If you were to ask me what the five most popular textures substrates or patterns were in the last 10 years, this would be them in order of elements. Chevron ravings, marble, white folk Earth rose, hammered copper or polished rose gold, animal prints, or ombre or neon. Sorry guys, I could not decide between these last three textures, patterns and substrates are often overlooked. chances are they're usually intended to be fairly subtle and allow something else to take the spotlight. This could be the background and a product photoshoots a surface behind a model or influencer, or the substrate and an interior space like wood or marble or tile. Let's take marble for example.

You've seen it everywhere in the last five or six years on Instagram, interior design blogs stylized on products that hit the runway and is backdrops for still life product shots. But it's rarely the centerpiece, it's typically just used as an accent. But just because it's not overpowering as a central motif doesn't mean it's not overpowering in the industry. texture and substrate trends might not be as sexy as something as iconic as the color tone millennial pink or as memorable and viral as avocado toast, but they still adhere to trend cycles, just like everything else. And you better believe that I leverage texture pattern and substrate trends with as much enthusiasm for potential as I do with every other visual category. So what am I looking for?

And once I identify it, how do I leverage high potential patterns, textures and substrates? I'm going to answer the second question first. As a surface designer, I use patterns all the time. I incorporate patterns into designs for fabric, wallpaper, tapestries, products, apparel, accessories, and more. In fact, in the last year or so my surface designs have started earning me more in royalties than single motif paintings, patterns, no matter how innocuous they are, can have an insanely strong potential for customer sales. So let's talk through how it works exactly.

As a surface designer, I create compelling visuals that are going to be applied to products to enhance their appearance. Surface designers like me create in patterns, illustrations, hand lettering, and more. And as you can see, my surface designs can be printed on just about any product furniture, wallpaper, kitchenware, rolls of fabric, essentially anything you could ever printed design on, I probably have that product available through one of my licensing partners. I consider my surface design work in a slightly different category than my original paintings, drawings and illustrations. For me at least the way I approach surface design is by using repeat patterns and shapes, there doesn't necessarily have to be a strong messaging with the design. It's really just about being visually killing you by this cute handheld from anthropology because it's gorgeous and resonates with your taste.

So swinging back around to answer the question of what do I look for and surface designs, patterns, textures, substrates, all of that. I'm looking for commercial viability, what types of textiles patterns and textures are on the rise? And I track this in a few different ways. One, Instagram, I've been mentioning Instagram a lot throughout this course and it's because it's such a ripe place for contents. Instagram is a visually centric platform, which means that it is packed with talented designers, artists, influencers and trendsetters for example when it comes to tiles and mosaics, which is absolutely up there. In terms of on trends surfaces, check outs, I have this thing with tiles.

It's a novelty accounts created by architect Gabriola and sauna and last time I checked she had well over 100,000 followers, and for good reason ci showcases hail works from around the world without own spin always feet in selfies. Anyway, it's a great resource for finding interesting global geometrics refined and playful color palettes and lovely motifs, definitely worth the follow. So anyway, after the surge of Moroccan travel photography A few years ago, mosaics absolutely blew up. You started seeing them as excellent pieces and bathrooms, patios, kitchens, and as flourishes on staircases and doorways. Tiles are a great example of a timeless aesthetic that has subsets that gradually morph with popularity, so tiles are pretty much always relevant with the exact style itself will change. For example, Moroccan motifs were overtaken by lily pad tiling pretty much overnight thanks to creative director Hamish Smith.

He was inspired by patterns he found in nature, and his vision was adopted by pretty much every Instagram influencer out there who was revamping her bathroom. And speaking of pattern and substrate trends that pretty much evolved from one to another, let's take a look at terrazzo. A lot of huge trends don't necessarily just die off at the end of the season, but instead they sort of evolve. And a great example of this is terrazzo. terrazzo was a composite material that's made of chips of marble, quartz, granite and glass, you're most likely to spot it on floors and on wall treatments. Anyway, so marble was absolutely everywhere in the 2010s.

It was a great surface on which to style products for photography, makeup, accessories, tech products, whatever else. And you also saw it popping up across home decor products, interiors, furniture, design and hardware. The swirling texture of marble was also emulated on fabric, paper and linens. So marble absolutely blown up in the early 2010s. But instead of just fading out irrelevance entirely, the trend began to morph into terrazzo. It's a similar aesthetic to marble, but distinct enough to inspire a new refreshed take on these slightly overdone Gray veins marble terrazzo is sometimes referred to as maximalist marble, which I find pretty amusing.

Anyway, I'm not telling you this to convince you to sell your marble shares and invest in terrazzo. Instead, I'm painting an example of how one trends massive success can evolve into a new and novel take on a tried and true classic Marvel into terrazzo jungle greenery into jungle cats delicate cursive with florals into raunchy hand lettered quotes, Chevron patterns into a revival of ikat textiles. These are all examples of where the original trends didn't just die, they transformed into a refreshing take on the original success. So now that you listen to my case studies, let's talk about where to go to find inspiration for surfaces, textures, patterns, all that jazz. I like to take a look at what product photographers are using to set the scene for their shots. Remember when every single Instagram still life whether it was pink Himalayan sea salts or product features, On top of a fluffy white foe for rug or blankets, that fluffy white blanket that every single instagrammer had in our house, it was never the sole focus of the shots but merely existed to create an environment for the hero product.

This is what I'm talking about when I mentioned surfaces I really pay attention when I'm at least swiping through products or brands that I love, like banjo banjo is a brand that absolutely dominates the gifting space for millennials. They've got stationery, jewelry, accessories, apparel, home decor, and more. Anyway, their product photography is always a step ahead. If they're doing something like shooting their products on a net surface or distressed wall, I take notes. Oftentimes, it's simply being observant like this, it gets me my first insight into a new surface design trends. You can apply the same method to any brand that you follow.

Just be conscious to put additional importance on the brands that share your same target audience. These are the brands that resonate most with your brands. For example, my brand's audience, primarily women interested in arts design and entrepreneurship has a lot of overlap with Britain CO, which is a lifestyle brand that highlights the same things. So if Britain CO is all over a particular trends like hand lettering positivity, I'm probably going to consider testing that out with my audience as well. But on the flip side, my audience doesn't really have a lot of overlap with john dears audience, so I don't really feel the need to pay attention to what top tractor accessories are on the market this season. So to summarize this, be observant about what top brands in your industry are up to, they probably aren't going to just straight up announced that they're shooting all of their products on blush tones stucco walls this fall, but you will see evidence of that when their lookbooks come out.

Don't just look at the main product. Look at how it is styled. What's the background substrates? What's the color? Are there any additional props like foliage or twigs? Are there intriguing arrangements around that here?

Product. Are there any interesting plays with shadow and light? Are there nods to the ingredients or flavors of the product, be in tune, pick up on patterns, and look for opportunities to incorporate these rising trends into your own creativity. All right, ready for the mini exercise. Here we go. search the web, social media magazines, wherever for product photography.

Here's the kicker, we don't really care about the product. But we're going to be laser focusing on the backgrounds and surfaces that are used in that product photography pulled together a few examples of a background or surface that you think is working exceptionally well, and that you could see yourself incorporating into your own designs. Here's what I did, I started noticing a pattern where all natural beauty products were styled with shadows of tropical poems. I love this look. Not only is it a solution to highlight the all natural elements of the product, but it's also queuing in with the tropical trends that you see every summer. I even have some paintings in my portfolio to reflect the same idea.

Alright, I cannot wait to see what you notice as well. Let's move on to the next lesson.