Communicating with Pattern: Stripes

The Graphic Language of Stripes is a stunning collection of striped design from the worlds’ of textiles, fashion, interiors, architecture, graphics, and product and industrial design. This inspirational sourcebook digs below the aesthetic value of pattern to unearth the deeper visual language communicated through patterns. From Adidas trainers to City pin-stripes and share-dealers’ shirts, from barcodes to football kits, stripes signify identity, membership, belonging and allegiance – the “old school tie”, the Stars and Stripes and military rankings – but they can also be fun, bright, childlike and bold eg: toothpaste, circus tents and candy canes. In art, stripes stimulate the eye in the work of Jasper Johns, Bridget Riley and Mark Rothko, while in fashion they can be both formal and rebellious – witness brands as diverse as John Paul Gaultier, Mary Quant, Gucci and Paul Smith.