For this project, I was tasked with creating three different patterns in Adobe Illustrator, hero, secondary, and blending, to create a cohesive pattern story that could be mocked up into practical use. After doing a bit of visual research, I found that I was most attracted to and excited about the whimsical and extravagant style portrayed in the Victorian Era. I followed this with continued information and visual research to form my sketches. I then refined these sketches to create a more polished direction and brought them to life in Illustrator. The final step of the process was creating an effective mockup to display my three patterns in their intended use.
For the hero pattern, I was inspired by traditional Victorian architectural design and vintage floral elements. I knew I wanted to create a pattern that would have shapes made from negative space for additional design elements, so many of my initial sketches included those kinds of designs. The diamond elements in the pattern were inspired by stained glass windows, while the other element was modeled after the elaborate and ornamental Victorian style found in many of the designs of the time. I tied in the floral aspect by creating a small flower-like element in the negative space.
In the secondary pattern, I chose to use the two larger elements from the hero pattern. The goal of this pattern was to be more simple than the hero pattern, but more complicated than the blending pattern. To add visual interest, I used a diagonal hex composition. While this composition used the same colors as the hero pattern, I chose to change the background color to add contrast when the patterns were side by side.
For the blending pattern, I used the small floral element from the hero pattern to create a pattern that meshed the hero and secondary patterns together. I used a similar diagonal hex composition as the secondary to add visual interest and variation. The change in background color enhanced the contrast between the patterns when next to each other. I also added contrast by changing the color of the center of the element from the hero.
