Elements and Principles of Design Thread

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Elements and Principles of Design (Forums : Elements of Principles & Design : Elements and Principles of Design)	Locked
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Greg	Dec 20 2008, 9:15pm Anchor
The elements and principles of design are an interesting topic as many florists were taught floristry under a senior florist who perhaps made an item and asked you to copy it. You made it and if the flowers or foliage was placed incorrectly the senior florist would often move the flowers without explanation and you were often left wondering why as you were pleased with the product.The problem is that you need to understand placements and what methods can be used and why. The elements are in every design a florist makes. Being COLOUR, FORM (whether it is form size of flowers, singularly or grouped, or foliage or container or accessories), SPACE between forms and TEXTURE. The elements work by the use of the principles. There are seven of these. There is no set order but balance is perhaps the most popular of the principles. You will achieve balance of colour, form, texture and space if a design is made correctly. This of course means it can be very modern or very traditional and the elements are brought to life by the use of the principles. Each principle deals with each element. The principles are Balance, Rhythm, Contrast, Harmony, Scale, Proportion and Dominance. To fully undersatnd these you need to look at a design and ask a series of questions. For example you can have excellent balance of form and space as well as texture but the colour balance can be extremely poor. How? If you can answer the qustion you are able to justify your work standards. Answer - Take a bouquet of roses - The flowers can be well spaced, remember if they are not your eye will be drawn to larger blooms or groups but if all the colour is on one side then the colour has an imbalance. In time the elements and principles will become second nature but in the earlier stages of use you need to ask alot of questions of yourself and you will find your floristry will be understood and continue to improve in standard. Scale and proportion are often confused. Scale quite simply refers to the different sizes in a design. Compare a freesia with a King Protea. If there are enough smaller blooms in quantity you will achieve balance of scale. Proportion refers to the relationship of the form of a design to its container. If you were to imagine an imaginery line around the flowers and foliages this would be the contained form. The relationship to the conatiner size is one form of proportion. There is much more to say about the elements and principles but it is best to open this for discussion.
EFlowersAlive	Dec 21 2008, 9:09am Anchor
Greg, Before exploring the Elements & Principles of Natures Design, we, as florists must come to understand how privledged we are to be gifted to be working with Natures Perfect Set of E&P's. I realized this years ago in that first Judges Seminar in Canberra when what I was being taught there didn't gel with my high school education of architecture and art. My father was the first member of the British Typographers Guild in Australia (printing compositor) so composition in design ran through my blood. For instance, the Colour Wheel is still being used in teaching floristry and has never in reality been used by any florist. In fact all other colour trades eg printing, computers, etc are based on the the Spectrum of Light or RED I have written and placed on the wall of my florist shop this motto To *LOOK* is one thing, To *SEE* what you look at is another, To UNDERSTAND what you see is a third, To LEARN what you understand is still something else, But to *ACT* on what you learn, is *ALL THAT REALLY MATTERS* Every one, especially florists should study, understand and identify the E&P's of design in Nature. Look at what you are blessed to work with. More later' Have a happy Christmas,and to all FLOWERGOSS members. it's Wise with EFlowersAlive Ron
Chillaxe	Dec 21 2008, 11:24pm Anchor
Thanks greg and Ron, interesting short guide to the E&P....
EFlowersAlive	Dec 22 2008, 4:46pm Anchor
I don,t know happened in my above comments, but after the words "Spectrum of Light or RED" the rest of the comment disappeared. It should read, RED,GREEN, BLUE or RGB which are the PRIMARY COLOURS we all use in floristry. Not RED BLUE and YELLOW. RGB are the 3 PRIMARY COLOURS of light and "white?" light is a combination of these three. COLOUR or LIGHT is the most important of the Elements of COLOUR, FORM, VOID and TEXTURE as without Light we cannot identify FORM, VOID and/or TEXTURE. More later. Cheers
katherine	Dec 23 2008, 11:26pm Anchor
Thanks Greg and Ron, thans for the quick guide to the E&P's. Good to go over them from time to time.
James	Dec 25 2008, 11:43pm Anchor
There are many good web pages on this topic, just google it. But there is much misleading information too. Be careful. -- Regards james
Chillaxe	Dec 28 2008, 4:49pm Anchor
Alliedfloristsofhouston.org I found this some time back looked interesting.
James	Jan 2 2009, 10:54pm Anchor
i have seen that site before not too bad.
Chillaxe	Jan 6 2009, 11:54pm Anchor
Its ok.
katherine	Jan 9 2009, 11:00pm Anchor
Flowerscanada.org Not too bad.
nic	Jan 11 2009, 11:23am Anchor
Good website, very informative. The ethnic considerations when sending flowers was quite interesting and useful too.
katherine	Jan 16 2009, 12:30am Anchor
Yep not to bad.
Chillaxe	Jan 19 2009, 12:16am Anchor
There are many good web pages on this topic. Sit on google you will find lots and lots.
katherine	Feb 11 2009, 4:36am Anchor
Google is great... find anything...

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Greg

Dec 20 2008, 9:15pm Anchor

The elements and principles of design are an interesting topic as many florists were taught floristry under a senior florist who perhaps made an item and asked you to copy it. You made it and if the flowers or foliage was placed incorrectly the senior florist would often move the flowers without explanation and you were often left wondering why as you were pleased with the product.The problem is that you need to understand placements and what methods can be used and why. The elements are in every design a florist makes. Being COLOUR, FORM (whether it is form size of flowers, singularly or grouped, or foliage or container or accessories), SPACE between forms and TEXTURE. The elements work by the use of the principles. There are seven of these. There is no set order but balance is perhaps the most popular of the principles. You will achieve balance of colour, form, texture and space if a design is made correctly. This of course means it can be very modern or very traditional and the elements are brought to life by the use of the principles. Each principle deals with each element. The principles are Balance, Rhythm, Contrast, Harmony, Scale, Proportion and Dominance. To fully undersatnd these you need to look at a design and ask a series of questions. For example you can have excellent balance of form and space as well as texture but the colour balance can be extremely poor. How? If you can answer the qustion you are able to justify your work standards.
Answer - Take a bouquet of roses - The flowers can be well spaced, remember if they are not your eye will be drawn to larger blooms or groups but if all the colour is on one side then the colour has an imbalance.
In time the elements and principles will become second nature but in the earlier stages of use you need to ask alot of questions of yourself and you will find your floristry will be understood and continue to improve in standard.
Scale and proportion are often confused. Scale quite simply refers to the different sizes in a design. Compare a freesia with a King Protea. If there are enough smaller blooms in quantity you will achieve balance of scale.
Proportion refers to the relationship of the form of a design to its container. If you were to imagine an imaginery line around the flowers and foliages this would be the contained form. The relationship to the conatiner size is one form of proportion.

There is much more to say about the elements and principles but it is best to open this for discussion.

EFlowersAlive

Dec 21 2008, 9:09am Anchor

Greg, Before exploring the Elements & Principles of Natures Design, we, as florists must come to understand how privledged we are to be gifted to be working with Natures Perfect Set of E&P's. I realized this years ago in that first Judges Seminar in Canberra when what I was being taught there didn't gel with my high school education of architecture and art. My father was the first member of the British Typographers Guild in Australia (printing compositor) so composition in design ran through my blood. For instance, the Colour Wheel is still being used in teaching floristry and has never in reality been used by any florist. In fact all other colour trades eg printing, computers, etc are based on the the Spectrum of Light or RED I have written and placed on the wall of my florist shop this motto
                                    To LOOK is one thing,
                                      To SEE what you look at is another,
                                        To UNDERSTAND what you see is a third,
                                          To LEARN what you understand is still something else,
                                            But to ACT on what you learn, is ALL THAT REALLY MATTERS
Every one, especially florists should study, understand and identify the E&P's of design in Nature. Look at what you are blessed to work with. More later'
Have a happy Christmas,and to all FLOWERGOSS members.            it's Wise with EFlowersAlive      Ron

Chillaxe

Dec 21 2008, 11:24pm Anchor

Thanks greg and Ron, interesting short guide to the E&P....

EFlowersAlive

Dec 22 2008, 4:46pm Anchor

I don,t know happened in my above comments, but after the words "Spectrum of Light or RED" the rest of the comment disappeared. It should read, RED,GREEN, BLUE or RGB which are the PRIMARY COLOURS we all use in floristry. Not RED BLUE and YELLOW. RGB are the 3 PRIMARY COLOURS of light and "white?" light is a combination of these three. COLOUR or LIGHT is the most important of the Elements of COLOUR, FORM, VOID and TEXTURE as without Light we cannot identify FORM, VOID and/or TEXTURE. More later. Cheers