We studied evaporation rates of volatile liquids deposited onto chemically patterned surfaces by means of experiments and numerical simulations. We quantified the influence of the droplet geometry, in particular circular, triangular, rectangular and square shapes, as well as the influence of contact angles. We considered the two cases of vaporization both in stagnant atmospheres as well as in the presence of well-defined laminar airflows. While lateral air-convection enhances evaporation, it causes a dependence of the evaporation rate on the pattern orientation with respect to the airflow. Neighboring droplets and rivulets tend to mutually reduce their evaporation rate relative to isolated patterns. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.