DTC 336 - Pattern Design
In this project I had taken a single design and had patterned it across in 6 different ways, then combined two of those patterns into a single image of the two patterns. Below is my original design, six patterns, the combinatorial design, and a short essay on the work done.
For the second project in this class, I had chosen to make my pattern based on an object that I interact with daily, my keyboard. The general shape of the keyboard is somewhat standardized yet unique in it’s own right as it is a 110% keyboard layout. Due to this, I could separate the generalized shape into various areas to stylize it. It is also directly related to some of the things that I spend most of my time with, my computer etc…
For the next part I will talk about each image individually in regards to both it’s underlying meaning and the technicalities by which I made it.
For the first image, it is a simple repetitive pattern. Each keyboard is scaled to be 50% of the width of the board then repeated in a pattern of repeating colors. All the colors are a muted pastel color scheme apart from one. I used a break of the pattern (in this case, the color) to signify that one is somehow different – in this case it conveys the meaning of “there are many like it, but this one is mine”.
The second image is somewhat similar to the first, but the image is 1) rotated to that the scale is 50% of the vertical size rather than horizontal, 2) the keyboards are staggered to start so they don’t repeat until every 7 columns across, 3: the color scheme is changed to an RGB pattern with each key making a gradient of this color change and 4) the effect is layered to give the illusion of depth. The meaning behind these effects is to create a effect that is reminiscent of pixels of a screen, with each box being an pixel with the white background being the backlight.
The third image has a lot less nuance in meaning but makes up for it in the technicality. Visible in the image is a central cross shape and a corner shape in each corner. Remove the clipping mask and you will learn that each shape in the corner corresponds with a quadrant of the central cross. This is because the pattern is infinitely repeatable by copying the shape of the image and placing it on each side of itself. Each cross itself is asymmetrical but the image as a whole is a patterned design that I think is simply pleasing to look at.
The forth image is a test in transparency with the layers each having a unique level of transparency creating a deeper illusion of depth than that of the second image. The image is also repeated several times around itself creating the red keys to border the image in every instance.
The fifth image takes the transparency idea from the forth and flips it, with the layers getting progressively more opaque the closer to the viewer. The more flat but simultaneously vibrant colors fading across the whole symbol (rather than just across each key) gives it a cell-shading look to it that the other images don’t have.
The sixth and final non-composite image is best described as a cross between the first and second image. Each symbol is a third of the width of the frame and there is a stagger effect with each row, repeating after 5 occurrences. The color scheme is also the most unique, as each section is a bend of one of WSU’s official colors mixed with our official grey.
The final and composite image is the third image with the central cross replaced with the layout of the forth in the center. I had chosen bot these images as they were simultaneously both the most similar in shape and dissimilar in color. The shapes following the four cardinal directions gave the image a familiar feel to each other, with the juxtaposition of the colors makes the image stand out the most.
