I design a lot of patterns. I know that many of the patterns will only be useful to a few people. It's often difficult for me to know when a pattern will get lots of downloads. Last month the blog had 102,000 patterns downloaded and the most for a single pattern was only a little over 5000. This tells me a lot of people like different things.I spend most of my time trying to come up with new ideas. Sometimes the idea is there but the pattern does not really stand up to the idea. Yesterdays "Teamwork" pattern pretty much stunk. I didn't realize it stunk when I was doing it but after a couple readers pointed out how the concept and the graphic were totally at odds with each other it looked so obvious.
The lesson here is one that we all know but sometimes forget. It's always best to let an idea cook for a while. If your not sure something looks right let it sit over night or a few days. When you come back to it you often see it in a much different light. I wish I had done that yesterday.
Another often difficult thing is to hear and accept criticism about your work. When you work so hard to make something it's natural to want people to like it. Not everyone will like what you do but always listen to criticism. It can be much more valuable than the praise. You may not feel as good about it but in the end your work will be better.
