Principles of Interior Design

Principles of Interior Design
by: Kathy Iven

Whether you are working with existing furnishings and fabrics or “starting from scratch” with an empty room, you should always use the elements and principles of design as a guide in choosing everything. The elements are your tools or raw materials, much like paints are the basics to a painter. The elements of design include space, line, form, color, and texture. The principles of design relate to how you use these elements. The principles of design are balance, emphasis, rhythm, proportion and scale, and harmony and unity.

Principle #1: Balance

Visual equilibrium in a room is called balance. It gives a sense of repose and a feeling of completion. A well-balanced room gives careful consideration to the placement of objects according to their visual weight. The elements of line, form, color and texture all help determine an object’s visual weight, which is the amount of space it appears to occupy. Balance also refers to how and where you place the elements (line, form, color and texture) within a room. To maintain balance, try to distribute the elements throughout the room.

• Formal balance, often referred to as symmetrical balance, creates a mirror image effect.

• Informal balance uses different objects of the same visual weight to create equilibrium in a room. It is more subtle and spontaneous and gives a warmer, more casual feeling.

Principle #2: Emphasis

Emphasis is the focal point of the room. The focal point should be obvious as you enter the room; it is the area to which your eye is attracted. Whatever is featured, as the center of interest –a fireplace, artwork or a window treatment framing a beautiful view – must be sufficiently emphasized so that everything else leads the eye toward the featured area. You can add emphasis to a natural focal point or create one in a room through effective use of line, form, color and texture.

Principle #3: Rhythm

Rhythm supplies the discipline that controls the eye as is moves around a room. Rhythm helps the eye to move easily from one object to another and creates a harmony that tells the eye everything in the room belongs to a unified whole. Rhythm is created through repetition of line, form, color or texture. It can also be created through progression. Progressive rhythm is a gradual increasing or decreasing in size, direction or color.

Principle #4: Proportion and Scale

Size relationships in a room are defined by proportion and scale. Proportion refers to how the elements within an object relate to the object as a whole. Scale relates to the size of an object when compared with the size of the space in which it is located.

Principle #5: Harmony and Unity

A well-designed room is a unified whole that encompasses all the other elements and principles of design. Unity assures a sense of order. There is a consistency of sizes and shapes, a harmony of color and pattern. The ultimate goal of decorating is to create a room with unity and harmony and a sense of rhythm. Repeating the elements, balancing them throughout the room, and then adding a little variety so that the room has its own sense of personality accomplishes this. Too much unity can be boring; too much variety can cause a restless feeling. Juggling the elements and principles to get just the right mix is a key to good design.

Ref: http://www.freesitedeal.com/pages/interior-design/index.html

Jewelry Display Lighting

Ideally, jewelry and curio display lights should be heavily glare shielded so as to angle the light toward the merchandise and only reflect enough light back into the eyes to make it sparkle. The remaining illumination should evenly “wash” over the surface of metal and gemstones , showcasing contours, cuts, and any engravings over the surface.

The more three-dimensional the elements look, the more valuable a piece of jewelry appears to the eye. Too much light will create glaring “white” spots on gold, diamonds, and silver pieces and flatten their appearance. Too little light will fail to add the necessary sparkle that is essential to high-ticket merchandising.
It is a good idea to use a low-voltage linear lighting strips equipped with dimmer controls that will allow you to adjust your jewelry display lights to the precise levels necessary to showcase a given piece or collection of items. One advantage this offers you is the ability to use the same show case for different pieces on a rotating basis and simply adjust the lighting installation any tyime you setup a new display.

Low voltage equipment is also a great power saver that help will minimize your overhead. Particularly if you are operating a small, family store or single-site facility, cost effective low voltage cabinet lighting can make your store look high-end without the burden of high expenditures.

As for the actual bulb types used in jewelry display lighting, much of the choice falls on the style and colors of the items being showcased. Fluorescent lights, long-favored for their power saving value, are still used in some jewelry showcases, although not the extent that they once were. Other forms of low voltage display lighting have become competitive with fluorescents in terms of power savings, and these other bulb types tend to produce better types of lighting as well. High-ticket merchandise generally requires a light source more appropriate to its dimensions and color than fluorescent is normally able to provide

Pearl, silver, and light colored jewelry such as opal can be displayed under incandescent lamps that bring out the whites, off whites, and the glint of 14K gold. For warmer colors like those seen in an emerald, a more robust light source makes for a better source of jewelry display lighting. Either low voltage xenon lights, which cast something of a “golden” aura around the subject, or specialty LED lights available in a plethora of colors work well to enhance both the darker colors and multi-dimensional appearance of exquisitely cut, rare jewelry.

Analogous Harmony and the Envelope of Light

Analogous Harmony and the Envelope of Light

Among the most defining qualities of the landscape is atmosphere—a magical veil of varying color and density that alters our perception of the world. Green poplars are bathed in a fiery orange of sunset … color and form dissolve behind a dense fog … and distant hills give way to blue and violet hues. These are all effects of the “envelope of light”.

The Impressionists first used the term to describe not just the effect of sunlight on form, but how the very color and density of the atmosphere between the viewer and the form could unify the light. One doesn’t have to be an Impressionist to appreciate atmosphere and the “envelope” as one of the key conveyers of the illusion of light.

Three principles govern the envelope of light in a painting:

• analogous harmony
• reduced tonal range
• atmospheric perspective

Analogous harmony: unifying the light

One of the most powerful strategies for unifying light is analogous harmony. Analogous harmony describes the relatedness or compatibility of colors adjacent to each other on the color wheel. Red and orange, for example, are as familial as any two colors can be and, therefore, innately harmonious.
Analogous harmony is one type of harmony. Many colors can form a pleasing arrangement that we might call harmonious, but not all harmonies necessarily unify the color of the light. However, since landscape begs for a unified light, analogous harmony should definitely be included in the landscape painter’s toolbox of color strategies.

The degree to which an analogous set of colors asserts a unified light can be expressed this way: the more closely knit the analogous harmony, the more unified the light appears.

Analogous harmony December, Mitchell Albala, oil on panel, 12 x 16. This painting creates a closely knit red-orange-yellow analogy, infusing the painting with a dense, warm light. This painting also demonstrates that analogous relationships do not have to be absolutely strict to still be effective. Colors outside the analogy can be introduced without breaking down the harmony. In this case, I added small touches of phtahlo blue and green in the sky and water. Even the green shares much of the yellow present in the rest of the painting.

Analogous harmony Orcas Squall, Mitchell Albala, oil on panel, 20 x 16.5, 2006. To capture the unified light so present in cloudscapes, I used a fairly controlled analogous harmony, staying in the blue green family. The blue of the sky is tied to the blue-green cloud mass becasue of the blue component they share. The blue that gives way to turquoise at the bottom has a strong yellow component, a hue that is present in large amounts in the cloud mass. Even the dull purple in the lower left corner, semingly the most disparate color in the set, contains a blue component

One-hue analogous harmony
Mitchell Albala, Cascade Dusk, oil on canvas, 20 x 38, 2000.
If the colors within an analogous scheme are extremely close, then the maximum colored light is achieved. Cascade Dusk is essentially a one-hue analogy—blue. As a result, there is a palpable sense that everything in the wooded hillside is drenched in a blue light. Color changes are achieved largely with value differences and temperature shifts. The foreground snow is warmer than in blues in the distant trees. Only one color expands the analogy, the pale warm orange-green on the forward boughs of the trees.

The Color Psychology of Colors:

The Psychology of Colors:

Blue

• Blue is described as a favorite color by many people and is the color most preferred by men.


• Blue calls to mind feelings of calmness or serenity. It is often described as peaceful, tranquil, secure, and orderly.


• Blue can also create feelings of sadness or aloofness.


• Blue is often used to decorate offices because research has shown that people are more productive in blue rooms.


• Blue is one of the most popular colors, but it is one of the least appetizing. Some weight loss plans even recommend eating your food off of a blue plate. Blue rarely occurs naturally in food aside from blueberries and some plums. Also, humans are geared to avoid foods that are poisonous and blue coloring in food is often a sign of spoilage or poison.


• Blue can also lower the pulse rate and body temperature.


• Consider how blue is used in language: blue moon, blue Monday, blue blood, the blues, and blue ribbon.

Red

The most emotionally intense color, red stimulates a faster heartbeat and breathing. It is also the color of love. Red clothing gets noticed and makes the wearer appear heavier. Since it is an extreme color, red clothing might not help people in negotiations or confrontations. Red cars are popular targets for thieves. In decorating, red is usually used as an accent. Decorators say that red furniture should be perfect since it will attract attention.

The most romantic color, pink, is more tranquilizing. Sports teams sometimes paint the locker rooms used by opposing teams bright pink so their opponents will lose energy.

Red has guts, deep, strong, dramatic. A geranium red. A Goya red ... to be used like gold for furnishing a house ... for clothes, it is strong, like black or white. - Valentino

• Red is a bright, warm color that evokes strong emotions.


• Red is associated with love, warmth, and comfort.


• Red is also considered an intense, or even angry, color that creates feelings of excitement or intensity.


• Consider how red is used in language: redneck, red-hot, red-handed, paint the town red, seeing red

Green

Currently the most popular decorating color, green symbolizes nature. It is the easiest color on the eye and can improve vision. It is a calming, refreshing color. People waiting to appear on TV sit in "green rooms" to relax. Hospitals often use green because it relaxes patients. Brides in the Middle Ages wore green to symbolize fertility. Dark green is masculine, conservative, and implies wealth. However, seamstresses often refuse to use green thread on the eve of a fashion show for fear it will bring bad luck.

Green, which is Nature's colour, is restful, soothing, cheerful, and health-giving. - Paul Brunton

• Green is a cool color that symbolizes nature and the natural world.


• Grean also represents tranquility, good luck, health, and jealousy.


• Researchers have also found that green can improve reading ability. Some students may find that laying a transparent sheet of green paper over reading material increases reading speed and comprehension.


• Green has long been a symbol of fertility and was once the preferred color choice for wedding gowns in the 15th-century. Even today, green M & M's (an American chocolate candy) are said to send a sexual message.


• Green is often used in decorating for its calming effect. For example, guests waiting to appear on television programs often wait in a “green room” to relax.


• Green is thought to relieve stress and help heal. Those who have a green work environment experience fewer stomachaches.


• Consider how green is used in language: green thumb, green with envy, greenhorn.

Yellow

Cheerful sunny yellow is an attention getter. While it is considered an optimistic color, people lose their tempers more often in yellow rooms, and babies will cry more. It is the most difficult color for the eye to take in, so it can be overpowering if overused. Yellow enhances concentration, hence its use for legal pads. It also speeds metabolism.

How wonderful yellow is. It stands for the sun. -Vincent Van Gogh

• Yellow is a bright that is often described as cheery and warm.


• Yellow is also the most fatiguing to the eye due to the high amount of light that is reflected. Using yellow as a background on paper or computer monitors can lead to eyestrain or vision loss in extreme cases.


• Yellow can also create feelings of frustration and anger. While it is considered a cheerful color, people are more likely to lose their tempers in yellow rooms and babies tend to cry more in yellow rooms.


• Yellow can also increase the metabolism.


• Since yellow is the most visible color, it is also the most attention-getting color. Yellow can be used in small amount to draw notice, such as on traffic sign or advertisements.

Purple

The color of royalty, purple connotes luxury, wealth, and sophistication. It is also feminine and romantic. However, because it is rare in nature, purple can appear artificial.

• Purple is the symbol of royalty and wealth.


• Purple also represents wisdom and spirituality.


• Purple does not often occur in nature, it can sometimes appear exotic or artificial.

Reference:
http://psychology.about.com/od/sensationandperception/a/colorpsych.htm
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/colors1.html