Becoming a Pattern Designer Stage I - Summary
Four weeks have passed since I wrote down my roadmap to becoming a surface pattern designer (check out my post My Pattern Design Roadmap). I can now call the first stage finished! Here is a summary of my progress and main takeaways.
The beginning was really good. It looked like I was going to finish this first stage not even on time but way before the deadline. I got a bit obsessed with the topic and spent every free moment working. And I mean EVERY free moment. When my newborn baby was sleeping I worked on my website, during breastfeeding I listened to books about creativity and took notes, when I couldn’t fall asleep I blogged about my progress. I neglected sleep, self-care and social interactions. This couldn’t end up well! After only two weeks of this unhealthy chase, I got quite stressed and nervous. Thanks to my husband I realized on time that I put too much pressure on myself. I took the last weekend off and spent some time with our friends, playing with the kids. It meant I didn’t finish the first stage before the deadline I set for myself but that was a great decision nevertheless. It delayed me only by a few days but my mental state is much better now and my attitude to reaching this goal is much healthier and more sustainable. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.
BRAND
The first thing I ticked out of the to-do list was choosing my brand name. I actually chose it a while ago and I even started an Instagram account and purchased a domain with this name. I hadn’t done enough research before though. It turned out that the name “Pattern Paradise” is already used by a sawing pattern website.
I had to face a hard choice. Should I stick to the name and branding even though it's not original and it might be hard to get first in search results only because I already paid for the domain? Or should I spend more time and money on creating a new branding and do it properly this time? It's still possible to change a name on Instagram but the costs of the domain are not refundable. In the end, I chose a new name and created a new logo. I’m glad I did. I like the new brand even more.
Whimsical Flourish logo
Sticking to my name as a brand was not an option. I’d already had a website and Instagram account under my name that are dedicated to general art creating and I wanted to keep it separate from my pattern design business.
It wasn’t easy to come up with a good name especially as I don't have a signature art style yet. The chosen name reflects what I anticipate would best describe my future designs. I'll tell you more about what styles I want to focus on in my next update.
If you would ever create your own brand I have one advice: Do not rush. Take your time, do the research and wait with spending money and time until you are sure it's a perfect brand for your business.
CREATING WEBSITE AND BLOG
This part was much easier for me but it took the longest to finish. I decided long ago to use Squarespace for my website and blog (I use it for my other art website too). It's flexible enough for my current needs and it's quite easy to use. I tackled this big and intimidating project in small bites throughout these three weeks.
I kept in mind that it doesn’t need to be perfect from the beginning and there for sure would be many changes to the website in the future. For now, it just needs to exist and have most of the planned sections in place like the portfolio, blog and about me section.
READING
“Big Magic” by Elizabeth Gilbert was quite an inspiring read but it felt a bit too spiritual for my taste. However, I noted down a lot of general advice about creating art. “Show Your Work” by Austin Kleon is in my opinion a must-read for everyone who considers themselves creatives. It is packed with extremely useful and actionable suggestions on how to share what you do with the world. It’s funny, motivating and enlightening. I can’t wait to read the other two books from the series.
ONE THING A DAY
An important item on my task list was to do one thing a day that would bring me closer to achieving my goal of becoming a pattern designer. It could have been the smallest, 15-minute action like researching some subject, writing a post or gathering inspiration for a new pattern. I also made a habit of reading books on the subject of creativity, business and pattern design.
“one thing a day” habit tracker
I learned about the ‘one thing a day’ method from a free workshop “The Art of Business: 7 Secrets in Surface Design” by Bonnie Christine.
I used a habit tracker in Notion to record my progress. I haven’t missed a day in the ‘one thing a day’ column and only one day in the ‘reading’ column so far. I’m going to continue this routine adding new habits in future stages.
CREATING A PATTERN
After all this administration work, it felt like a reward to create something at last. I wanted to try out one particular art style that should make the best out of my art strengths (more on that in my post on Looking for my signature style). I created not one but four different blender patterns and now I feel quite confident with the process. It made me ready to create a collection pattern using this technique. Here are the blender patterns I created.
experimenting with painterly style - blender patterns
NEXT STAGE
I’ve already started working on the next stage. If you are interested in what’s next on my to-do list, you can check out my post My Pattern Design Roadmap where I lined out my plan for the whole year. The next stage will last around one month and the main goal of it is to create a sustainable routine of creating pattern collections and sharing my art with others. Finally, it’s time for the rewards that were planned after completing stage I and the first two milestones! I’m looking forward to the pottery painting and going to the restaurant with my Husband (we haven’t done it for ages!).
