Designing Summer Joy: Behind the Scenes of the Sun Lover Pattern Collection

The Sun Lover collection is my love letter to summer. It's a vibrant, retro-inspired pattern collection ready for licensing and brought to life with a fun summer tote bag and cheerful vinyl sticker for the shop. With bright and sunny colors and a little vintage surf energy, this collection captures the feeling of carefree, joy-filled summer days in the sun. Read on for a peek into my creative process and inspiration behind this mid-summer drop.

Summer Inspiration Meets Playful Surface Design

This collection began with a craving for beach days filled with surf, sun, and sand. I pulled inspiration from vintage surfboards, bold retro florals, and sparkling ocean waves. These are the kinds of visuals that instantly bring a smile and shape my pattern designs.

The Process: Doodles, Details & Pattern Development

Like all my work in surface design and illustration, this collection started with a mood board. This is an important first step, where I research my theme and pull images that help me put together the feeling and direction for my designs. I assemble a collage-style board with these inspirational images and keep a printout next to me while I start the next phase, sketchbook explorations.

In the sketch phase, I brainstorm ideas for the kinds of icons I may want to include as I develop the artwork. These are very loose doodles done with old-fashioned pencil and paper. From here, I refine my favorite doodles on my iPad and then send them to my computer, where they are finalized and developed into patterns and spot graphics for the collection. Product design and development will continue from here if there is art from the collection that I want to use on products in my shop.

The art is now part of my art licensing portfolio. (If you are interested in licensing these designs, let's connect.)

Bringing It to Life: Products with Personality

While designing the patterns, I also created a matching duo of playful summer products available in my shop. This bright and cheerful tote bag and sticker are ready for lazy mid-summer days at the pool or beach.

Stay Sunny

Sun Lover is more than a collection - it's a summer state of mind! I hope these designs bring a little sunshine to your day, whether you are soaking up the sun or just dreaming of it from your desk.

Explore products in the shop, and if you are a brand or creative partner looking to license art, I would love to hear from you. Let's connect!