What has inspired you recently?I am always inspired by daily life, the interaction between people, friends, music.

Why did you choose to pair Doctors Without Borders with your print?I choose Doctors Without Borders because they do a wonderful job of caring for places in the world that can’t help themselves.

How have you seen art transform the world around you?I grew up with parents that Merijn Hos

took me to museums and told me about art, so for me art has always played an important role in my life. So I can really say that it is important to realize that art and science have a great impact on society. It helps to create revolutionary ideas by thinking outside the box.

If you could pick one artist to mentor you, who would it be?Dick Bruna. He happens to live in the same city as me - Utrecht - and I really admire the consistency in his design.

Who are some artists you think people should know about?I recently saw a documentary about Ion Barladeanu, a tramp who made thousands of collages during the Communist regime of Nicolae Ceausescu. Why and when did you start making art?Well, when I was little kid, and I don’t remember why. I just liked it,it was fun. I never had any brothers or sisters so I spent a lot of time

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4Interview

Justin Blyth

Tell me a bit about yourself:I was born and bred in Los Angeles, wound up in art school, and then spent about five years working in the endless grinding motion graphics machine that runs there 24 hours a day. I’ve been living in Amsterdam for the last couple years now, working with advertising agencies as an art director, designer, and animator. Ah, and I’m Justin Blyth.

What are you currently working on?There are always a few

projects on the burners. Currently, I’m putting together a shoot with LA-based photographer Carlos Nunez, working on some agency stuff here in Amsterdam that is always ‘top secret’, and putting together a Them Thangs spread for Amsterdam-based Blend magazine.

Could you name three artists that have influenced you artwork?I find that stuff almost impossible. Let’s say Bob Dylan, Dennis Hopper and Keith Richards.

Why do you blog?Yeah, like I said, I never planned on being a blogger necessarily, but I have been looking at blogs for years now and I love them. It’s absolutely addicting and informative and constantly updated…I think it is such a great format. You end up building a network of other bloggers, designers, and artists who all generate traffic to each other’s sites, which is great for the bloggers and for the viewers.

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Morgan Blair

Why and when did you start making art?Well, when I was little kid, and I don’t remember why. I just liked it. It was fun. I never had any brothers or sisters so I spent a lot of time amusing myself.

What kind of art do you make?I’m not sure. If it were a genre of music maybe it could be called “freak wave“

Where do you draw your inspiration from?Early to mid-1990s fashion, music, and VHS and

computer game graphics; pop culure; easter candies; legos; Magic Eye; puzzles; and feelings.

Are there any artists you are into at the moment?

Yes, a lot. But I get overwhelmed with how awesome their work is so I try not to look through their websites too often lest they paralyze my brain. I feel like I always list the same people, but I look up to them forever: Maya Hayuk, Ben Jones, Richard Colman… Lisa Frank is always a staple, too.

What is your philosophy of life?Hmm… I don’t think I could narrow it down to a single philosophy. I did sort of decide around fourth or fifth grade that the story only goes one way, so you should just sort of try to make it go the way you’d like it to have happened. Life, that is. Is that a philosophy?

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Zena Santos

How did you first get into designing?A love for photoshop! It just amazed me that you could remove pimples with one click and friends were always requesting this.Because photoshop was so amazing I really wanted to learn more about it so my parents (they are extremely supportive) bought me 2 photoshop books, one was for digital photographers and the other a quick start guide to photoshop. I would bring these book everywhere with me and bookmark anything interesting and try

it when I get home, friends would tease that those books were my ‘bible’.

Do you have a favourite artist, or artists?I have one all time favorite, his name is Matie Apostolescu. I first came across his work while in a bookstore and saw his work as the front cover of a Computer Arts Projects magazine.That particular piece was so inspiring, because it just drew me to the magazine and immersed me in the world he invented, ever since i’ve aimed my work to

do the same, in that i want to immerse my audience too, and of course just have fun with it too. I have a very spontaneous creative process. and that helps make a lively world.

What would be your dream project to work on in the future?To art direct and or produce a coke commercial/ poster. Doesn’t everyone in this industry ?But really anything that involves creating a pleasantly colourful environment.

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Flower Circular Pattern

I have found that patterns within different cultures have inspired the work I do. They are also just exciting to look at and I think it is really interesting to see how different cultures use pattern to show their lifestyle..

For example, the Flower Circular Pattern is a symmetrical image that has repetitve elements that make up an image that resembles a flower..

The colours used in this particualr image work really well together and draws you into the centre of the flower.

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Flower Circular Pattern

Chinese flower patterns vary, but they all use the same symmetrcial values throught out, which makes the pattern visually appealing.

The colours change on each side of the circle, which makes the pattern look slightly odd at first glance, but the simplicity of the flowers is beautiful.

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Phoenix Pattern

The phoenix or Feng huang (also known as firebird) in Chinese is one of the 4 Chinese mythical animals..

The body of phoenix is said to symbolise 6 celestial bodies. The eyes are the sun, the head is the sky, the back is the moon, the feet are the earth, the wings are the wind and the tail is the planets.

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Culture

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Chi

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Cloud Pattern

The chinese cloud patterns caught my eye as they are quite dream like, which I like.. In a lot of chinese patterns, they outline the drawing in gold.. they do this because the gold attracts your attention and it also brings out the other colours harmoniously.

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Cherry Blossom

Similar to the chinese patterns, Japanese patterns are made up of simple shapes to form a repetitve pattern, which again has a meaning in their culture.

The cherry blossom is also tied with the samurai culture, representing the fleeting nature of the samurai’s life and symbolic of drops of blood.

In one of my projects, I needed to look into Japan and the culture, and wanted a part of the pattern culture to come through in my design.

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Japa

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Circles

Here is an example of shapes that make up a pattern that interests me.. It doesn’t necessarily make up an image, but the use of horizontal and vertical lines that make up the square makes the pattern more interesting, rather than it being just a square.

Also, how the background becomes apart of the pattern through the space from the shapes.. Although it is the same image repeated, it still makes the onlooker look around the page at all of it.

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Japa

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Waves

Japanese waves are seen a lot in japanese design, and each are depicted in a slightly different way. This image is one that catches my eye the lines flow really nicely into the wave and the pattern is seen within the crash of the wave.

It isn’t repetitive or symmetrical, but the use of shape and line makes this image apart of the pattern family..

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Japa

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Fish

Like the waves, these fish are made up of lines, and look as though they have been hand drawn.. The fish have been repeated and rotated alongside a flower image to create a delicate pattern.. also using a dash of black ink in places which mixes up pattern up a little bit..

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African Mask

African masks look very different to the next..

I love the colours that african patterns use

and I think this reflects the country and culture

very well.. They are very warm colours and the patterns are really detailed using shape

and line to make up the pattern itself.

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African Pattern

Here is an example of how line is used within a pattern. Again the colours are a combination of warm reds, yellow, orange and browns with a hint of blue that appears every now and then. The lines are not always a perfect measurement away, but this is what makes the pattern what it is..

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Henna Pattern

These henna tatoos are a beautiful way of showing off the pattern to it’s full potential..

The pattern works really nicely around the body and has a large amount of detail that grabs your attention.

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1Content

Introduction

1: Culture- Chinese- Japanese- African- Arabic

2: Type of Pattern- Symmetrical- Repetitve- Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication- Illustrated Patterns- Pattern in Type

3: Print- Print Finishes- Screen Print

4: Interviews- Merjin Hos- Justin Blyth- Morgan Blair- Zena Santos

5: Profiles- Demakersvan- Vault 49- Eat Sleep Work /Play

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Introduction

1

Pattern design has had a large influence on my designing, whether it is an actual repetitve pattern or just

one part of the image that is simple and effective.

I have found a range of different ways patterns can be used within design, either for Graphic Design or Surface

Pattern, all of which have helped me become the designer I am, and will develop into..

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Types of Pattern

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Aesthetic Apparatus

Aesthetic Apparatus is a design team that work with print, illustration, packaging and identity.

This is one image that I feel shows off quite a lot of what they do. To start with, the image is symmetical and the use of overlaying colours works really well and adds a bit more detail to the overall artwork.

There are small elements of pattern within the illustration with the flames and the shapes around the cat face, but the simple shapes used to make up the design is amazing.

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Hannah Davies

Hannah Davies is an amazing illustrator, that is inspired by nature. Her illustrations are made up up of vibrant colours and layers of drawings. This one in particular caught my eye as there is a lot going on with animals and shape and the symmetrical elemnt just makes it more interesting to look at and draws you into the image.

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Rachael Taylor

Although the majority of designs by Rachael Taylor are used for textile based design, there are a few pieces of her work that interest me, such as her card designs, invites and phone cases. The patterns she produces are all hand drawn and put into photoshop where they are repeated and made into patterns such as these.

Again there is a lot of detail in her designs, which makes them even more interesting when repeated to a larger scale, like wallpaper.

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Types of Pattern

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Kristian Olson

Kristian Olson has a beautiful style of illustration that instantly makes me connect with his work..

His designs are very decorative and mystical.. and in most of his works there are hidden words and stories which adds to the mystery and fantasy.

The texture of his work is another element that fascinates me

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Jessica Holgarth

This type of pattern is quite different from the others, where the pattern is made up of actual illustrations. It is almost like there is a story being made up with the pattern.

The colours used in this wallpaper work really nicely together as well, along with the raw illustration drawings.

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Types of Pattern

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“Sim

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Minga

With some pattern design I think that it is important to keep it simple, as this is arguably the most effective design.

Minga doesn’t do pattern design, but I like how the work speaks for itself, for example the coloured background with the image in black telling a story, which is quite humourous.

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Square Inch Design

Very simple and very effective design. It is also very different to the original book covers..

I came across Square Inch Design when looking for inspiration for my own brief. Like Minga, the image speaks for itself and with Rapunzel the most memorable part of the story is her long hair, that on it’s own works perfectly.

The colours that they use in their designs is something that I admire too.. they are quite vintage looking which works really well..

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Types of Pattern

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Doublenaut

Colour and shape is what makes up the work from Doublenaut.

Shapes are used to make up characters and objects. The vector illustrations grab my attention instantly, and the block colours used within the work.

Doublenaut work with a few bands and produce posters and album work for them..

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Bee Things

Colour, shapes and composition is what caught my eye with Bee Things’ designs.

The shapes make up simple objects, the birds in particular are really interesting.

The colours that they have used on this specific piece is a nice contrast, as the brown isn’t as harsh as a black, so it is really easy on the eye.

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Eat Drink Chic

The inspiration for these pieces look quite simlar to the african patterns seen in the first chapter.

..However they are not as detailed. Some of the colours that have been used are like the warm reds and oranges, but there is more blue and colder colours showing through.

The use of simple block shapes arranged next to eachother works really well on these coasters, nearly the same design but they look quite different from eachother.