Stripy November: A Slow Design Exploration of Hand-Drawn Stripes

Stripy November - a month-long exploration of rhythm, texture, and the meditative nature of repetition.

Why I spent a month drawing lines — and what I learnt along the way.

If you’ve been following my work for a while, you’ll know one thing:

I’m a believer in slow design.
In process over perfection.
In the quiet, in-between moments where creativity actually happens.

And lastNovember, I decided to give myself a small, grounding challenge: draw a new set of stripes every day.

Nothing fancy.
Just lines.
Repeating. Wandering. Evolving.

I called it Stripy November - a month-long exploration of rhythm, texture, and the meditative nature of repetition.

Why stripes?

Because stripes are deceptively simple.
They look clean, minimal, familiar…
but when you draw them by hand?

They tell on you.

Every wobble, every pause, every shift of pressure becomes part of the story.
Stripes reveal:

• your mood,

• your energy,

• your intentions,

• your patience (or lack of it).

And I love that honesty.
In a world of perfect digital patterns, there’s something grounding about embracing the human hand again.

What Stripy November looked like in practice

Each day started the same way:
pen, pencil, brush, paper, breath.

But every daub ended somewhere new.
Here’s how the process unfolded:

1. Sketch

Loose lines, soft edges, letting my hand settle into the day.

2. Refine

Experimenting with line weight, distance, and rhythm.

3. Observe

Where does the line want to go?
Where does it resist?

4. Translate

Some pieces will make it to scan, some will stay on paper.
All of them taught me something.

No pressure.
No finished product in mind.
Just process.

What repetition revealed to me

I didn’t expect to learn so much from drawing “just stripes.”
But here are some reflection points:

1. Creativity hides in small, repeated acts

You don’t need a big idea to create.
You just need to start the first line.

2. Imperfection is what makes a pattern feel alive

The wobble is the charm.
The inconsistency is the signature.

3. Slow makes space for discovery

The more I slowed down, the more interesting the lines became.

4. Showing up matters more than “results”

Some days produced magic.
Some days… not so much.
But each day fed the next.

A look at some of the daubs

Each group of stripes developed a personality of its own:

• bold and graphic

• soft and airy

• moody and textured

• structured or free-flowing

My slow design toolkit for the month

IFor those who love the behind-the-scenes, here’s what carried me through Stripy November:

• brush pen and fountain pen

• brush pen and water-brush

• off-cut paper (waste not)

• coffee always within arm’s reach

• a few quiet minutes between architecture work, life, and kids

No fancy tools.
Just time and attention.

Why this project matters to me

Stripy November wasn’t about making a product.
Or launching something new.
Or selling anything.

It was about reconnecting with the heart of my practice: taking pleasure in the process.

As a surface pattern designer balancing a full-time job in architecture and family life, I don’t often have long, luxurious hours in the studio. But over the course of this month, I proved to myself that I can find 10–20 minutes small, intentional pockets of time, for a mindful ritual that feeds my creativity and keeps elebo rooted in what feels true.

Stripy November became that ritual.

A simple, repeatable act.
One page.
One stripe at a time.

What unfolded along the way

Throughout the month, I shared:

✨ process videos every couple of days (and when it came to choosing, I always chose drawing over posting)
✨ behind-the-scenes moments
✨ the growing collection of daubs
✨ the small things I noticed and learned as the days went on

You can still explore it all over on Instagram → @elebodesigns
Or follow along on Pinterest for the quieter, slower version → elebo_designs

A gentle invitation

If this month stirred something in you, a craving for your own creative ritual, consider this your nudge.

It doesn’t have to be stripes.
It doesn’t have to be daily.

Just choose something small, slow, and repeated.
Something that helps you reconnect with the part of you that creates simply because it feels good.

Start with one line.
That’s where I started too.

Stripy November reminded me that creativity doesn’t need grand plans or uninterrupted studio days. Sometimes it’s the small rituals, the ones woven between work, family, and everything else, that keep the creative thread alive.

One stripe.
One page.
One quiet moment of noticing at a time.

Thank you for spending time in this slow corner of the internet with me.

Here’s to more small rituals, soft moments, and creativity that unfolds at its own pace.

Elena