Create a herringbone pattern in Illustrator

In this quick tip we are using Snap to Collisions Tool (part of ColliderScribe) to make a herringbone pattern in Illustrator…

Create a herringbone pattern background in Illustrator:

• Start with one rectangle set at a 45 degree angle

• Find the Snap to Collisions tool stacked under the Selection tool

• Drag your rectangle down whilst holding Shift + Alt (mac) / Option (Windows) to duplicate the shape and keep it aligned with the original

• The pink dots will show it’s colliding exactly with the original path

• Duplicate this process (Command / Control + D) to create a column of rectangles

• Select All (Command / Control + A), Copy (Command / Control + C) and Paste (Command / Control + V)

• Use the transform menu to reflect all the copies on the horizontal axes

• Use Snap to Collisions Tool again to collide and nest these new copies to the originals

• You now have a full herringbone pattern

• Select the 2 columns and use Snap to Collisions Tool to duplicate and nest the next section into place (Shift + Alt / Option to constrain the angle and duplicate)

• Ensure the pink dots are colliding in the corners

• Duplicate this process (Command / Control + D) to create a full herringbone pattern

To finish: We used Randomino with a list of our swatch colours to randomly change their fill color.