Texture

1. Defining Texture

Texture is surface activity that repeats at regular intervals using shape, line, or dot elements.

Below is an example of texture.

As you can see, the texture is on the surface, or the exterior of a form. It's important not to confuse texture with pattern, like you can see below.

terms to know

Texture

Surface activity that repeats at regular intervals using shape, line, or dot elements.

Surface

The exterior of form.

Pattern

The forming of a consistent arrangement of exact or similar elements.

2. Pattern vs. Texture

Pattern is the forming of a consistent arrangement of exact or similar elements. Texture can be made up of multiple patterns to express a surface form and can have or appear to have a pattern in a closer proximity.

Take a look at the image of an owl below.

The owl’s surface has a quite lovely texture. When you move into closer proximity, you can see a pattern start to develop within that texture.

But again, pattern is not a texture. At a certain distance, texture becomes something more layered and affected by the environment.

Pattern is important because, within a design, you can use patterns to create texture, or use texture to create nice layers and interesting areas that would then create a pattern in close proximity.