The tiled pattern background is and always has been a staple design technique. My first recollection of the trend was the faithful (but desperately unoriginal) company name slanted and tiled behind the wrapper area. Faceparty was probably the most famous for using this effect. Similar social sites sprang up, overused the fad and it inevitably died out.

Then came the rise of what can only be described as the 70s wallpaper look. The highly detailed, often floral, Damask tiles (scroll for multiple examples) were again often used to decorate the expanse either side of the wrapper on many sites. Personally, I am quite glad that they were not often used in the content areas of (professional) sites or we may all have ended up with eye strain.

So elaborate tiles came and went. I did appreciate the effort that went into these (art?)works, but they just didn’t appeal to my younger minimalistic taste at the time. I’d love to hear how others felt about this particular blend of pattern.

Following in their footsteps (and still the almighty pattern today) came the geometric tiled background. Popularised by the initial ‘a-listers’ in web-standards (Andy Budd and Cameron Moll spring to mind), geometric tiled patterns (and pixel patterns) have become as popular as gradients and drop shadows. So popular in fact that many free patterns are available, from resources such as Squidfingers. This, coupled with many a tutorial on tiled pattern design further escalated the trend. Normally, I’d hate a trend to get overused and stale, but most uses of geometric patterns seen today seem to be subtle and well balanced.

Talking of today, where are patterns at now? End of the road? Certainly not. I’m seeing a growing trend of people using hybrid patterns. Let me explain by use of a couple of examples.

• Terry over at Kineda has combined a fairly run-of-the-mill pattern with an opacity layer and a fade to black.
• Third & Grand have used a floral tile and mixed it with a striped ‘fadient.’

Both examples breathe life into patterns. When seeing them for the first time they wowed me. I hope that more of these hybrids appear and innovative uses of patterns become more widespread.

If you care to inform myself and your fellow readers, why not let us know of any clever patterns that you have found. Or state where you think patterns will go next.

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