The next emotive light switch at our disposal is in the relative size we use a pattern, which similar to color greatly affects the mood and style of a piece. Prints can be blown up to loud and/or abstract proportions or shrunk down to the realm of technical and/or textural, each size with it’s own feeling and use. In some cases these sizing extremes alone can differentiate between gender categories without even a change in color.

When merchandising with pattern art this sizing is all relative to the dimensions of your canvas and ideally pattern sizing will change to reflect the size of each product’s printable area in order to carry the original feeling through the line.

Useful for gaining an overview of the diverse use and appearances of a single piece of art is the creation of sizing charts: a simple row of your product silhouette with a pattern fill sized incrementally smaller or larger till you can see the whole range of moods possible. This is a great tool for artists and product managers alike.