Background <p>Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) exhibit unique mechanical properties derived from its coupled rod-like liquid crystals (LCs) and polymer chains. They are promising materials in many applications such as artificial muscle, soft robotics, and energy dissipation devices. However, a clear understanding of the stress-director coupling mechanism across different patterned LCEs remain limited.</p> Objectives <p>This work patterns LCEs with both monodomain and polydomain regions to create monodomain-polydomain (MP) LCEs and illustrate the stress-director coupling associated with various patterns.</p> Methods <p>Using two-stage thiol-acrylate Michael addition photopolymerization (TAMAP) reaction, we fabricate MP LCEs through sequentially curing selected regions with or without pre-stretching. We then apply uniaxial loading to different MP LCEs and characterize the strain distribution and director reorientation both experimentally and computationally.</p> Results <p>By changing the director angle in monodomain regions and the geometry of polydomain regions, we modulate the shear compliance and relative stiffness between monodomain and polydomain regions. As a result, we demonstrate the distinct deformation in various MP LCE patterns and reveal the driving mechanism derived from the interplay between stress-director coupling and geometric constraints.</p> Conclusion <p>In conclusion, this study presents thorough understanding about the stress-director coupling effect on the deformation of MP LCEs and provides design guidelines for patterned LCEs.</p>