History Forward: The Mississippi River's Ribbons of Color

Fink-mississippi-river-1.jpg

I’m not a huge fan of Pinterest, but every now and then I look through what people are posting to find inspiration. The other day I was looking at old maps, and came across a unique and quite colorful one. It was made for the Army Corps of Engineers by Harold N. Fink in 1944. Rather than creating several maps to show how the Mississippi River’s course changed over time, Fink used a collection of colorful ribbons to highlight the changes all on one map.

The map inspired me to make a new pattern. See my process below:

First I drew lines and created ribbons of color to create a simplified interpretation of the map.

First I drew lines and created ribbons of color to create a simplified interpretation of the map.

Next, I filled in the background and started removing sections of color to start blending the ribbons and lines.

Next, I filled in the background and started removing sections of color to start blending the ribbons and lines.

Finally, I started dragging lines and removing large sections of the design to create more space and breathing room in the pattern.

Finally, I started dragging lines and removing large sections of the design to create more space and breathing room in the pattern.

So here you have it, my final pattern. While it is a very loose interpretation of the map, I think you can see the inspiration reflected in the pattern's lines and colors.

Does Harold Fink’s map inspire you as much as it did me? How would you envision designing a pattern based on it?

Harold N- Fink, Mississippi River, patterns, ribbons of colorComment