As a scientist Hankin describes very systematically the decorative patterns he sees, from very easy ones to very complex ones. A very simple application of the 'Polygons in contact' is the fitting of octagons.

Hankin understands that one can start from this basic pattern to create some more complex patterns. In the octagons two diagonals are drawn, so that above the octagons a pattern is created that, on first sight, hasn’t got anything in common with the regular octagons.