Dingbats Pattern Design
Introducing Dingbats
Most fonts have interesting extra characters used for Facebook, arrows and a range strange symbols. Dingbats pattern re-imagines a series of new symbols combined to make a punchy, graphic design.
Creating The Dingbats
I wanted each of the dingbats to sit within a square. I used a grid of 16 x 16 or subdivided into 32 x 32 squares. With designs for over 30 dingbats, the real challenge was creating the perfect combination.
Pattern Repeat Experiments
The early pattern repeats were 5 squares wide x 4 squares tall. To make the design pleasing there had to be an even spread of shapes within the repeat. I alternated the square and circular shapes, but because the pattern repeat was 5 wide it was impossible to alternate square and round. I chose a new grid 6 wide x 3 tall to avoid this problem.
Colour Combinations
Experimenting with different colour combinations I saved the most interesting as pattern repeats, swatches and squares for Instagram.
Testing The Pattern Repeat
The full-screen versions use actual pattern repeats, set to repeat using my CSS style sheet. Meaning I didn’t need large images taking up extra time to download. The scale of the dingbats can be altered too, again using the CSS style sheet.
Accidental Christmas
By coincidence the white on red (and red on white) looked perfect for Christmas wrapping paper or maybe this year’s yuletide card!
Buying My Designs
Products featuring my pattern designs are available to buy from my shops hosted by Spoonflower and Contrado. As well as fabrics by the metre, they can produce my designs in a range of home decor items including; tablecloths, bedding, cushions, wallpaper, cushions and wrapping paper / gift wrap.
