Activewear Design Collection

For our final assignment in Illustration we had the opportunity to create a piece of the type of work we’d like to make. As I thought about what assignment I found most interesting in this course, I thought it would be awesome to create a surface design pattern for activewear!

Before starting the sketches to my surface design, I looked into the patterns that company’s like Nike and Adidas have put on their athletic wear. I knew I wanted to make something fun and trendy but first I wanted to get an understanding of the kind of patterns used by Nike or Adidas. I found that both companies experimented with prints that embodied the motion of athleticism yet there were no clear boundaries to how patterns were used in active wear and clothing design.

To begin, I created a mood board that would set the tone for the desired look I was going for in my small collection of activewear surface design.

From my mood board above, I came to the conclusion that I wanted to make a pattern that had movement in it through the use of varying shapes and lines. Below you can see some of my initial sketches for the elements I was interested in including.

Once I begun reworking my sketches and choosing the elements that I was going to use in my pattern, I found myself struggling to create a sense of movement with the elements I had so far. This was when I was inspired by camouflage print!

I wanted a new spin on camouflage print with each shape being filled with a different element/ digital markings that I created in Adobe illustrator with the paint brush tool. With this I continued to create my pattern, and I eliminated and edited some elements to make the pattern have more of a summer vibe to it as opposed to a tropical feel. With this change I also reworked my initial color palette so that it could read more as a vibrant summer color palette. Below you can see the new color palette I chose a long with the initial pattern swatches I created.

For my hero pattern the main concern I has was how the shapes flowed together and how the pattern read as it repeated. From the feedback I received and through further analyzing this pattern, I decided that I needed to move some shapes around. By doing so it would bring less attention to the three shapes on the lower right corner with the filled in colors: blue, turquoise and pink. That area of the pattern seemed to demand more attention than the shapes that did not have a solid color to them.

I wanted my second pattern to be able to stand as its own pattern but still have it be a support to my hero pattern. Additionally I wanted it to have the same type of vibe as my hero pattern so that they did feel as if they were a collection. Below you can see that I added a design element within some of the shapes to create my final version of the support pattern!

Below you can see the mock up images I used to put my patterns into context. I used a crop top, a t-shirt and leggings to mock up my repeating pattern.

My intended audience for this active wear design collection are ladies in the age range between 18 and mid-twenties. I would also like a company like Nike or Adidas to be interest in this pattern for their active wear!

This is the vibrant and trendy active wear collection you have been waiting for! Whether it’s wearing these leggings to go for a jog or wearing this crop top to the skatepark, this collection is the perfect design to make a bold and fresh fashion statement while going about your day.

Follow this link to my Illustration Portfolio: http://carladavila.knight.domains/art/illustration-portfolio/