Going Retro with some "Hip Hexagons"

See my design along with all the other
designers work in the Online Gallery.

Looks like School's IN for summer!  In a good way.  This summer I have decided to participate in a fun (and free!) Surface Pattern Design Summer School hosted by the team at Make it in Design.  This "school" is not made up of classes, but rather three unique assignments to help you stretch your design legs and maybe think outside your normal box. I chose to participate in the Intermediate Track for the first assignment which focused on color and had a fun retro theme!  For our first challenge we had to design a print with swimsuits in mind.  The theme was retro geometrics that should be bold and yet still modern AND also infuse your personal style: Quite a list of criteria!  My mind went almost immediately to hexagons, a shape I haven't personally worked much with but one that really screams retro to me.  We were provided with several color palettes for inspiration.  The one I used has bright and bold oranges and yellows with a deep brownish purple to ground it and a nice light pink to round things out.  I love this palette as I think it looks both modern and retro at the same time.  I applied it to hexagons of varying sizes that were scattered in a random pattern to form a seamless repeat.  And to add that special "Brenda Zapotosky" touch:  Some fun hatchings thrown about!  I am super happy with the finished design and think that it really reflects my style while still fulfilling all the requirements. 

Hip Hexagons swimwear mock-up

I plan on creating at least one coordinating print to go with it and at least one other color way of the designs so be on the look-out for them to appear in my Spoonflower Shop this fall!

I am really happy to be participating in this summer experience.  As part of our Summer School we have an online group set up specifically for all the participants and it has been so much fun seeing everyone post their work and getting to know some new designers!  So between that and the interesting assignments I would say that this summer experience gets a good grade so far!  There are still 2 more assignments to go so please stop back to see what other fun designs I will be inspired to create!