Barker Creek

Barker Creek is a small, woman-owned business known for its playful and award-winning office supplies and classroom decorations. Their products are sold in big box stores, specialty retailers, and internationally online, so their products have the benefit – and the unique challenges – of appealing to a wide range of demographics.

For this line, I was asked to design a collection of space-themed patterns that leaned heavily towards their elementary school teacher demographic. From looking at their most successful products, I knew that having one detailed “hero” pattern along with a few supporting patterns would work the best with their offerings. As these products would be used mostly in lower grade classrooms, a saturated color palette and eye-catching but not overly detailed illustrations defined the collection styling. I chose a lively palette anchored by cooler tones (inspired by deep space photography), accented with warm oranges and yellows that would evoke the Sun and Saturn. In total, I created 4 patterns and used them – in combination with supplemental type and illustrated elements – across 20+ SKU’s.