Add character to your creations with Photoshop patterns.

While patterns usually aren’t the focus of an image, they can transport your work by communicating with just a few colors or shapes. A simple black-and-white square pattern immediately calls chessboards to mind. Tartan and plaid can remind viewers of their travels in Scotland, and paisley patterns call to mind Iran and India. Polka dots recall retro mid-century modern design, and floral patterns evoke images of high fashion.

Even in the background or as an added bit of color, patterns can bring depth, emotion, ideas, and associations — and give you many different ways to help elevate your art.

Patterns in Photoshop are tiled or repeated images that scale to fit a specific area. Photoshop includes several pattern presets. The Preset Manager tool in Photoshop includes free and custom patterns, imported patterns, and Creative Cloud default patterns. Patterns typically use the PSD or PNG file formats.

Pattern libraries, sometimes known as pattern packs or pattern sets, are files that contain one or more different patterns and use the PAT file format. In general, vector graphics make for more flexible patterns, especially if a pattern incorporates something like a logo. Vector graphics are not made up of a preset pixel grid. Rather, they rely on geometric shapes that always look the same at any resolution. Because vector graphics scale, they remain high quality and high resolution regardless of size.