LittleLion Studio » color

Quick Tips # 2 – Changing a Pattern’s Background Color

LittleLion — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 13:32:21 +0000

There are several ways to adapt a pattern to the project you’re working on. One of the most hassle free options would be a simple background color change.

Easy as it may sound though (and it really is!), there are a few steps to follow to make sure you get the desired result.

If in doubt, check this video and start coloring your backgrounds away!

Queen Of Dots

LittleLion — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:48:05 +0000

So here it is. The first of a series of prints for all things baby: The "Queen Of Dots". From onesies to the nursery’s wallpaper, from birth announcements to cute blankets, the application of this print is as broad as your imagination.

Since several of my "baby" designs end up in children clothing, even through copycat (yes, you know who you are), I thought I’d discuss a little about another very important aspect of colorways: their commercial relevance.

If you’re in the business, you know it is all about knowing and reaching your audience, and when we are talking "baby", colors separate markets.

As mentioned somewhere else, the very same print can look incredibly different once you start playing with the color palette, but it is not only about their looks but also about the message, the meaning each color combination conveys.

There is a clear relationship between the market size a company caters for and the colorways used in their collections. The larger the market, the longer and more expensive the production cycle is, which adversely affects any attempts at deviating from safe (merchant wise) choices. On the other hand, smaller shops cater for smaller markets, thus enjoying the benefits of a shorter and more dynamic production cycle allowing for experiments and lots of personality. The "Queen Of Dots" is a baby girl print using different colorways to cater for the different markets out there.

In the children wear market, for instance, certain color compositions are traditionally safer than others. "First Memories" is an example of a safe

bet. Manufacturers sell their designs to huge department store chains with at least one, but mostly a two season lead time and they can never go wrong with pink tones.

"The Age Of Innocence" is a small step towards edginess, with soft colors standing out smoothly from a pale white background, which could also translate into garments sized for toddlers.

The more dynamic your company is, the broader the possibilities become. "Silver Rain" is definitely more audacious, bringing lots more in style alongside.

If personality is the name of the game, then "Precious Gemstones" is your pick! The more vibrant colors pulls this print away from a certain monotony typical of the mass market.

You can easily see these relationships depicted in the graph, which implicitly begs the question: Where does profitability lie? That is not an easy question to answer. The smaller the market, the more sophisticated it tends to be, leading to bigger margins, while the opposite is true to the bigger markets, which are focused on quantities. So is that sweet spot in the graph what you should be pursuing? Not necessarily so. It sure makes one think, but this graph is lacking the single most important curve of all… the one that’s not there for its immensurability: Quality of Life.

Professionally wise, where do your dreams stand? If not the only aspect to consider, it definitely is an important one, especially in this age in which youngsters are educated to become financial leaders or economically self-sustained, but mostly end up bearing the social weight of being someone else’s employee. Maybe it is time to drop the stigmas and focus on being successful in whatever position you choose to pursuit. And remember, there is one "Queen Of Dots" for every approach! ;-) [click on the images to enlarge]

GET THEM FROM

StockXpert, ShutterStock, iStockphoto, Dreamstime, DepositPhotos

Repeats And Colorways

LittleLion — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 19:31:53 +0000

A few days ago on "Mosaic Forest" and "The Stationery Position" posts I briefly touched two especially important topics for seamless pattern design which I would like discuss a little further, if I may: repeats and colorways.

One of the limitations imposed on microstock clients while deciding upon which seamless pattern to pick, is the absence of a "zoomed out" view big enough so the client can truly visualize how the pattern will repeat while still keeping some of the pattern’s details in view. In this regard, it is important to keep two things in mind: any additional geometrical shapes a pattern may reveal when repeated and how organically it will expand.

For an example of the first case, please refer to "Lollypop", the very first pattern of the "Leaves 20 Seamless Pattern Set" enlarged view and compare it to how it is displayed at StockXpert, for instance. Just by looking at the image offered by StockXpert, the uninitiated might miss how the circles will actually unfold once the pattern gets applied.

As for the second issue, I hope my print "Trip to the Amazon Rainforest" will suffice as an example of an organically balanced seamless patterns (as organic as a mathematically accurate repetition can get, that is!).

First, a word about the pattern name. More than once have I been called attention to the fact that there are no giraffes in the Amazon Forest, that they are present in wilds of Africa only. To what I respond by asking where your imagination has gone to these days, people?? :) The print is about a giraffe who travels to the Amazon Rainforest!! Isn’t that "obvious"?? :) :)

Back on point, picking a colorway for an element rich pattern can get really tricky, really fast, especially if one is restricted to CMYK colors (for printing). This is the main reason why I try to provide several different colorways of my designs. The image below gives us a taste of how so incredibly different can the same pattern look just by changing its colorway.

The purpose of this text though is not to scare you away from experimenting with colors, quite the opposite! You can investigate the matter further starting with Color Theory on Wikipedia or engage in Adobe’s Kuler Community for access to thousands of themed colorways or even dig deeper on your favorite vector editing application (Adobe Illustrator has great tools just for that). Regardless of your approach, you can always count on me for several different starting points for you colors explorations.