Design Principles in Action: Creating Harmony Through Scale, Proportion, Balance, and Rhythm

Now we're going to dive into the design principles. Now bear in mind all of these principles are created from the design elements. So you have to think of the principles as a series of design elements working together to create a principle, and each of the principles are different.

So all the design principles are created through the use of all the elements. Without elements there are no principles, right? We need line, shape, space. We need those to create these design principles, and I'll talk about each of them.

Scale, proportion, balance, rhythm, emphasis, and harmony. And I think in the end you'll notice that harmony is the goal, and we'll look at examples of that. So let's look at each one.

Scale. What is scale? Well scale is the relative size of an object compared to an object whose size is either is known, right? If we look at the man in the image on the top left, and we know that that man is six foot, we might be able to decipher that the chair is roughly three foot tall, right? The size of an object compared to the human body. We perceive scale based on objects that surround us.

If you've ever seen an artist measuring without a measuring tape, they're using scale to measure the room. We can do this by comparing objects to objects that we do know the size of. Scale plays an important role in furniture selection.

Learn Interior Design

• Nationally accredited
• Create your own portfolio
• Free student software
• Learn at your convenience
• Authorized Autodesk training center

Learn More

Obviously different furniture has different sizes and different scales which work for different clients. Scale also plays a vital role in determining room sizes and dimensions. We look at scale.

Scale is used to determine the size of objects, right? If I know that this gentleman, and you know in the world of design we use scale figures. Scale figures are usually a person in the drawing that represents scale. So typically that individual is placed, and the male represents six feet when they're using a male for this particular example.

If this male is six foot tall, how tall is the door? Well we can decipher by looking at the scale of the gentleman, and looking at the unknown scale of the door, and come to the conclusion that it's likely seven feet. Well guess what? Seven foot is a standard dimension for a door. If you know the size or scale of one object, you can use it to determine other objects.

Let's see how good you are. What's the scale of this object? It's a tricky one, right? How can we determine? First it looks disproportional. Looks like maybe a piece of artwork.

We're not quite sure. Now we look at it in comparison to its actual surroundings. Oh, now it starts to make sense.

Okay, so if we look at a you know typical rug sizes, which could be five by seven, six by nine, and we look at standard sofa sizes, I could probably decipher that this is a six by nine rug, right? But we would have had no way of knowing that just by looking at an object close up like this, right? We can determine the size and the scale of rooms by knowing what is surrounding or occupying that space for objects that we do know the scale or the size of, right? Panels on the floor come in certain sizes. We may know that they're six inch panels, right? And we can use that. So you can actually figure out the dimensions of a room without even using a measuring tape if you use scale.

Now scale as far as interior design can be used in a variety of different ways. Now we can use this pronounced scale of the room to create, you know, an innovative ceiling assembly that we see here, right? This kind of interesting use of bringing light into the building and exemplifying the angles of the ceiling to allow light to come into the building. This is obviously a larger scale.

We can also use scale to determine which piece of furniture is best, right? If you're designing a client for a client and the husband, let's say it's a husband and wife, and the husband is six four and the wife is four foot ten, you have to consider the scale and size of each piece of furniture because they don't use them the same, right? So understanding scale is vital when it comes to interior design. And the wonderful thing is that we can use scale to determine the appropriate use of furniture, right? And understand how we apply that scale to the space. Now we look at the next design principle which is proportion.

Now proportion is the relative amount of one design element or another or both. Okay, so just hear me out for a second. This refers to how much of something is being used, how much of that element is being used.

So proportion can relate to any of the design elements we talked about earlier. Line, shape, form, texture, color, space. Proportion can complete the interior design project.

It can make it cohesive. And not having an appropriate amount of proportion can unbalance the space itself. It's interesting.

So how much of line you use makes a difference. How much color you use makes a difference. If I use red just in the painting in the room, that's one approach.

But if I paint every single thing red inside that room, the ceiling, the wall, the windows, which would be ridiculous, you've completely destroyed that space, right? Or we could say destroyed it aesthetically. So this is using the principle of proportion. So understanding proportion allows you to understand the various amounts of how much is being used, so we can create balance in the design itself.

Here we can say the balance, proportion of form, line, and color work together to create the concept for this particular building, right? We might even be able to determine the actual scale of this building. If we picked maybe the tallest gentleman on the ground level here, we could probably stack them up visually and figure out how high that building is. Now we're working with scale and proportion together.

Now here's another space that we could look at. The subtle proportion of texture within the interior makes this an abiding sitting room or sitting area, right? So using the element of texture and how much texture we use creates a mood or a feeling inside this room, right? So amounts of something or the proportion of something are very important with every design element that you use. How much color? How much texture? And is there a perfect formula? No, there isn't.

Each project is different, and it requires thought, and it requires research, and it requires knowing who the client is and what their design goals are. Now the next design principle is balance. Now we refer to balance as a perceived sense of equilibrium, right? There are three types of balance.

There's symmetrical balance, asymmetrical balance, and radial balance. Now if we look at symmetrical balance, we're basically taking a center reference point, and what you see on the right matches what you see on the left. It's also called formal balance.

This can be used to create more traditional design solutions. One side typically mirrors the other. If you look at a butterfly and you cut it right down the middle, what you see on the right is what you see on the left.

And that's more of a traditional design approach. Now asymmetrical design uses elements to create equilibrium, but it is not the same on each side. They are different.

So asymmetrical balance refers to informal balance. We could say that contemporary or modern design uses asymmetrical balance, typically utilized in, you know, a contemporary or modern building type. The third is radial balance, and radial balance is balance that radiates from a central point, typically uses the center of a radius and works off of that center of that circle or that radius.

So here we could look at the pantheon, and we could say the interior of the pantheon is created by using a symmetrical radial balance, right? Using symmetry and radial balance together, right? The pantheon was created using radial balance, right? There's no question about it. You could also argue that the pantheon is symmetrical, right? So it's using these principles together. Now let's flip the side and look at a very contemporary project, Kareem Rashid is a very famous interior designer for doing very wild organic designs.

And we could say that the professional interior designer Kareem Rashid almost always uses asymmetrical balance in his designs, which is pretty close to being true. I don't think I've ever seen a symmetrical design element or principle used in his spaces. Now it's just a different design style.

Whether symmetry or asymmetry is your thing, or whether the client wants one traditional versus more asymmetrical or informal, there is no right answer. It depends on the client, right? Each client is different. Each client has different needs.

So before you decide which area you're going to dive into, whether you're going to use symmetrical or traditional balance or asymmetrical balance or informal balance, you have to know who the client is, right? And every client is different. Now let's look at the next design principle, which is rhythm. Now rhythm is an ordered and recurring relationship between the elements.

Just hear this out for a second. So, you know, reoccurring elements, right? When design elements repeat, rhythm starts to be created, okay? So there are three types of rhythm. There's repetition, there's alternation, and there's progression.

And they are different. Repetition is when you take a design element and it repeats over and over and over, right? If I take a line and I repeat it 20 times, I'm starting to get repetition, right? This collection of elements creates repetition. Any of the design elements can be used to create repetition, any of them, even space, which I'll show an example in a couple minutes.

Number two is alternation. Alternation uses two or more design elements, and these elements repeat in opposition. Red, white, black, red, white, black, white, black, white, black, white, black.

That's alternation, right? And then the third one is progression, also referred to as gradation. Now, gradation typically involves elements that do one or more of the following. They progress from small to large, from light to dark, or from smooth to rough.

Using progression with gradation allows us to achieve various aspects in the interior design. It helps us understand where we are within space, and it helps us navigate through various spaces, and it's used intentionally, right? So let's look at the negative space in the stair, right? You see the stair is kind of, there's a, there's a space in between, and that negative space within the stair, along with form, creates a beautiful rhythm. So I told you, space can be used to create rhythm.

We could also argue that line creates rhythm. We could also argue that shape and form in this space are creating rhythm. All of them are creating rhythm, right? But what's creating the rhythm is the element, or a series of elements, are being repeated.

Now let's look at rhythm and progression, right? Spaces that utilize progression can create an emotional experience. This space brings the viewer from a compressed space to an open space. Remember I said it's either from small to large, from dark to light? That's when you start getting progression.

Now this is a museum space, and the user is intentionally brought from a very dark area to a very open and bright area to relieve stress. It's a very interesting strategy. In the 9-11 Museum, there are some really intense exhibits, and those intense exhibits bring emotional responses in their viewers.

So what did the designer do? This is obviously a different project from what we're seeing here, but I think it relates. When you're in a space that's extremely intense, what they did at the 9-11 Museum is everyone had an emotional exit, like a physical exit. If it was too much to view, you could step to the right or left and be in a hallway or a corridor that was 20 foot high with natural light coming in, similar to what you're seeing here.

And what does that do? It provides a sense of relief, right? So there may be an intention where you want the individual to feel something compressed or dark, and then another experience you want them to go into something open and bright, and using that is using essentially progression. Now the next design principle is emphasis, and the principle of emphasis uses the elements to really call attention to that element. We're using an element, and we're using it intentionally to create a focal point, right? So emphasis can be achieved through the use of any element, right? If there's a specific part of a project that you want to stand out, use emphasis, because you'll call attention to that part of the project.

It is possible for interior design to have more than one emphatic element. If we look at this example here, we can see the interior design has a variety of elements there. If I said, what's the first thing that you see? And one person says, the white chair, and the other person says, oh no, the column on the right side, and then I would say, oh, I see the light in the back with the panels.

How are they doing that? How can all of these different things be emphasized in one space? Well, the secret is using contrast. So by using contrast, various elements can be emphasized, right? And sometimes it's okay for more than one thing to be emphasized. Sometimes the designer only wants one element emphasized, right? In this art gallery, for instance, the emphasis is on the rhythmic black boxes, right? Whatever this exhibit is, they want to call attention to that exhibit.

So they use black intentionally. Black is the element or the color that they're using, which is the element, and they're emphasizing that element on purpose. Now you start to get the idea of what emphasis can do.

Now the last design principle that we're going to talk about is harmony. And harmony isn't easy, but harmony is achieved when all the design elements and the principles are in agreeance. And this is harder, this is easier said than done.

All the elements have to agree, and all the principles have to work together. So how is harmony created? Well, you have to create visual unity, you have to have a sense of variety in the project, you have to have well-proportioned design elements, you have to have a comfortable balance between form and function, and most importantly, you have to avoid visual confusion, all right? If you pull these things off, you can achieve harmony. Now everyone has a different view of what's harmonious to them.

But in the world of design, if all the elements and the principles are in sync, if they all work together, harmony can be achieved. Now the goal of this course and these lessons is for you to understand the design elements and the principles so that you can take these and you utilize them in your final project. And my goal for you is that your final project will have a harmonious design when you're finished.

We will be designing a museum for a famous architect or interior designer. And to do that, we need to use the design elements and the design principles very carefully, right? So use the examples that I'm sharing, use your own examples, start collecting ideas of which elements you prefer and why. And we'll also research the client so we understand which elements relate to them the most.

In our next video, I'll be going over Assignment 1. Thank you.