Patterned clothing is an intricate and expressive way to inject extra personality into your outfit and add a unique element to a standard material. Illustrators and designers have the freedom to get creative with motifs and here at Corgi, we’re well known for our detailed motifs and patterned designs. We love to think outside the box and create authentic designs which really pack a punch.
Our motif experts are skilled in the art of design and we thought we’d take you through a bit of the background and inspiration behind creating a high-quality motif.
Constant Inspiration
Some of the most interesting motif inspiration can be found outdoors or in natural settings. Finding reference material for motifs can be discovered in surprising places, so our designers are always on the lookout for unique colour palettes and intricate patterns everywhere they go.
A lot of great print uses the form and lines found in natural shapes, objects and sounds. Being experimental with outdoor, natural patterns can provide the perfect framework for motif design. We think that animal illustrations and motifs are a really fun, vibrant way to present colour and shape and you can see this in lots of our designs.
Material Collection
Lists, doodles, sketches, mood boards and mood maps are great ways to illustrate new motif concepts. Sometimes older work and motif ideas can be referenced back to and upcycled with new themes and designs. Playing around with different designs can help you to create some completely accidental motifs that end up being popular designs.
Motif designers are always observing new designs and patterns that they can incorporate into their work. Things are no different at Corgi – we encourage motif makers to get experimental and use their creative streak to make the most well-designed socks that we can. Collecting materials and the process of looking critically at objects, historic textiles and wallpapers, photos, patterns and colours is all part of gathering ideas.
New Trends
Having an open mind and thinking with an experimental perspective helps motif designers to find patterns and visuals that are outside of their usual remit.
Looking for new, emerging trends online and on different social media platforms is a good approach too, as well as seeking inspiration from different environments. Trend forecasting and trying to anticipate what kind of colours, patterns and motifs will be of interest to customers is a really important part of the product development – we want to craft the best possible socks.
An open mind is integral to the creative process and exploring different historical and cultural materials, themes and patterns can spark new ideas.
Looking at Scale
Sometimes motif designers will work heavily on an idea but find out that when they scale it up or down, it doesn’t have as much of an effective impact. Especially when it comes to sock motifs – often motifs are used on a much smaller scale, which can take away the effect of a design or it can give it new-found intricacy and work really well. A crucial part of motif design is playing around with scale to create the best design possible.
At Corgi, we love creating fun, luxurious socks and our motif designers are highly-skilled and experts in their field.
