Final LT Moquette Designs

A competition to design new fabric for the seats on the London Underground.

I want to WINNNN!
Although I think I'm unlikely to win, I've given it a go anyway. Click to view at higher quality for more patterny goodness.

I've always been fascinated by the tube/London Transport, and the design the surrounds it (I know it's sad, but I remember travelling on the underground when I was little, and spending ages staring at the fabric and calculating the number of squares in a certain area, the pattern repeat frequency etc...)
I'm actually writing my dissertation on the LT poster designs, and hope to incorporate this element of design into it too.

There was a LOT to consider with this - there's a particular colour palate we had to stick to, with Pantone references for the main London Underground colours. (I probably wouldn't have chosen this colour scheme, given free rein) Also, had to consider the effects of wear and tear, combinations of natural and artificial light (on above and below ground lines)... the pattern had to be small enough to have frequent repeats, but not to small/complex as to cause 'strobing'/moire...

The designs had to be submitted in a layered Illustrator EPS file format, I almost broke my brain doing this, as I'd initially constructed the patterns using individual shapes... then realised I had to group them all into separate layers which took HOURS, and I had no idea how to do it when I started, so I'm quite proud of myself. I never understood the point of layers in Illustrator before, but having seen how much easier it makes it to select and change groups of shapes, I'm extremely grateful for them!

We also had to create alternative colourways to indicate disabled/special access seats, but I haven't submitted these here.

We were allowed to submit a maximum of two designs, so these are my two. Which do you prefer?

That was a bit of a ramble, but I'm quite proud of myself, as this was a real technical achievement! (For me anyway, my knowledge of Illustrator was non existent just a few months ago.)