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How to Make Repeat Patterns: A Guide for Designers, Architects and Artists
This book explains, in simple steps and non-mathematical terminology, how to create repeat patterns in a line, on the plane, as tiles, and as Escher-like repeats. The book also shows how to make 'wallpaper repeats', where the elements of the pattern merge into each other, apparently seamlessly.
Using letters as the basic elements, the book demonstrates how all repeat pattern-making comes out of four simple operations: translation, rotation, reflection, and glide reflection. It will provide the definitive one-stop pattern-making resource for professional designers and students across disciplines, from textiles and fashion to graphic design and architecture.
Using letters as the basic elements, the book demonstrates how all repeat pattern-making comes out of four simple operations: translation, rotation, reflection, and glide reflection. It will provide the definitive one-stop pattern-making resource for professional designers and students across disciplines, from textiles and fashion to graphic design and architecture.
160 pages, Paperback
Published April 10, 2018
8 people are currently reading
93 people want to read
About the author
Paul Jackson
238 books2 followersPaul^Jackson
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Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
This profile may contain books from multiple authors of this name.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 2, 2022
Haven't you ever looked at the patterns on wallpaper and noticed that they were repeated but it often seems to be in really complex ways that are hard to sort out visually. I need to look for one element and then try to see where it has been repeated. Well, this book sets out to clarify the techniques for doing this and it's not as complex as it seems. Apparently there are four basic symmetry operations: - Rotation, Translation, Reflection and Glide Reflection. If you can grasp these, then you have a good start with developing some interesting and decorative patterns.
Jackson (the author) seems to stick to letters of the alphabet or geometric shapes with nearly all his examples and I would have liked to see some examples where he used floral or animal designs. Admittedly he does go into some details about how the repeating Escher repeats are achieved and I've always been totally intrigued by these. Apparently the trick is that, say, you start with a rectangle and you deform or stretch one side of the rectangle....then you have to do the reverse to the opposite side of the rectangle and by virtue of some imagination and a tad of cubist imagery you can develop an animal or a fish etc. and then they will tesselate. Amazing! And by judicious selection of a tiling pattern....for example, smaller and smaller rectangles.....you can have them disappearing into an infinity of smaller shapes and so forth.
It's an easy to read book and the techniques look fairly straightforward but I haven't actually tried to put them into practice.
Anyway, I really liked the book and it's answered a lot of the questions that I had about patterns. I'm still left with a slight wondering ....is that all? Or are there more complex forms of pattern making that are not covered. I thing he was just getting into it in Chapter 5 where he demonstrates seamless repeats ....though this looks significantly more complex ......and actually here he has a botanical (leaf) example. So he does get into the more complex "wallpaper" patterns.
Finally, he makes the observation that one should a) learn the rules then b) break the rules....... by introducing rogue elements into the patterns etc. Probably sound advice.
As a throw-away, he mentions the Adobe photoshop can automatically perform realignment operations with the offset command.
But five stars from me.
Jackson (the author) seems to stick to letters of the alphabet or geometric shapes with nearly all his examples and I would have liked to see some examples where he used floral or animal designs. Admittedly he does go into some details about how the repeating Escher repeats are achieved and I've always been totally intrigued by these. Apparently the trick is that, say, you start with a rectangle and you deform or stretch one side of the rectangle....then you have to do the reverse to the opposite side of the rectangle and by virtue of some imagination and a tad of cubist imagery you can develop an animal or a fish etc. and then they will tesselate. Amazing! And by judicious selection of a tiling pattern....for example, smaller and smaller rectangles.....you can have them disappearing into an infinity of smaller shapes and so forth.
It's an easy to read book and the techniques look fairly straightforward but I haven't actually tried to put them into practice.
Anyway, I really liked the book and it's answered a lot of the questions that I had about patterns. I'm still left with a slight wondering ....is that all? Or are there more complex forms of pattern making that are not covered. I thing he was just getting into it in Chapter 5 where he demonstrates seamless repeats ....though this looks significantly more complex ......and actually here he has a botanical (leaf) example. So he does get into the more complex "wallpaper" patterns.
Finally, he makes the observation that one should a) learn the rules then b) break the rules....... by introducing rogue elements into the patterns etc. Probably sound advice.
As a throw-away, he mentions the Adobe photoshop can automatically perform realignment operations with the offset command.
But five stars from me.
December 17, 2018
Absolutely wonderful book. It has very detailed explanations on how symmetry operations work and how to use them to create visually appealing patterns. The sections on tilings and Escher type repeats are great and show the basic structure that makes up a ton of popular patterns.
June 1, 2019
Excelente livro para ensinar padrões repetitivos. Ele elenca exaustivamente todas possibilidades e de uma forma bem limpa. Não serve tanto como inspiração, mas ajuda na organização. Melhor parte é o último capítulo em que sistematiza como criar padrões tipo Escher!
July 18, 2021
Teoriassa tätä kirjaa ei tarvita, koska kyllähän me osaamme pyöritellä kuvioita ja tehdä tällaisia kuvioita itse. Käytännössä kirja on hyvin hyödyllinen, koska kaikkea ei hoksaa kuitenkaan itse. Ja jos jaksaisi tehdä kaikki esimerkit itse, niin olisi jo aika pitkällä.
May 11, 2022
While great and clear instruction was given in the book it was a bit basic for where I am in the understanding of pattern design. If you're just getting started this would be an awesome book
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews