Is this a visually interesting tiling pattern?
This is an idea I have had for a while, but it always seemed too much of a bother to implement. I have been teaching myself the programming language Python and realized that it would relatively easy to do.
The process of generating the pattern is not apparent from the picture. This is the way it was done. Start with a small square with of four tiles with blue and yellow diagonals:
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Now form a square twice the size. Place two of the above squares on a diagonal. For the other diagonal, use squares with the opposite color pattern:
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Continue this way through a few iterations, each time placing two of the previous squares on a diagonal and the oppositely colored squares on the other diagonal.
The pattern is much more regular than I had anticipated. There are thin and thick rows and columns. As I expected, if you choose the two ends of any row or column. working toward the middle, you will see identically shaped but oppositely colored squares and rectangles. The whole pattern is formed by the two above squares, which is really one square and the same square turned by 90 degrees.
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26 Answers
Yes, it is interesting, I have seen similar patterns in tile and found them intriguing. Perfect for a bathroom floor.
I like it (though not the colors). It would be really nice in a less contrasting color combo, like grey and white.
The color combination looks awful. That being said, I think that is would look nice if the tiles are all the same color, with the caulk lines showing the outline of the tiles (assuming that you would be using it to tile something).
I’m confused as to what you plan to do with it, or, I guess what purpose it serves. Are you talking about using this pattern to actually tile a floor, or do you want to use it for art purposes, or something else entirely? I would like to comment more on the actual pattern, but honestly the colors you have it in right now make it almost painful for me to look at.
Here is a better image of the pattern.
^^ Much better. It has a bit of an optical illusion effect, though. Like it’s moving when you try to look at it head on. I still like it.
It’s better in the grey, but overall I don’t find it very appealing. Probably as a result of the optical illusion effect @augustlan mentioned. That really throws me off.
I love the pattern if you were using glass tiles for a kitchen backsplash, but I don’t like the color combo, at least not how I’m seeing it on the computer, because it does that weird thing where it looks like it’s moving or it’s in 3-D.
I’m picturing this pattern in a kitchen with red and charcoal glass tiles. Or in a shower with blue and green tiles.
It would also make a nice quilt pattern.
I find it visually ‘swims’ as @augustlan suggested. Nice pattern but I wouldn’t use it because that ‘swimming’ effect would do my head in.
The optical illusion effect will probably disappear if the tiles are made much larger, instead of the tiny tiles on a computer screen.
Thanks all. @DigitalBlue , there was no intent of a practical application. I found it geometrically interesting and was wondering if that would carry over to visual appeal. The pattern is identical if rotated by 180 degrees. It is the same if rotated by 90 degrees, but with reversed colors.
I don’t mind the colors, which may explain why I am kept away from programming user interfaces.
I have to agree with @stardust and @Bellatrix, the pattern makes my head swim, it doesn’t stay still for a moment.
I really like it. I find it visually appealing and geometrically fascinating. If you don’t mind, I think I would like to turn it into a quilt top, but I don’t want to take your idea without permission.
ARRRRGHHHH!!! My brain on tiles!!!
It looks like a simplified tartan
I find it painful to look at in either colour scheme – I don’t perceive it as moving, but all the lines look wonky, and it is aesthetically displeasing.
@Dutchess_III Well, I can taste and hear it, of course – it’s just not moving. :)
Well, I got the moving part covered. It was moving all over my screen! I…I…I couldn’t catch it and make it stop! I swear it’s breathing!
It does seem to move, but that does not necessarily make it uninteresting. I wonder if it would work better if the tiles were larger, along the lines of those who suggested it might be used for a quilt pattern.
It would drive me insane to be in a room tiled like that!
Here is a curious thing that I realized in the determination of how the tiles are colored. We get the same result if we use the following method. Look at the binary number representation of the x and y coordinates of a tile. Find the sum of the 1 bits in x and y. If the number is even, use one color and otherwise use the other color.
^^^^ Or…just do every other one.
Every other one would give a checkerboard pattern
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