Surface Pattern Design | Demystifying Seamless Hexagon Patterns in Affinity Designer

Hexagons can create some of the most popular, and fun, geometric designs, but, thanks to their asymmetrical nature, they can be a bit baffling when it comes to tiling them seamlessly.

If you’re like me, and have found yourself scratching your head because of misaligned or wonky hexagons… welcome to class!

Hi everyone! I'm Tracey, an illustrator and designer from the Chicago area, and welcome to the next class in my Pattern Toolkit Series, where we focus on a specific pattern, or theme of patterns, in a variety of applications.

With each lesson, you'll walk away from class with a new design for your portfolio, as well as experience in tools that can expand your creativity in surface pattern design and beyond.

In this class, we’re going to demystify the process of tiling both vertical and horizontal hexagons in Affinity Designer. We’ll create hexagonal designs with precision and confidence and no complicated math is required!

I’ll guide you step-by-step through two different approaches to tiling hexagons.

• First, I’ll show you how to crop your artboard in to a rectangle to ensure your pattern tiles perfectly, without having to adjust the original size of your motif.
• Next, I’ll show you how, by using specific canvas and motif combinations, you can adjust your hexagons by just a few pixels for a perfectly seamless design on a square canvas, great for when you’re creating digital papers and brushes.

We’ll also explore three powerful efficiency workflows:

• I’ll show you how to use the gradient tool to scale a canvas up, without losing quality, or your original motif scale, so you can prepare to import your designs on to your favorite print on demand site.
• I’ll also show you how to create multiple smaller scale motifs from a larger design, without having to start all over again.
• And, finally, you’ll learn how to use symbols to make fast, global changes to your designs, simply by changing one of your motifs.

All three workflows allow you to work efficiently to create multiple variations of your designs, in no time at all.

I'll be using the desktop version of Affinity Designer V2. Most tools used in the class are available on both the iPad and desktop versions. For those using an iPad, you can still follow along with class, as long as you know where the tools are located.

I do want to note, while this class is beginner friendly, it does assume some familiarity with Designer V2 and the overall surface pattern design process. We will not be reviewing the interface in this class so it is important that you know where all tools are located, and the basics of how Designer works, in order to have a successful time with this class.

Whether you’re creating designs for digital products or print on demand this class will give you the tools and confidence to create clean, repeatable hexagon patterns—without the guesswork.

Are you ready to tile up some hexagons? I’ll see you in class!

Hi there! I'm Tracey. I'm an illustrator, designer, and  photographer located in the Chicagoland area. You can find more information about me, and my work in my full profile. (find the link above) I've been a full time artist for over a decade, after leaving the corporate world behind in 2011. In addition to teaching, I am a full time creator who sells my work on my own site, as well as print on demand sites like Spoonflower, Etsy and more. 

I've been using Affinity products for the last several years and love to learn as much as I can about the tools so I can not only use them the way they were intended to work but make them work for me; and I love sharing that knowledge with my students! I've had the privilege of being spotlighted by Serif, the company who created the app, twice as a go to teacher for their apps. You can find links to the spotlight articles, as well as a Creative Session I've created for their YouTube channel, on my profile page.

If you have any questions about the class, or would like feedback on your project, please feel free to let me know in the Discussion section of class, or by emailing me at hello@traceycapone.com.

I look forward to seeing you in class!

Music Credit: "Way Back Home" by LØFTE" (license on file)