design + innovation – or how to come up with unique quilt pattern ideas

“That’s not how we do things around here.”

How many times have you heard this? In the workplace. At home. 

Why is it that we follow the rules that we follow? And when is it the right time to break them? (in Life and in Quilting). 

I’ve been thinking a lot about design and innovation lately. 

How does innovation come about? 

Galileo, Steve Jobs + Elon Musk walked into a sewing room… 

How do we go from ‘the earth is flat’ to the idea of a solar system (Gallileo). 

Fom pre-renaissance paintings to the widespread use of perspective (attributed to Brunelleschi). From computers as functional to computers as works of art (Jobs). 

From space travel as scientific research to space travel as transport (Musk). 

Galileo was ostracized from the church, imprisoned and ridiculed. 

Brunelleschi was ultimately celebrated, but artists using perspective before him were also criticized

Steve Jobs had his detractors and non-believers as well, and through force of personality and unrelenting commitment to his idea made Apple. 

And, well, you only have to tune in to Twitter any day of the week to hear criticism of Musk.

Of course as humans, we look for the comfort of the herd. There is safety in numbers. Our instincts run deep. Outside the light of the campfire are saber tooth tigers. 

The same is true today. 

Ever seen a controversial view point trolled on instagram?

This underlying fear of rejection, of being ousted, of being ‘other’ runs deep. But it’s beyond this fear that innovation lies. 

how does innovation come about? 

Along the course of history we can see these step-changes, whether in design or application. You could assume that these step-changes all came about as a result of one person getting to a level of  mastery of one subject and having an epiphany moment. At least that is how it is often described. The reality is more like a lifetime of hard research, exploration, experimentation to come to a new perspective. 

One way to potentially short circuit this innovation is to look at a problem with fresh ideas. With a fresh perspective and by combining a number of ideas from different sources together. A cross-pollination of ideas from diverse areas. 

INNOVATION VS INVENTION

matt ridley on The Knowledge Podcast

A breakthrough can come when there’s a new set of eyes on the problem or a new question that’s asked of an old context. 

So, what does that look like?

That could look like Elon Musk asking about what the future of space travel looks like. And changing the paradigm of how that works. Elon Musk came in as an engineer looking at the space travel problem as a manufacturing problem, looking at how those two aspects could intersect. 

Lex Fridman + Elon Musk discuss the implications of starship. 

Lex Fridman Podcast Episode #252

Or Steve Jobs and the computing industry. 

How could you look at what Steve Jobs did in the computing industry, instead of it being just about having “A computer on every desk and in every home”  (Microsoft mission statement circa 1980 – Bill Gates). 

It was about having something that was beautiful to look at on all sides.  An object of design or art In your home, that also functioned as a computer. 

STEVE JOBS + DESIGN

The Smithsonian

So, when you approach an old problem with a new fresh set of eyes, this is where that innovation can happen. 

how does this apply in the world of quilting? 

An example in quilting and quilt design might be you bringing in your passions, your interests outside of quilting to play when thinking about designing a quilt pattern. 

So, instead of scrolling through all of the beautiful quilts you can see on instagram, or flipping through your books on quilt blocks or quilt techniques to gain some inspiration, think outside the box and look beyond those traditional sources of inspiration. 

This will allow you to come to quilting with a new fresh set of eyes and start asking different questions. 

SOURCES OF INSPIRATION

frank stephenson on The Knowledge Project podcast

some of these questions might be…

Why do you have to sew a half square triangle like this? Or do you have to sew a quilt block as a square? Do you have to use ‘quilting fabric’ to write your quilt pattern? 

Coming at things from a different point of view and bringing a different set of questions – this is where innovation can be ignited. 

Another example might be if you’re a surface pattern designer coming to quilting. Then you have this potential to bring a whole fresh set of eyes, new questions, new perspectives. 

I often get questions from surface designers who are interested in getting into quilt pattern designing. 

They might have very little to no experience with quilting and they say, but don’t I need to know how to quilt to write a quilt pattern?

And my answer is of course it helps you to have some basic sewing knowledge and some basic information about how to construct quilt tops. 

But ultimately coming in as somebody without those restrictions without those established rules or established ideas or conventions that other people have learnt as quilters, you come in with a fresh set of eyes and you’re able to ask different questions and think about the problem in a different way. 

approaching design as a quilter

As a quilter, approaching the design problem of designing a quilt with fresh eyes is what is going to allow you to innovate and to come up with unique designs. 

Approach the design problem of ‘coming up with a unique quilt pattern’ with a fresh perspective. Bring something outside of quilting to the table. 

If your passion is gardening, how can you bring in what you know about gardening? Sewing seeds, germination, propagation, nature, fractals… How can you bring that knowledge into quilt design? 

This is what’s going to allow you to come up with something super unique because you are going to be in a position to join the dots on a variety of unique things that other people will not have combined themselves.

ON CREATIVITY and BROAD EDUCATION , INCLUDING THIS STEVE JOBS QUOTE:

“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more experiences or they have thought more about their experiences than other people. Unfortunately, that’s too rare a commodity. A lot of people in our industry haven’t had very diverse experiences. So they don’t have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions without a broad perspective on the problem. The broader one’s understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have.”

steve jobs quoted on Farnam Street blog

What do I mean about when I talk about bringing YOU to the table, expressing YOU and YOUR unique design perspective?

You are the only person with your experiences, with your Inputs to your design black box (your brain). So you’re the only one who can have the type of design outputs that you can have. 

the bottom line

This is what it’s all about: recognising the power YOU have to innovate and come up with something super unique. 

It really isn’t as hard as you might think. 

Simply connecting the dots on some of your interests, and designing in that vein can yield extraordinary results. 

If you want to go deeper on this, you can grab a copy of my guide five steps to design a quilt 

You can also join me for a deep dive into innovative design, coming up with unique quilt design ideas in this design workshop where I go deep on this technique of joining the dots on a variety of different inspiration sources in order to consistently come up with unique quilt pattern designs.

Innovation, it’s the name of the game. Hop to it. 

want the key to consistently come up with unique quilt design ideas? 

Kick start a daily creative habit. Build consistency in your design practice – the key to growing a successful quilt pattern design business.
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Join me here.