Positive and Negative Space (Elements of Design)

Just like open and closed space, positive and negative interiors can be achieved by the arrangement of furniture in a way that either takes full advantage of every particle in a room, or simply creates emphasis by leaving this last one with empty spots that seem excluded from the design as a whole. Although there is no right or wrong answer when talking about positive and negative space, we do have to: a) find the right equilibrium between these two, and b) utilize them both in our favor. The term minimalism can be an extremely powerful tool to follow when achieving clean and relaxing environments, usually directed towards a more modern feel. Nevertheless, the minimalist style does have its own guidelines and concepts that must be pursued for it to be successful at displaying our design ideas.

When understanding the differences between positive and negative space, I personally enjoy seeing these as two possible questions (or rooms). For this first one, the room would be an incomplete sentence, and the positive space as filling in the blanks for said room. The best part of this last element of design is that it is often unnecessary to modify an interior dramatically in order to eliminate its negative space. For example, if there is an empty view from your kitchen provoked by colossal glass windows and a diagonal transition for the stairs right in front of them, we could identify the negative space we would like to dissolve by placing artwork, plants or any other decorative item of our choice over the nearest countertop on the way of this negative panorama. By doing so, we are not only creating positive space in our home, but we're also adding the final touches that our interior needs according to the principles and elements of design.

On the other hand, we could see negative space as the second question (or second room) for understanding this element of design. This can be an open response answer, allowing you to leave or include as many items in an interior while placing them within your best judgement and accordingly to the principles and elements of design. As designers, we must understand when enough is truly enough, and that there are occasions when a white, empty wall creates a superior focal point than any other highly elaborate piece of artwork could. An important aspect to consider when creating negative space in your home is to make it obvious, and, more importantly, genuinely achieve it with intention and not by accident. Negative space is one of those elements in an interior that should be easily identified, understood and loved for it to be a successful part of the design concept. A recommendation in this section would be to attempt to arrange it in a way that it is easily filled, in case the negativity in the space does not fully satisfy you at its conclusion. Start by arranging furniture differently, adding and/or removing decorations, etc.

Remember that the main objective in the amount of positive and negative space found in our interiors is not to choose one over the other, but to learn how to work with both in order to achieve the right balance between them. Although extremities are always fun to play with, we need to be careful at defining our space through a theme, and not through a single element of design. After all, there is no better way to familiarize ourselves with these other than first-hand experience, and constant change is just part of the process.

Open and Closed Space (Elements of Design)

As it was mentioned a couple of entries ago, the principles and elements of design both help us achieve our ideal interior spaces in any circumstance and under any conditions. Now that we have become more familiar with these first ones, it is time to discuss the elements of interior design in a broader way, starting with, perhaps, one of the most important decisions that we have to make in our design concept: Will our area be open or closed? The challenge here is to remove any previous ideas we have about these two characteristics and fully understand what we mean by open and closed space.

As beginners, we usually think that design is either black or white, while in reality we are talking about a scale of greys. A closed space is not relative to “bad design”, just like open space does not always result in the complete opposite to this last one. This element of design should symbolize the general outline of your interior, while the rest of the components are still left to be determined in order to achieve a well-balanced fashion throughout. In reality, what concludes how open or closed a space will be is the desired purpose of the room. For example, if we’re striving for a major adjacency between the kitchen and the living room, then we are interested in having a widely open space for both, or a subtle division between them, such as a pony wall serving as an island or a bar.

Needless to say, we might prefer more secluded areas reserved for specific activities and/or special occasions. For example, if we have already incorporated a breakfast table near the kitchen, then we could consider the possibility of a more private and formal dining room with moderated adjacencies to the rest of the house. When we think of open and closed spaces around the house, we need to reflect on the number of guests we welcome into our home and the privacy we demand on a daily basis.

The right atmosphere (Moving on!)

Congratulations, we have concluded the Principles of Design section on the blog! But before moving onto the Elements of Design, this is the perfect time to begin an intensive exploration of your style, which will lead you to find the atmosphere that works for you. One of the most important considerations in the interior design dimension is adaptation. The key here is to understand that independently from this last concept, we need to make ourselves feel at home, or in other words, comfortable. We have already discussed many ideas to transform your house into a home, but it is now time to think radically as to what needs to be changed and when. Throughout our lives, adaptation has taught us the economic and social obstacles when it comes to finding a place to live, and it is known that it is not always possible to purchase (or even find) your dream residence. This does not mean, however, that the place we're currently living at cannot be adapted into our dreams through remodels. Here are some pieces of advice for discovering the right atmosphere for you and your family:

1) Don't wait! In all honesty, the home improvement area is one of those aspects in our everyday lives that if we leave for later, it might just never happen! Because, yes; we all know that remodeling our homes can be a messy and extremely uncomfortable process for all of the residents in the space, and that is one of the primordial reasons why we prefer to postpone it for later, every-single-year. However, trust me when I tell you that there is not a better time to get started with the planning stage than NOW. Begin by meeting with a designer/contractor to explore your ideas, future costs and expectations. Then we can start working on deciding when it would be a good time to do what, and so forth. 

2) Decide what really needs to get done. Once we meet with our desired home improvement specialists, it is extremely tempting to want to do it all at once. You imagine that beautiful new kitchen with the astonishing quartz countertops and that elegance provoked by your brand new cabinetry, and you think: "Well, just imagine how that marble tile that we saw would look with the rest of the house?" While the reality here is that you just installed new flooring for the entire interior two years ago, and perhaps that marble tile is not even what you want. From various experiences we can tell you that it is precisely that (final) initial plan that you, your designer and contractor came up with the one that is actually fulfilling your needs; nothing less, nothing more.

3) Realistic planification. Planning is always fun; and it is almost as fun as dreaming! Nevertheless, after every dream that we truly desire to accomplish, there has to be a: a) "What?", b) "How?", and c) "When?" in order to take full advantage of your time and the services provided by other professionists involved. I think we have made it clear as to what the "what" and "how" both stand for, but perhaps the most difficult one to define here is the "when". No, deciding when to start with the project does not mean that a specific date must be chosen for each of the modifications you would like to perform at your home. On the contrary, we're actually talking about how many months or years it would economically take you to be able to remodel this or that, so that when the time comes, you can follow the two previous pieces of advice! Layout your possibilities and think realistically.

Are we ready to start finding the right atmosphere for you?! 

Opposition/Contrast in Interior Design (Principles of Design)

Having a constant trend towards contrast creates an oppositional rhythm able to drag people’s attention to any interior. Contrast in interior design is mainly used to alter the uniformity in the space, which is also a way to incorporate distinct focal points and emphasis in any area. Manipulating your color scheme to obtain oppositions and contrasts is an area of experimentation, and personally, I can say this is by far one of my favorite aspects of design: being able to control all your different hues in an interior to make them responsible of the reactions of its users. It is truly fantastic how throwing a navy blue pillow into a lighter beige couch can have such impactful reactions on people’s opinions and eye movement; however, as interior designers, it is our job to determine when and where to throw that pillow in, and if it is actually appropriate or not.

I would like to begin by stating that the main key in creating contrast in a room is being able to balance this last one. If our oppositions/contrasts in an interior become too continuous, we would be then talking about pattern and uniformity instead of the radical change we should be striving for. To achieve contrast in any space, it is important to keep into consideration our:

1) Color scheme: Our palette is of extreme importance because of the fact that our contrast choices will completely depend on the interior’s color scheme itself; even though one of the main purposes of contrast is to create a dramatic statement between two or more objects in a room, we still need to make sure that the oppositions in color are all inside of the same color scheme.

2) Style: Secondly, re-arranging furniture to achieve this principle of design is also a very common path to explore, but as unity has taught us, both, our palette and theme should be able to represent our initial concept statement along with the respective incorporations of contrast. (You have one style and should not be trying to contrast between themes).

3) Square footage: When counting with limited space, it is also important to remember that darker colors, unlike brighter and softer hues, tend to make any room look smaller. When achieving contrast, it is very tempting to try to go for these dimmer additions to an area, without considering that oppositional effects can also be admired with lighter accompaniments. Paying attention to detail is a great method to fully take advantage of this principle of design.

Transition (Principles of Design)

As we have learned with the rest of the principles of design, these last ones are incorporated into a room for it to become appealing to the eye and guide people's attention to the strongest elements while misguiding guests' main focus from those not-so-exciting features in an interior. Transition is one of those principles that is literally designed to specify directions in eye movement and mood in a room depending on the position that was designated to demonstrate the transitional feature. In other words, constancy in line and form will end by providing you that transition in any space, and after understanding what type of emphasis we would like to focus our transitions on, we would then be ready to start exploring the different ways to incorporate this in our desired area.

Transition in interior design can be considered another style of rhythm, which is usually achieved by built-in furniture presented through the continuity of lines and other types of movement. With that said, elements like pattern and form can also become part of this principle, while keeping both of these constant throughout a single room in a residence.

On the other hand, another way to reach this sense of transition is throughout pattern, keeping in mind that the motif we choose does not necessarily have to be guiding our eye movement towards the same direction, as long as the repetitional composition of these together can maintain a constant mood and orientation, either in the increase or decrease of elevation. 

Talking more specifically about the fashion that this branch of rhythm has evolved into throughout the years, the Transitional Style is now an extremely popular "theme" in interior design, adding a more modern feel to any traditional and conventionally decorated home for an everyday life. This style is both, formal and extremely convenient for families seeking for a more contemporary change that will not dramatically affect the daily routine in their house. It consists of simplicity, elegance and beautiful muted (or subtle) color schemes of beiges and tans. 

Progression/Gradation in Interior Design (Principles of Design)

            As we have discussed with other branches of rhythm, this last one has various ways to incorporate a specific mood and purpose into an interior. Progression and gradation in interior design help us facilitate different usages in certain spaces while maintaining a sequence to make it appealing to the eye. Arrangements and orders like these serve as abstract directions and instructions, as well as systems and categorizations able to make the life of the users for that interior simpler.

            For example, at gymnasiums and other recreational spaces, weights are usually organized from lighter to heavier (smaller to larger) in different rows in order to make it both, functional and aesthetically appealing for the design of this specific area, making it easier for gym users to find the weight that they are striving to exercise with. Progressions and gradations are two very useful principles of design, which are almost artless to incorporate into a concept. The real art here is in determining what items exactly we will collocate to progress or gradate in space.

Another excellent example of the incorporation of progression and gradation into a design is by taking advantage of other structures in a residence or commercial space, such as stairs, which are already in a specific sequence. Categorizing the same line of artwork or photography session along with the upward and downward movement of the staircase is a great representation of both, progression and gradation in a space.

Furthermore, creating a decorative curve with other objects in a space is also a way of both, repetition, and progression and gradation, since a very constant repetition of objects will eventually need to transition into another shape, form or line, and as designers, we can definitely repeat this pattern several times—creating a curve—as long as it is explained through our style and/or theme.

Lastly, after doing some research on different developments of series successful at presenting our ideas during the design process, we will be able to see that our possibilities are pretty much endless, and as long as we have the decorations and design elements that we would like to experiment with, then it will be just a matter of constantly playing with these components and explore different successions until we find the one that actually works for these items. Some groups of objects take less than others to be incorporated into a space; however, this subject is all about compare and contrast.

How would we ever be able to find the “key” that works if we conform to the first one that didn’t?

Alternation in Interior Design (Principles of Design)

Another branch of rhythm in interior design is alternation, which refers to the action of shifting a specific mood in a room or exterior space in order to transform the area into a more unique design and concept. Altering a specific wall in an interior may consist of incorporating built-in furniture into the wall, accommodating frames on a non-traditional manner, and even by creating a paint pattern with diagonal lines and irregular shapes. In other words, it doesn’t really matter if you’re striving for a more traditional or modern space, there are ways for alternations to have the perfect final touch in your interior within each style and theme.

Alternations are achieved through the consistency of patterns composed of regular shapes and the addition of modifications to this last pattern with more irregular shapes and forms. Some of the patterns that are commonly utilized to accomplish this are either ABCABC or ABBABB, while keeping in mind that although the main purpose of alternation is to re-create a mood in a room by throwing in other adaptations, we still need to follow one of the two orders or combine them to create our own.

Just like repetition and the rest of the principles that form rhythm within an interior, alternation helps to create movement in a space through very distinct ways. Since we usually utilize very symmetrical and/or regular patterns to start off our design concept, this last principle is commonly admired through elements that are organized erratically and unexpectedly. They serve as great focal points and emphasis in an area. However, as we learned with unity, we cannot forget about that sense of belonging represented through each well-designed space, since every single principle and element in design should all be guided towards the same objective, which is to create a balanced and harmonious interior.