Pitching Stand-alone Art
Last month I suggested that including strong stand-alone patterns in your portfolio might be better than strictly designing in collections. That led to a great question: How do you pitch single prints without them feeling random or disconnected?
The answer: however they look most appealing to the buyer.
Think Like a Shop Owner
If you owned a shop, you’d want to wow your customers the minute they walked in. You wouldn't greet them with a jumbled pile of unrelated merchandise. You’d set things up in a cohesive and appealing way, enticing them to take a closer look.
That’s essentially what merchandising is, and retailers like Anthropologie and Crate & Barrel do it incredibly well. You can use the same concept when pitching stand-alone designs. Even though the prints are unrelated, your presentation should feel curated and appealing.
Create a Theme or Through Line
The image above is from an email series I did based on color trends. Once a month I sent out designs based on a specific color. The prints weren't a collection — they included florals, geometrics, food motifs, and coastal designs — but they were tied together with a shared color palette.
For pitching one-off prints, the through line could be almost anything — food themes, deep moody florals, juvenile art, coastal themes, masculine designs, autumn or spring colors, holiday prints, etc. Just lean into whatever feels right for your work.
Repetition Matters
Keep in mind that pitching isn't a one-and-done task. Even if your work is super strong and a great fit, buyers often need multiple reminders of your work before they’re ready to move forward. That's why Coke doesn’t just run a single ad, they hit you again and again. You should approach pitching the same way. Don't send a single email with your full portfolio and then disappear. Sending a few curated designs on a regular basis is a much better strategy.
Keep It Brief
Just like advertising, pitches should be quick and concise. An art director may look at your email for only a few seconds before moving on to the next, so be intentional about what they see in that brief window.
No Rules
Remember, there are no rules in surface design — no magic formula, no perfect email templates, and no exact schedule. The key to pitching is choosing the right companies and seeing your work through the buyer’s eyes, asking: What would make this exciting, memorable, and easy to say yes to?