So I video chatted through fb (after attempting google hangout and skype) with this awesome blogger Veronica this past weekend and we hit it off. We decided to ~swap~ blogs for the day so I hope you will enjoy learning about her as much as I did! And you should probably follow her too...just sayin'!
Hello Designer in Teal readers! Samantha has quickly become one of my favorite bloggers in the blogosphere. I'm Veronica and I blog over at
Passion,Pink and Pearls. We have several similarities, like the fact that we both graduated and got married last year, we're the same age, we both love dogs
(though I have mine and she doesn't quite yet), we're loving blogging...oh yeah and then there's the little thing, we're both interior designers!
Samantha shares great information with you all every week about interior design, I'm not so on top of things...you're more likely to find posts about my
new puppy,
my sweet hubby,
randomness of life or my
various craft projects. Today, though, Samantha has snapped me out of my design posting lazyness and I've got some serious "in" information for you guys, known very well by interior designers and vaguely by others. What is that information? Important knowledge for designing interior spaces....understanding
design elements and principles...ready for to swing back to school for a sec? I've got a short and sweet lesson for you!
Here's a quick snippet:
These elements and principles essentially play out as "rules" in interior design. A well designed space incorporates all these elements and principles while highlighting specific ones. There are all kinds of definitions of these out there, including
Wikepedia's page and even
my own few projects I did in school. I'd love to spend the time explaining each but you'd probably be sick and tired of me so I'll keep it short and sweet and just include some picture examples of a few of them.
The Elements:
LINE
 |
Line can be achieved through elaborate directed design or in real simple
lines themselves. Here, a bathroom door is dressed up with highlight
lines on the doors and a linear tile mosaic under the door. |
SHAPE
PATTERN
TEXTURE
 |
Here, texture is achieved through the use of various materials. The rough
and various dimensions of the stone is played off the smooth wood block
and the shiny, crisp stainless surface. |
VOLUME
 |
This space has a tall ceiling, a grand volume, which is filled with both
smaller scaled furniture and larger scaled furniture. In addition, the
monitor is placed in a wood grain box that emphasizes the volume
of the space but also brings it to scale, giving it a cozy feeling. |
SHADOW
LIGHT/COLOR
 |
Now light, doesn't always have to mean exactly a "light," but of course
sometimes can be. In this case, the light played up the name of the
location (a fabulous breakfast boutique in Norman, OK) and drew an
emphasis to this dark wall...creating contrast too. This pieces was/is a
pivotal part of their design! |
The Principles:
EMPHASIS
BALANCE
 |
This awesome coffee table plays up plenty of elements/principles but one
we primarily notice is balance. There is the balance of the various materials
in the table itself...then there's the balance of the size/scale of the table
to the floor space and boxyness of the chairs. |
CONTRAST
 |
This space dramatizes the play of texture, light, and
color which all together creates a vivid display of
contrast. From the light ceiling to the dark wall, to the
fluffy texture and the smooth, tufted booth. |
REPETITION
 |
Obviously, this is a classroom so repetition is forced but the idea still holds.
Even in a classroom environment, you want to coordinate the prodcuts
so they all come together smoothy and create a repetitive and
smooth combination. |
UNITY & VARIETY
 |
This is a rather simple display of unity and variety. The back spash is unified
through the same pattern and shape up and down the wall but variety is
formed when the mosaic tiles take on different shades. The grass reeds throw
more texture into the design which emphasizes the unity/variety. |
HARMONY
SCALE/PROPORTION
 |
The walls of this frozen yogurt shop could become out of
scale if not for the yogurt machine creating an overall
balance. The framing of the machine further proportions
them onto the walls, and the height of them off the ground
create a scale that brings the whole design to a human level. |
And that's all I got for you today....perhaps I'll do a post sometime and elaborate more on all these. If you can master these design principles and elements than you're one step closer to becoming a true interior designer!
( course I'd recommend you attend a CIDA accredited school and subject yourself to the NCIDQ test before really calling yourself an interior designer...okay, okay, I'll chill out) I hope this helped a few of you out. I'd love to get to know some of you so please swing by
my blog and let me know you were there! Happy Designing to you!
(ps, it's almost FRIDAY!!! HOORAY)
oh yeah, I promised so fun, embarrassing photos from my freshman year in studio:
Well that was fun...(and yes the above was done all by hand...those plans were perfect! I got a 100 on them in fact. #draftedmylifeaway #worthit #notmissingit (and yes, yes I did just use hashtags in a post).
See and you thought it was all fun and games, didn't you? Veronica, Thanks for having me. Be sure to stop over and see
my post on Maximizing Space!
XO Samantha
