Designer Tip: Mixing Patterns

Sheyna
Oct 19, 2017
2 min read

I'm going to be completely honest: I am new to mixing patterns in spaces.

When it comes to fashion, I've done it before mostly because #mommyhood and I obviously need to wear clothes and the clothes I picked were the first things I picked up.

Boom.

Outfit made.

Seriously though, I've gone through an up-and-down transition with how I design spaces. When I was a freshman/sophomore in college, I was designing spaces that were imaginary, I had no idea how they would actually be created structure-wise.

By the time I was a junior, I started to go with "safe" designs, designs I could easily create, until my last semester in school. I had believed maybe I just liked simple, minimalist design.

I do, but then in my Exhibit Design class where we were encouraged to use our imaginations to create unique spaces and be inspired by anything that catches our attention. I let loose, got comfortable and let my imagination run wild.

It didn't matter if I knew how this would be constructed, it just mattered that I was able to get the idea from my head onto my paper/computer. The technical stuff I could figure out afterwards.

Now that I'm out of school, I'm still playing around with different ideas to find my niche.

I feel mixing patterns is just like that, playing around and finding what works for you. When I see certain patterns together, I'm not thrilled and that's okay. That's my aesthetic. The beauty of design is to think outside the box, it's okay to do something that isn't "the norm". Let your personality shine.

There are some tips to help you out when mixing patterns, but I encourage to explore and pair up colors, patterns and different scales of patterns that you would normally be hesitant to use.

Here are some tips to help you break out of your comfort zone:

Let's use this space as an example. Click the arrows to view this space's design development.