Some Guidelines for Designing a Tartan

Keith Lumsden - Tartan Researcher and Designer

Designing tartan needs sympathy with its part in Scottish culture. This is changing as modern needs dictate. Sufficient to say that the design should not confuse, trivialise or unnecessarily proliferate tartan.

The difference between a textile design and a tartan is that the latter carries a message be it a name, place or event. Although there never has been direct symbolisation, colour can be used to increase the provenance of the message. Colours used in coats of arms, club colours, company liveries etc. should be selected. Not that they will mean a great deal to the casual outside observer but they will have a meaning to the owners.

Here are a few rules and ideas:

Don't use more than six colours. Looms used in highland dress only have six shuttles so using any more leads to expense.

Don't use two similarly shaded colours next door to each other. It will hide the geometry in your design. E.g. navy blue next to black.

Don't have hang-ups about colour use such as 'blue and green should never be seen'. At least three quarters of the colour in a tartan is the result of the meld of any two of the colours you employ. Separating blue and green to avoid a clash is impossible. Shade has a big influence on colour combinations. Experiment, experience or examining other designs is essential.

Use the geometry which will make a proportioned tartan that is neither too boxy or too check like.

The background can be used to give space and moves the design away from being boxy. This is particularly so when the proportion between the background colours is made different. For example, the point at which a green on red tartan becomes a red on green tartan is not a set point and depends on a number of factors other than the colour proportions in the background. The over check plays a part but with others. Again experiment.

As a rule the lines of colour in the over-check give the mood of the tartan. Thin lines make for severity as in a pinstriped suit, where as broader lines soften the mood.

Simplicity is usually the best policy in tartan design. Complicated patterns tend to drive the design to being a check.

Always check your design to see that there is no confusion with other tartans.

Read a short history of Keith Lumsden's involvement with tartan