Type Patterns and Transformations
What letters do when they’re off duty
The Brief
Create a fabric or wallpaper pattern using type and color
Trim Size
Scalable
Learning Points
Using the Illustrator Pattern Maker
Experimenting with Transform effects
Experimenting with color themes
Tools
Illustrator
Inspiration
Letters and numbers are great shapes that we can use to create repetitive, abstract designs that can become fabric patterns, wallpaper, or gift wrap. While we like to think of all of our letters as equal, it’s undeniable that some have more interesting shapes than others. When making patterns, our type is carefree. It doesn’t have to worry about communicating linguistically, and we, as its collaborators, are free to choose whichever letters, numerals, and other characters have the most interesting shapes. Obvious candidates are the g, S, and of course the &, but it’s worth taking some time to explore some of those underdog characters on the Glyphs panel.
Then of course, there is the typeface you use. Start with a serif font and you’re likely to end up with a more intricate result; start with a sans serif and you’re more likely to go in a more geometric direction. From a workflow point of view, the letters will be easier to work with if you convert them to outlines — but keep a copy of the original on the pasteboard, just in case.
Transform effects
The Transform Effect dialog box in Illustrator offers a wealth of options for creating complex patterns from simple shapes, including letter shapes. If you ever had a Spirograph as a kid, you’ll find the results reassuringly familiar. Rotating a letter around a fixed point can result in meditative flower-like patterns. You can add depth with opacity and blending modes, creating interesting interactions where the shapes overlap.
To add another layer of complexity, you can combine Transform effects with threaded text, allowing you to create overlapping and transparent type objects — in ways that aren’t possible using Type on a Path.
Above left, the result of rotating 14 copies of the section marker glyph around its bottom center point. The angle is set to 24°: 24 × 15 = 360, which is 14 copies plus the original.
On the right, the result of rotating 35 copies at an angle of 10°. In both cases, the blending mode of the glyph is Multiply. A desaturated color is chosen to allow “growing room” as multiple shapes overlap.
Type the widest letter in a desaturated color, and change its blending mode to Multiply. Group this with an invisible rectangle so that you can rotate around the bottom center point of the group (A).
Rotate the group at an angle of 13.85° (360/26), creating 25 copies (B).
Choose Object > Expand Appearance to create individual text frames.
Choose Type > Convert to Area Type, and then choose Type > Threaded Text > Create to convert the text into a series of threaded text frames. Copy and paste text (A–Z) into the threaded frames, replacing the Ws (C).
Illustrator patterns
The pattern options in Illustrator make it easy to create repeating patterns and then apply these as fills (or strokes) to objects.
To make a pattern, arrange your characters how you want them, and then drag them onto the Swatches panel. Double-click the swatch thumbnail to open the Pattern Options dialog box where you can experiment with the grid options. You can now apply the pattern to any shape. Note that all transformation tools in Illustrator have an option to transform the patterns independently of the shape. To update the pattern swatch, simply hold Option/Alt as you drag the new elements onto the existing pattern on the Swatches panel.
For easy tweaks to individual colors, save your swatch colors as global colors — thereafter they’ll be identified with a triangle in their bottom-right corner. Double-click to edit the color, which will update wherever it is used in the pattern.
To experiment with different color schemes, you can use Recolor Artwork. This very powerful (but somewhat frustrating) tool lets you remap the colors of the artwork to another color group. Before you click the Recolor Artwork icon on the Tool Options bar (or choose Edit > Edit Colors > Recolor Artwork), you’ll need to have another color group ready. Click the color group to remap the colors. If you want to change which color from the artwork is mapped to which new color from the color group, in the list of current colors drag from the left of the color row up or down in the list. The frustration comes when (inevitably) you go wrong. You won’t find an Undo button in this dialog box. Typically, you’ll have to cancel and come back to it and try again. If your artwork contains blacks or whites you may want to go to the Color Reduction Options to determine whether or not these are preserved.
As well as combining several letters or symbols into a single pattern, you can also overlap multiple patterns. In the LOVE example, each letter (Buckwheat Rough, set to a blending mode of Multiply) is its own pattern. These patterns are used to fill overlapping rectangles that extend onto a large area of the pasteboard. A clipping mask limits their visibility to the artboard. You can reposition the rectangles to create the composition — because they overlap you’ll need to make extensive use of locking and unlocking the sublayers as necessary to move only the one that you want. You’ll also need to toggle the preference for transforming the patterns tiles.
Drag your pattern tile onto the Swatches panel, and then double-click the swatch to experiment with the pattern options (A).
Use the Recolor Artwork tool to remap the colors of your artwork to the colors in a saved color group (B).
To change how the current colors are mapped to the colors of the Color Group, drag the color up or down from the left side of the row (C).
If the artwork contains blacks and/or whites, click the Color Reduction options to determine whether these are preserved (D).
Four patterns, each created from a single letter set to Multiply, are applied to four overlapping rectangles (A).
The rectangles extend beyond the artboard and are cropped with a clipping mask (B).
Lock all but the rectangle you want to move (C).
In General Preferences, toggle Transform Pattern Tiles as necessary to scale the pattern along with or independently of the rectangle.
Photoshop patterns
If you don’t mind embracing a yet more random approach (and you also don’t mind the result being pixels rather than vectors), Photoshop has some interesting Symmetry Fill patterns. In the example below, we created a pattern (Edit > Define Pattern) from a single word on the Type layer (make sure background layers are hidden unless you want them to be part of the pattern). Once your pattern is defined, create a new layer and fill this with the pattern (Edit > Fill). Check the Script box, and choose Symmetry Fill from the menu. You’ll have a long list of symmetry types and options to play with. Be warned, they are addictive.
