Life & Design…Its same, when it comes to “Principles”!


Life is such an amazing journey....I had never thought that one day; life would give me opportunity to teach also. And before I could think, it just happened…!!

I was teaching “Design Principles” to my students. When I was a student, I hated words like “principles”, “theories”… And yes, while teaching, I was reading same thing in those young eyes :-)  … So I told my young friends, some words simply sound bit heavy.  “Design Principles” is just one of them! Actually “Principles” are just guiding friends.

Whether it is our life, or a simple design…making use of right principles help us to take right decisions.The fact is, every successful design created by a designer, has a strong foundation of design principles.

Today let’s peep into the first & most basic design principle!

It begins & ends with “Unity & Harmony"...!!




This wonderful design principle tells us to think in totality. Designing is not about creating an abrupt experience, but about creating series of pleasant sequence.

As a designer we deal with space planning, furniture, flooring, lights, wall treatment, accessories, furnishing & many more things…The whole purpose of dealing with all these elements is to create a Lovely experience.

Design professionals consciously make use of various shape, colour, texture, material, patterns to create this experience. Using principle of “unity & harmony” effectively is the key of successful designing!

Unity...

From our childhood we have learnt that “ true strength lies in Unity”. Yes.. its same in designing as well. Design becomes powerful when we make use of this principle.

How to create unity in design…

It is all about developing some common characteristic among all design elements.. Right from entry to end,let each design element tell you, that they belong to each other! Space becomes wonderful when those elements work together to complement each other!
Repeat these common characteristics across the project. It leads us towards Harmony.!



Harmony...!

Harmony, as word suggests, is closely related to pleasant feeling. Effective use of this design principle can create bliss in your surrounding.

How to create harmony in Design?

Harmony is about creating pleasing combination of all design elements together. It relies on the selection of elements that share a common trait or characteristic. It should not be mistaken as using same thing all over project.

Too much sameness, or 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 create harmony

We can achieve harmony by using a complimentary color scheme or by keeping the style of the furnishings consistent, Creating contrasts, using fabrics and accessories that have similar color schemes, Creating consistency in shapes, sizes, & patterns etc.

In short, Harmony in visual design, means all parts of the visual image relate to and complement each other!
Designing means creating theme…creating storyline. Let every corner of well designed space tell the right story.

On matters of style, lets swim with the current, but on matters of principle, lets stand like a rock…
Whether in life or in design, once we achieve harmony & unity, next step is to create “Balance”…!

After this, Its time to create balance…but , next time! till then... Let the design flow with life ….!