Tartan Design Question

[AFS1970]

For those that have designed a tartan, is it ever OK to base a tartan on another tartan?

I am thinking of trying my hand at a tartan, but have been thinking of researching a bit for design ideas. As this would be a tartan designed for an organization, the colors are pretty much set. However I noticed the founders name is one of Celtic roots. I haven't looked to see if Scottish or Irish yet, but if it is Scottish and there is a tartan for his family, would it be out of the question to try and design something in the organization colors but close to or reminiscent of the sett in the founders family tartan? I have read that two tartans can not have the same sett, but I assume that means the same sett in the same colors.

This all may be a moot point if he has no historical tartan, but I thought I would ask before getting too far into this project. For that matter I am not even certain that the organization will want a tartan, but if nothing else it gives me a chance to try my hand at tartan design.

[Taskr]

From what I have read, there are "based on" tartans. Why not just dabble with a few different and differing designs until you come up with the two or three that you consider will most identify the organization.

[usonian]

There's a U.S. Civil War memorial tartan (I think it's the "Union Memorial Tartan", but the tartan registry website is down at the moment so I can't verify) that basically took the Grant tartan (as a nod to General Ulysses S. Grant) and substituted some or all of the colors... so there's some precedent for the idea.

[AFS1970]

Thanks for the help. I like the idea of making the tartan a subtle nod to the associations founder, much like the Union Memorial / Grant idea. Now that depends on if there is an existing tartan and if it lends itself to the number of association colors. Essentially the colors are red, white, blue & gold. I think there may be some black and white, in there but only as edges or negative space so I would stay away from them if I could.

No onto the research.

[OC Richard]

For those that have designed a tartan, is it ever OK to base a tartan on another tartan?

It happens all the time!

Sometimes the changes are subtle, so that the original tartan and the new variant are tricky to tell apart.

Examples are the California tartan and the West Virginia tartan.

Some tartans are favourites for this sort of treatment, the champions probably being Royal Stewart and Black Watch, both of which had variations done to them as far back as the 18th century.

For example when the Gordon Highlanders were raised they took Black Watch and added one yellow line to match the yellow facings of their red jackets.

There are dozens of variants on Royal Stewart, with black, blue, tan, grey, etc backgrounds.

[OC Richard]

the colors are red, white, blue & gold

Very nice tartans could be designed with those colours.

A question: are these colours equal and on their own? Or are they grouped?

What I mean is, the colours could be red, white, blue, and gold. Or they could be red & white, and blue & gold, or grouped in some other way. This makes a difference in how I would approach the design.

And the colours could appear equally, or they could appear in a specific proportion. It depends on how the organisation typically displays the colours. If the original is, say, a crest, the tartan designer would need to see it.

I quickly Googled and found an association in Stamford CT which has a logo using those very colours. In that, the white appears on a red field, and the yellow appears on a blue field.

Here's a very quick crude sketch based on those colours. Adding a black line here or there increases its "punch". Also two shades of blue could be used to make it nicer.

[416 Rigby]

The official U.S. Coast Guard tartan is just a slightly modified Hamilton tartan, honoring Alexander Hamilton, who proposed the idea for the Service back in 1789.

[AFS1970]

So I am at least not on the wrong track with this idea. The association was founded in either Virginia or North Carolina not sure which one, it is not local to me.

The main colors are blue & gold, with blue being dominant. Then there are red, white and a little more blue in the stylized U.S. flags that are incorporated. Then there is a lighter blue and black that make up a globe of the world with all the continents being black on a light blue field. There is a small white border between two sections but it looks more like empty space than an actual border.

So I would think the colors in order should be: Dark Blue, Gold, White, Light Blue, Red & Black. Or at least that is how my eye sees them. After seeing that quick one Richard did, I am thinking the main color should be the gold and not blue, which would make this stand out much more.

However this all depends on if it is based on another tartan or if it is a totally new creation. I am still looking up the tartan by name.

[KD Burke]

One of the more famous "based on" tartans is Cameron of Erracht! The designer of that famous regimental tartan appears to have taken a look at the MacDonald sett and said, "right, just leave out these two little red lines, add a yellow one, and Bob's your uncle!"

Or words to that effect.

[AFS1970]

Well my idea has somewhat derailed. I have found no tartan associated with the name, which is Irish not Scottish. I did find a "district" tartan for the Irish county that the family comes from but it is a modern invention and the family was probably in the US for generations at the time that tartan was fashioned. I have also found no official tartan for either Virginia or North Carolina.

The district Tartan could be useful as a base, but without the thread count I am at a loss for how to adapt it to these colors. I tried and could not get a pattern that matched with the tartan design tool on line. So this may end up being closer to a design from scratch than I thought.