Barker Creek

Out of this world – in the classroom

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. 

Services

  • Art direction
  • Illustration
  • Pattern design
barker 1
Seamless patterns – Interstellar (hero pattern) and Stardust
barker 2
Supporting seamless coordinate and blender – Blast Off and Cosmic Waves
Split image : to the left, images of vector and illustrated space images with a blue and gold color palette and purple/blue/orange/yellow palette; to the right are monoline vector illustrations of planets, stars and a rocket.
Initial inspiration and color palette exploration, and early motif designs
barker 4
Name tag variations for each pattern, along with file folder and printer paper designs
barker 3
Two of the classroom border designs in use, and task chart/poster designs created for this collection