ELEMENTS of DESIGN
The floral design elements are the physical characteristics of the plant material used to create an artwork. The 9 elements include Color, Form, Light, Line, Pattern, Size, Space, Texture, and Fragrance.
COLOR
Color provides visual sensation. An arrangement may be calm and soft with analogous colors such as pink and violet or boisterous with complementary colors, such as orange and blue. One should consider the three aspects of color: hue, value, and chroma. The color itself is known as the hue, such as yellow, red, and teal. Value is a measure of lightness or darkness that is added to a color—tinted colors have white added to the hue, while shaded colors have black added. Tones are hues with both black and white added. The combination of the hue and its value (the degree of white or black added) is called the chroma. A color that's completely saturated, meaning no white or black has been added, is considered highly intense with great purity, such as a bright red valentine. On the other hand, a pastel color has low intensity because it has been tainted with white. The intensity of a color is also considered when planning a floral design. A floral design’s warmth or coolness is also an attribute of color. Warm hues consist of reds, oranges, and yellows; while cool colors include violets, blues and greens. Designers at Florescence also consider the color of the gallery in which the arrangement will eventually be displayed, when designing their arrangements. For example, exhibitors in floral design class one, located in the Beck foyer, consider the Indiana limestone walls of that space when selecting floral colors. And designers in class 2 consider the wall paint Benjamin Moore 1564 Light Pewter of gallery 108, in choosing their floral color palette.
FORM
Form refers to the overall shape and density of the arrangement—open, closed, linear, or solid. Inside of the arrangement’s form are individual flowers and foliage. Many flowers are known for their distinct shape, such as Amaryllis, and these types of flowers are called form flowers. Mass flowers have a single round bloom, such as a rose or carnation. Filler flowers include Baby’s breath, waxflower, and Queen Anne’s lace. Form foliage also provides a interesting and distinct shape, such as a caladium. Working together, these individual forms are positioned to create a desired overall form.
LIGHT
Light refers to how the arrangement is illuminated—from a natural source such as sunlight through a window, or artificial light.
LINE
Line indicates the structure of the design—it provides a visual pathway for the viewer’s eye to follow throughout the design observation. Lines carry great power in floral arrangements because lines provide shape and structure. Three types of line to observe are actual line, implied line, and psychic line. Actual lines are easy to see by following stems, straight or curved. Likewise, the outer edges of the container also convey the lines of the arrangement. Implied lines are those the point in a direction, such as the implied continuation of a curved stem, like a dot-to-dot puzzle. Psychic lines are also invisible but our eyes create them when two elements point to each other, such as two birds of paradise positioned with their large lower leaves pointing at each other.
PATTERN
Pattern refers to the arrangement as a whole combining solid, spaces, colors, and textures within the design. An example of this is a repeated combination of line, form, color, texture, and space within an arrangement.
SIZE
Size indicates the apparent or actual dimension of an element in a floral design.
SPACE
Space refers to voids in a design—places in which there is not a solid. Space is bounded or limitless. It includes the space within the component plant material as well as the spaces create within the design. The spaces with plant material provide the positive space while the area in between the forms is called the negative space.
TEXTURE
Texture refers to the surface characteristics of both the plant materials and the container. Texture can be rough or smooth, dull or shiny. This visual and tactile quality is important to producing beautiful and inspiring floral artworks as visual texture arouses tactile sensations, such as the soft and luxurious feeling of velvet that comes with Lamb’s Ear foliage.
FRAGRANCE
Fragrance adds an extra special dimension to floral design and is an element not present in most artworks. Floral scents range from no smell at all to intense room-filling fragrance—and vary from sweet and delicate to spicy and bold. With fragrance’s ability to heighten our awareness and trigger memories, when planning an arrangement, designers deliberately consider scents.
Elements of Design - SUMMARY
Floral design elements include Color, Form, Light, Line, Pattern, Size, Space, and Texture.
Color refers to the visual sensation. Is it calm and soft with analogous colors such as blue and violet or boisterous with complementary colors, such as blue and orange? The hue is the color itself and its value is the lightness or darkness—known as the hue’s tint or shade. The color’s intensity is also considered—with high saturation, known as chroma, indicating an intensely bright color while tone describes a subtle color—lacking intensity. The design’s warmth or coolness is also noted—with warm colors including reds, oranges, and yellows; while cool colors include violets, blues and greens.
Form refers to the overall shape and density of the arrangement—open, closed, linear, or solid.
Light refers to how the arrangement is illuminated—be it a natural or artificial source.
Line indicates the structure of the design—it provides a visual pathway for the viewer’s eye to follow throughout the design observation.
Pattern refers to the arrangement as a whole combining solid, spaces, colors, and textures within the design. An example of this is a repeated combination of line, form, color, texture, and space within an arrangement.
Size indicates the apparent or actual dimension of a element in a floral design.
Space is the aspect of the design in which there is not a solid. Space is bounded or limitless. It includes the space within the component plant material as well as the spaces create within the design.
Texture refers to the surface effect of the plant materials, the tangible and visible surface quality, for example rough or smooth, dull or shiny.
Fragrance, the unique element of the floral arts, conjures memories, delicate and strong.
Creative development of these design elements produces beautiful and inspiring floral artworks.