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 am spending a month drawing lines — and what I am learning 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 this November, 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 looks like in practice

Each day so far 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 are teaching me something.

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

What repetition revealed

I didn’t expect to learn so much from drawing “just stripes.”
But here’s what showed up so far:

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 first daubs

Each group of stripes developed a personality of its own:

• bold and graphic

• soft and airy

• moody and textured

• structured or free-flowing

You can see all the daubs so far (and the process videos) over on Instagram → @elebo_designs

My slow design toolkit for the month

In case you love the behind-the-scenes:

• brush pen and fountain pen

• brush pen and water-brush

• off-cut paper (waste not)

• coffee 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 isn’t about making a product.
Or launching something new.
Or selling anything.

It’s 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 always get long, luxurious hours in the studio.
But I can find 10–20 minutes for a small, mindful ritual —
a moment that feeds my creativity and keeps elebo rooted in what feels true.

Stripy November is that ritual.

Want to follow along?

I’m sharing:
✨ process videos every 2 or 3 days (if I have to choose I'll draw but not post, never the other way around)
✨ behind-the-scenes moments
✨ the full collection of daubs
✨ the little things I’m learning along the way

Come join me here → @elebodesigns
Or follow my Pinterest for the calm version → elebo_designs

A gentle invitation

If you’ve been craving a creative ritual of your own, consider this your nudge.
It doesn’t have to be stripes.
It doesn’t even have to be daily.

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

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

Stripy November reminded me that creativity doesn’t always need grand plans or long studio hours. Sometimes it’s the small rituals, the ones squeezed between work, family, and everything else, that keep the creative thread alive. One stripe, one page, one tiny moment of noticing at a time.

Thanks for joining me in this slow corner of the internet. Here’s to more small rituals, soft moments, and creativity that unfolds at its own pace.

Elena.