To create a great design, there are important interior design concepts that you as an interior designer must follow. Otherwise, the result comes out in shambles. After all, there is a thin line between concept, principle, and beauty.
In this post, you’ll learn those key interior design principles that will help you produce the desired fine finish that your interior décor deserves. Who knows, others may choose to take up interior design as a career and that man at the threshold of ditching the profession may have a second thought and remain in his passion.
Let’s get to start by explaining what interior design is. That possibly will give us a sense that the interior designer is much more than one who knows where and how to hang those pictures, or position the TV, or place the kitchen cabinet.
Interior design is the art or process of designing the interior decoration of a structure, a room or a building. As an essential component of our very lives, interior design affects the way we think, feel, live, work, play, and how we heal. So, in simple terms, interior design is a blend of aesthetics of art with the science of knowing people’s behavior to make a space truly functional.
Now you have an idea of what you’re as an interior designer, knowing that an interior designer may decorate, but a decorator doesn’t design. What then are those principles that set you apart as an interior designer and not a mere decorator?
You need to take the entire house as a unit. Two, invent a rhythm. Creating a focal point is as important as imagining a design. Be detailed, and finally maintain absolute balance. What does each of these interior design concepts mean? Find out below.
1. Harmony
The house is not a piecemeal arrangement but a unit and a chain of spaces connected by various parts including halls and stairways. Hence, you create harmony in your design when you consider the house as a totality rather than an isolated structure.
Because harmony in itself gives a sense of unity and restfulness you should use uniform color, theme, and style throughout your design. Even though the shape, texture, and size of your forms may vary significantly, an array of different elements must work together to create unity. Although the color shades may vary, yet they must complement each.
2. Rhythm
Rhythm is as important to music as to interior design. When you think of rhythm in interior design, you’re talking about generating visual interest by creating patterns of repetition and contrast. Rythm defined in terms of continuity, recurrence, and movement.
Rhythm is manifest in the four properties of repetition (using more than one element or the same element more than once, e.g using color more than once or theme and color together), progression (increasing or decreasing one or more qualities of an element, e.g. a cluster of candles of varying sizes), transition (creating a smoother natural flow for the eye, e.g. using an arched doorway gives a gentle lead to the eye), and contrast connotes putting two different elements in opposition to each other (putting a black pillow on a sofa or a triangle and circle).
3. Balance
As one of the important concepts of interior design, balance creates a feeling of stability and equilibrium. Whether through color, pattern, theme, texture or shape, a balance should be created in all the elements that make up the design. It is about ensuring equal distribution and approximation of the visual weight of objects in a room.
Balance comes in three ways, namely symmetrical, asymmetrical and radial:
- Symmetrical balance: when you look at any traditional or formal interior design, you’ll find a lot of symmetrical balance in there. It consists of spaces that are evenly distributed or repeated in the same axis on two sides of a room. For instance, when you place two chairs in the same position on either side of two living rooms. But symmetrical balance can create some sense of monotony.
- Asymmetrical balance: although more causal and complex, the asymmetrical balance is a common trend in modern design. Yet it is interesting and livelier. This is because it creates a balance that doesn’t require duplicating visual weights of lines, colors, forms, and textures. Positioning two dissimilar objects of equal visual weight, e.g. placing two chairs on the other side to create a balance for a sofa is a form of asymmetrical balance.
- Radial balance: when some elements radiate around or from a focal point, then the radial balance is achieved. The spiral staircase and a round dining table arrayed by some set of chairs are perfect examples of radial balance.
4. Focal Point
Otherwise called emphasis, the focal point is another concept in interior design. Monotony and boredom are two crazy unfriendly foes of the interior designer. When your design has no focal points you’re indirectly inviting these enemies. Without mincing words, your design must have at least one focal point. You drive the attention of the viewer to your design and create a lasting impression once you make use of the focal point.
For instance, if you don’t have a magnificently massive flat TV calling your guests right as they enter the living room which often is seen as a focal point, then create one. You could highlight a particular piece of furniture or any artwork by simply giving it contrasting color paint.
5. Proportion and Scale
As you know in your elementary mathematics, proportion refers to the ratio between the size of one part to another. Scale, as your technical drawing tutors taught in your early years in the college, how the size of one object relates to another.
In interior design, the scale is how the size of one connects with the space in which it occupies. The rule of thumb is the smaller segment should be of equal ratio to the larger segment as that of the larger segment is to the whole of the space.
Conclusion
Without a doubt, you’ve learned some concepts of interior design. It is not enough to just read or scan through this post. You’ve got to be on top of your game and take the lead in the design industry. Apply these principles of interior design and surely your next job should earn you a standout deal.
