Surface Design is a technical and creative activity aiming at the creation of two-dimensional (2D) images (visual and touchable textures), specifically projected for the construction and/or the treatment of surfaces, presenting aesthetic and functional solutions adequate to a variety of materials and processes of hand-made and industrial building. (Evelise Anicet RÜTHSCHILLING, 2006).

Areas of performance are: Textile (patterned material, plain cloth, knitted goods, lace, tapestry, weavering), papers (wall papers, wrapping papers, large panels), ceramics, glasses, synthetic materials and digital images (web sites, videos, games, etc…)

The more we study, more we identify the use of surface design in several sectors of human performance. It is a field in permanent expansion, following society’s development, in-between other fields of design and moving through virtual and concrete dimensions.

Surface Design can be considered a fairly new style of design in Brazil, with very little attention given to it on the college level. The research “Surface Design – Integration Between Art, Technology and Industry”, developed since 1997 by Professor Evelise Rüthschilling, aims at the creation of a body of knowledge about this subject.

The continuous pattern designer must have dominion over the effects cause on the composition by the repetition, as well as the known elements of visual language as the dot. The line, the form, texture, color, direction, etc…, that make up the project.

Rapport

The concept of “repetition”, in the Surface Design context, is the organization of the formal elements contained in the design in units or modules, which are repeated in fixed intervals according to a determined system, creating a pattern. It is an important pre-requisite to the surface designer the understanding of the repetition as a technical resource and also as a possibility of expression, for on several instances during the repetition of the module, unexpected and interesting visual differences appear, provoking a dialogue with its creator.

Pattern_Darwinist brazilian frogs

WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY:

Renata Rubim, Designer from Rio Grande do Sul:

“Surface Design is any kind of bi-dimensional design that doesn’t have a commitment with Graphic Design. The emphasis must not necessarily be in the repetition. On a wall project, any mural project, can be a an artistic work or a Surface Design. The difference, in my opinion, is in the authorship. If the project was made by an artist, its product will be artistic. If by a designer, it will be a design.”

Zorávia Bettiol, textile artist:

“I believe that man, in the moment of his life’s dawn on this planet, as he created a form in either a random or an organized way, he was coming up with Surface Design. These forms may have been simple or complex, painted or engraved, and the surface may have been the sand on a beach, the surface of rocks, the bark of trees, his own body, the weaving of baskets, ceramics, his utensils, tools and fabric, as well as accessories and adornments that made him beautiful. Surface Design meets man from the Paleolithic until today, in every instance of his life whether private or public, in all its complexities.”

After a glance by Haruka Ashida Ostley ...
... and so, since 1761 with Kasper Faber, in Nüremberg, Colored Pencils became no longer a child's toy, to trace with lightness and harmony the technological world of pixels and plotters.

Sources:
UFRGS-Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul/NDS-Nucleo de Design de Superficie/Profa. Evelise Anicet Rüthschilling
http://penta.ufrgs.br/~evelise/DSuper/conceit.htm
http://www.nds.ufrgs.br/usoteorico/ds_principio_basico.php
Renata Rubim, designer gaúcha
Zorávia Bettiol, artista têxtil
Surface Design Association
http://www.surfacedesign.org/
http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_de_superfície

English text translated by Bossa-Nova musician Billy Blanco Jr.