MERRY CHRISTMAS and maybe give a good book. Readersvoice.com aims to collect a few interesting reading tips. This issue features author and designer Rachael King. Her colourful and lively coffee table book Pattern Pulse features 100 Australian pattern designers. Their designs go on to be used on numerous products, from swimsuits, to gift wrapping, to wallpaper or anything else with a surface that needs a lively, colorful and tasteful design. 

Melbourne designer Adam Jones, who grew up in the UK, said that when he was a kid, he would spend hours looking at the designs of the curtains, wallpaper and carpets in his home. He’d try to work out how the patterns repeated each other and fit together. He is one of the 100 designers whose work is featured in Pattern Pulse by Rachael King.

Many of the lively designs in Pattern Pulse feature the flora and fauna of Australia, like the patterns of Amanda Laing. She liked bushwalking in the Mornington Peninsula, and took photos of flowers. Later she’d sketch them and use the drawings for designs on wrapping paper and fabric.

Rachael King contacted 100 pattern designers from Australia for this uplifting book. She said she’d been watching their careers grow and seen their work come on to the market. The artists were at different stages of their careers. So the book is aimed to be a how-to for anyone interested in design, whether they’re beginners or seasoned professionals.

These artists create designs that are licensed for use on a variety of products, including stationery, packaging, greeting cards, fashion, interiors, gift wrapping, illustration and book covers. 

Pattern Pulse covers the art processes the designers use, including creative tips, and the designers give business advice, to help other designers formulate a career path. Marketing is a big part of the industry: Ms King said Instagram was the perfect medium for designers, as there were few words allowed, and they had to grab the viewer’s attention with a single image.

But there are many other marketing avenues, like the website Spoonflower. Ms King said the book is also a showcase for the featured designers, because most cannot visit the big trade shows overseas, like Surtex and Blueprint in the US.  

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