1. A method of selecting a subset of patterns associated with a design, in which the design or a modification of the design is configured to be imaged onto a substrate via a lithographic process, and in which the subset of patterns constitutes a predefined representation of the design, the method comprising the steps of: identifying a set of patterns related to the predefined representation of the design, grouping and/or ranking the set of patterns, defining a threshold related to the grouping and/or ranking, and selecting the subset of patterns from the set of patterns, wherein the subset comprises patterns from the set of patterns above or below the threshold.