A happy accident this week, as I managed to wrest a half-decent design from what turned out to be an otherwise uncooperative block.

Sometimes I’ll design a block that feels like it could be exciting… and then fail completely to make anything good out of it. I might’ve just overestimated its potential, or maybe I haven’t developed my design skills enough to bring the best out of every block (yet!).

Anyway, here’s the end result, which I quite like. Some chunky blocks set at a jaunty angle (not straight but not quite on point), with a central square motif repeated between the blocks as well for a little visual continuity. Throw in a two-colour palette of blue and a pale foam-y green, and what’s not to love?

Like most block-based designs, it works well in a multi-colour palette, too.

But here’s where it started out. See the actual block? A 3 × 3 grid of squares that aren’t quite lined up within the block or with respect to one another. Interesting in theory, but in reality… not so much. I just couldn’t get them to look that engaging in an actual design. The blocks aren’t that cohesive with one another, and not interesting enough on their own. They’re just a bit blah.

But coloured in as a solid block with that middle square left empty, the blocks feel more attention-grabbing. All the angles and the offset rotation create some movement, but not too much. It just ends up being a fun block-based design that would work well in prints or solids.

Obviously when it’s coloured like this, the block doesn’t need to be made in the way I designed it originally – that would be madness. It would still take a few squares, triangles and rectangles, and might be a bit fiddly to put together. I’d love to see the final result though!