Pattern Design?
If this is your first exposure to Surface Pattern Design, prepare to fall in love. Surface pattern design is a very exciting profession in the field of fabric prints and textile design. Artists that conduct this work will use the terms “Surface Pattern Design” and “Surface Design,” which might be misleading. Surface Pattern Design is the process of developing art for the surfaces of mass-produced goods. In its purest form, as the name implies, this is essentially artwork that repeats in a pattern.
Wallpaper, wrapping paper, upholstery, quilting fabric, garment fabric, and floor coverings are just a few examples. Depending on the end purpose, surface pattern designs can be independent or recurring patterns. Gift wrap and wallpaper are examples of seamless repeating patterns. The pattern is an exact match throughout, with no beginning or finishes, allowing the user to use as much or as little as they like without worrying about the design.
The fact that any surface may possibly have a pattern design applied to it is fantastic, as your function as a surface pattern designer can vary greatly. You may create patterns for everything from the inside fabric of a car to rolls of cloth from your local fabric store. A surface pattern designer’s task, regardless of the product, is to create and develop patterns that consider the end result and design appropriately. The technique will be the same, but the specs may differ depending on the end user.
Each product, customer, or manufacturer may have somewhat different standards that must be followed, such as the number of colours that can be utilised or the design scale. While it is feasible to adapt existing artwork or prints to fit a product, most pattern designers are told to create something to match a specific product range in order to ensure that the pattern works properly on those things. Those who adapt existing work to a product should always provide the impression that it was made exclusively for that thing.
What to expect as a surface pattern designer
A surface pattern designer makes designs that are often in a seamless and technical pattern repetition. The designs for recurring patterns can then be applied to items or cloth. Because any surface might possibly have a pattern design applied to it, your function as a surface pattern designer can vary greatly. Each product, customer, or manufacturer may have somewhat different standards that must be followed, such as the number of colours that can be utilised or the design scale.
In actuality, a surface pattern designer frequently creates artwork that is not in repetition. When designing for garments, for example, the designer must frequently make repetitions for clothing while also occasionally creating engineering designs for dress borders, coordinated shirt and pant sets, or other specialised locations. The same is true for paper items, table linens, and so forth.
Some purists may argue that designing the art for a gift bag, for example, is not surface pattern design. In practice, Surface Pattern Design is any art developed to be mass-manufactured on a product surface. What’s more, as a surface pattern designer, you’ll be required to be skilled with repetition while also understanding the importance and balance of producing an engineering design. That’s why it is important to choose the best surface pattern design course that could help you.
The primary distinction between a graphic designer and a surface pattern designer is that the latter’s task is to produce patterns that are in technical repetition. That is, they must ensure that when a design is generated, it is effortlessly duplicated. A roll of cloth from your local fabric store is a fantastic illustration of this. If you unrolled the cloth, the pattern would be continually repeated, and you would be unable to tell where the repetition began or ended until you studied the design elements and searched the design.
Although producing seamless repeats is an important job of a pattern designer, not all designs must be developed in technical repeat. Clients may also request designs as location prints on occasion. A t-shirt print is an example of this, since you may demand the design to be printed in the same spot on each item. As a result, these designs are not constructed as seamless patterns.
What can a Surface Pattern designer do?
A surface pattern designer must also be able to sketch and generate design concepts, have a strong eye for colour and construct colour palettes, create inspirational mood boards, and develop coherent design collections. They must be able to produce patterns that take into account balance, harmony, texture, and scale, as they are critical talents for generating effective pattern designs and collections.
If you are an artist or a graphic designer, you may quickly master these techniques to transform your art or graphic design talents into pattern repetitions. It may be a really excellent method for artists to use their art or components of their art in new ways while also offering themselves another money stream for selling their work. The following are some of the types how a surface pattern designer can showcase their art:
Product Designing
A Surface Pattern Designer is another field that is sometimes comparable to a Product Designer. If you work with a firm that manufactures a variety of décor or stationery goods, you may discover that producing the art for the product’s surface and establishing the specs for how that product is created mix together. A Product Designer must be knowledgeable about 3-D design concepts, materials, production constraints, and other product parameters. A smart Surface Pattern Designer will research and grasp product specs before delegating the more technical aspects to others.
Illustration
You may be labelled an Illustrator if you create for things that do not frequently recur, such as graphics on notebooks or mugs. An illustration typically explains or tells a narrative, thus when the primary aim of the art is to make something lovely, it falls more into the Surface Pattern Design category.
Textile Design
Textile Designers may be classified in the same way as Surface Pattern Designers. A designer can be considered a Textile Designer while working in-house for bedding and home textile firms.
Although there is some overlap, Textile Designer not only focuses on textiles as a substrate, rather than dinnerware or paper products, but they also have a thorough understanding of the more technical aspects of fabric production, such as weaving techniques, fabric dye techniques, knit structures, and other parameters. Textile Designers may be unable to depict repeated designs in some circumstances.
Surface Design
Surface Design, without the pattern component, maybe a suitable catch-all term for how to express designing for mass-produced objects that are both patterned and engineered. Surface Design, according to the Graphic Artist Guild, is designed for non-mass-made objects. Etching, for example, on handcrafted ceramic bowls or other uniquely designed goods.
Surface Design is defined in the art world as any process that manipulates or affects the surface of a cloth, including embroidery, weaving, and felting. Because of this disparity, the phrases are seldom used interchangeably these days, and surface designer is used instead of the surface pattern designer. They make flat artwork rather than relief sculptures on the side of a vase with paper pulp.
The Print School offers a variety of tools and classes to assist you to learn how to produce a pattern. Whatever path you take, keep practising, refining your talents, expressing yourself artistically, and having fun! Don’t let the learning curve deter you from pursuing your goals! The Print School is here to help you so that you can pursue your dream, so if you want to learn more, you can just click here.
The line between Surface Pattern Design and other forms of artwork can be blurred at times. As a professional Surface Pattern Designer, you will almost certainly be responsible for engineering designs as well. Surface Pattern Design, as you’re surely aware, is a minor subset of the art and design world. However, if you look around, you will see that everything has a pattern or design on it. Paper towels, tissue boxes, carpets, bedding, apparel, notebooks, mugs, home décor, tableware, socks, and phone covers are just a few examples. Surface Pattern Design is omnipresent, and it makes everything you possess more appealing.
The first thing you need to learn to become a surface pattern designer is how to use design tools to create your designs, and then you can do it. It’s large and frightening, but it’s just a computer program, right? There are several classes and resources available on the internet. Surface Design is an incredible profession if you want to produce something that is more than just flat. It is one of those special crafts that requires an incredible amount of patience, dedication, talent, and experience.
Your job as a surface pattern designer is to make things beautiful and appealing, as they are meant to be! Once you’ve got a better understanding of what you’re doing, the process will flow, and you’ll make something truly unique that the world will find beautiful. There is no limit to what you can achieve if you choose to pursue a career in surface pattern design, whether in a typical job context or as a freelancer.
