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Positive and negative space in interior design


The Seven Main Elements And How They're Used

Designer's Mark February 7, 2020 Interior Design

Careful planning and effort go into any well-designed interior. Be it a home or commercial space, interior designers and decorators take everything into consideration. It is an art and a science, but to make things easier, we will discuss the basic seven elements that are fundamental to interior design.

1. Space

Space is a tricky element to work with, as interior designers and decorators can only work with the space that they have inside each room. They cannot change the room’s actual size, but what they can change the way we see the room!

By working with paint and wall coverings as well as the placement of furniture and accessories, designers and decorators can create illusions of larger or smaller spaces. One simple rule is to work with the scale of furnishing so in a larger room, larger pieces would be called for that fit the scale. In a smaller space, the opposite would apply to so as to create the perception of more space by scaling down the pieces. Designers and decorators also work with ‘positive’ space and ‘negative’ space to create a balance between the two. Positive space is the space that is occupied by objects, and the negative space is the empty space around the objects.

2. Form

Form is another term that designers use for ‘shape.’ ​​​​​​Form can either be described as natural and organic or as geometric and architectural which is often a man-made design.

An organic would be an object created by nature. Think of the way leaves, trees, and rocks are shaped – these all have natural curves and bends. Geometric forms, on the other hand, consist of shapes and hard lines or edges such as squares, right triangles, and straight lines. Form also consists of open and closed objects. Objects that have an ‘open form’ can consist of an interior enclosed space that is visible, like a basket for instance or a glass vase. ‘Closed forms’ are objects that are enclosed, and cannot be looked into, like a wooden cabinet.

Interior designers and decorators have to create a balance with closed and open forms, along with organic and geometric shapes that give the space its Zen. An imbalance of these can result in a busy and unsettling design the rattles the senses.

3. Light

Light affects the mood in any space. The variants are different types of lighting that designers use, depending on what the room needs.

Low amounts of light convey a cozy and ambient atmosphere, whereas an excessive amount of light (natural light through windows or glass doors) tends to brighten the atmosphere with a more cheery feel. Light is also used for practical or more functional purposes – like illuminating an office desk, or a dining hall.

‘Accent lighting’ is light that is used to emphasize objects (such as a painting on a wall). Most rooms need more natural lighting compared to accent or low lighting. The effects of natural light are important as it not only contains a range of health benefits, but it also impacts us psychologically. The consistent lack of natural light can result in a dark and gloomy feel, especially if it’s dark during the day.

4. Color

Colors work in conjunction along with light, and it is are a key element to a well-designed interior.

Color also affects us at a psychological level. Another simple rule that designers follow is that warm colors are energizing, warming, and comforting, and cool colors are peaceful and tranquilizing. Dark colors create a more ‘moody’ atmosphere. Depending on what the space is used for, color can be themed for certain reasons. For example, many hospitals use lighter pastel colors to create a calm yet light atmosphere for patients. Gyms often incorporate red themes, as it tends to energize. Trade professionals also use warm colors in smaller spaces to create the illusion of more space, whereas larger rooms will fair better with cooler colors. You can see that there are many things color can do inside a room!

5. Pattern

Patterns are often underutilized as a way to scale a space, but they too play an important role in the perception of size and scale in interior design. In addition, patterns need to placed with careful consideration, or it can often cause the room to appear to be too busy and disruptive, therefore in workspaces especially, this element cannot be ignored. A good pattern works in conjunction with color schemes. Professionals will often work with one to three patterns per room, and carefully consider the colors and space of the room.

Patterns can be considered as an ongoing transition of form, from one year to the next the ongoing ability for patterns to morph in accordance with current trends make patterns the chameleons of the industry. With the ever-increasing development and progression of printing technology, the design industry has seen patterns go from a one dimensional flat print to patterns that give the perception of two and three dimensions, jumping off a flat surface.

6. Line

Line refers to both straight and curved lines on objects. Lines can also be implied – like boundaries or edges of surfaces. For example, a twisted staircase often adds a dynamic feel with its curved and horizontal form. Curved lines create a dynamic feel, whereas straight lines create a more static feel.

Trade professionals like to use lines to draw your eyes to a focal point in the room. Like the other elements, the interior designer and decorator needs to achieve a balance between vertical and horizontal, dynamic or still lines, depending on what they want to achieve in the room.

7. Texture

If designers get the feeling that something is missing in a room, it often comes down to missing textures. Texture is similar to pattern. It is also used to enhance a room or certain objects within a space. For example, a smooth surface that is reflective can enhance natural light. If you have a large room with too much light, then using rough textures can reduce the sense of too much light. There also needs to be a balance with the amount of texture that is used. as texture draws attention to itself.

Interior Design Consultants in Boca Raton

There you have it, the seven main elements of design. As a high-end interior design showroom and store, Designer’s Mark takes into account far more than just these elements, to ensure that your home or commercial space will be designed tastefully to your style and preference! We bring hand-selected items and accessories into our interior design showroom from all over the globe so that you can have a little bit of everything. Stop in today and let us lead the way to transform your environment into a place of timeless elegance.

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Positive space in interior design – and how to use it

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(Image credit: Future)

What is positive space in interior design – and why consider its impact in a room's design? Positive space is the space that is actually occupied by objects, materials and 'things', so can be a combination of your home decor elements, like furniture, artwork, accessories and lighting. How you use this space when designing a room can determine how it feels, whether it's cozy and embracing or sleek and minimal. 

Positive space really only makes sense in the context of negative space – that is the space surrounding – or gaps between – the objects, and a clever use of both works towards creating a well-balanced room, visually and atmospherically.

Here, we explain how.

See: Interior design tips – decorating secrets for the world's top experts

(Image credit: Future/Simon Bevan)

Having an eye for positive space in rooms is just one technique interior designers use to create perfectly balanced schemes that are neither too crowded nor too minimalist.

'In interior design there is positive and negative space, and both play important roles when it comes to how a room's scheme works,' explains Barrie Cutchie, Design Director at BC Designs . 

'Positive space is where the actual objects are; in bathrooms it is the bath, toilet, basin, lighting, etc, while the negative space is the empty space around and in between everything else, more often than not highlighting and showcasing everything next to it.'

Embracing positive space is all about giving the pieces you choose room to breathe and shine – for example, a shapely armchair like the one above needs (negative) space around it so that its curves can be appreciated; crowd it with other furniture, pile on throws and cushions, and its impact will be lessened.

(Image credit: Little Greene )

Striking a balance between positive and negative space is key to creating a well-proportioned room, ensuring it's not too crowded but not too soulless or sparse either.  

If a room is completely full of objects taking up positive space, it could lead to a cluttered feeling, so balancing the space scales is key to a visually pleasing room. 

Positive space needs to be filled to a point, for reasons of functionality (everybody needs a bed, for example), but can also be used to make a statement or add character and texture with a beautiful piece.

Using texture in interior design – how professionals harness it to add depth and dimension to a room

See how to use positive space for well laid-out rooms below. 

1. Use positive space to add a modern farmhouse feel to your kitchen

(Image credit: The Expert / Amber Interiors)

'Positive space, the space occupied by objects, is made up of things like furniture, art, and other decor elements,' say the experts at Frontier Designs . 'For example, modern farmhouse decor tends to be relatively balanced in spacial use, though sometimes it's a little heavier in positive space use. Not to the point of being cluttered, but to create a cozier, homey feel. '

In the kitchen above, you can see how a rustic farmhouse-style kitchen island has been used in the positive space to add an earthy, warm feel, as well as cleverly serving as a dining table.

You can also add texture through positive space in your kitchen cabinets. The beautiful Sebastian Cox kitchen by deVOL below shows how a timber island and cabinetry, along with a Smeg fridge and wooden dresser, fill the positive space with functional yet organic textures, and there's enough negative space left around them so the room doesn't feel cluttered. 

Even the dresser is filled with just the right amount of ceramics to strike the perfect balance of characterful but not overcrowded. A few decorative objects, like wooden boxes and trugs, and glass bottles, finish the look.

(Image credit: deVOL)

(Image credit: Ripples Bathrooms Ltd )

The bathroom is often where we retreat for some essential me-time, and should be a luxurious yet tranquil sanctuary. Positive space will be filled by essential sanitaryware items like the toilet and sink, but you can also elevate these pieces. An easy way to create a beautiful bathroom is by adding an indulgent freestanding tub. Then use negative space and circulation space (that needed for navigating through the room) to keep it clean-lined and uncluttered.

Barrie Cutchie, Design Director at BC Designs, says: ‘In bathroom design, positive space could be a freestanding bath which is used as a focal point of a room, but in order to showcase the bath and really create wow factor, designers will often leave space around it so as not to take focus away from the star of the show.'

The image above also shows how, if you have the height, you can add a statement chandelier to inject grandeur without taking up positive space on the floor.

3. Add color in the dining room with positive space

(Image credit: Davey Lighting)

If you don't want to make a statement with a bold hue all over the walls, you can use your positive space to add color to a room. Whether it's through jewel-toned velvet dining chairs or well-placed, curated decorative objects, use your positive space to add furniture and accessories to bring life to the space.

4.  Create a contemporary country living room with positive space

(Image credit: The Expert / Kate Marker Interiors)

We love how the positive space has been filled with carefully curated pieces to create a specific design scheme in this room by Kate Marker Interiors . The coffee table in particular is given room to breathe (negative space) – and a color contrast – to really make the most of its shapely form (positive space).

See: Living room ideas – clever ways to decorate living spaces

(Image credit: Kit Kemp Collection- Andrew Martin)

Take a leaf out of Kit Kemp 's design book, and use a printed headboard to fill positive space in the bedroom for an exciting, welcoming and bright look. You can go as bold as you like, with strong fun florals or keep the print more low-key, like the pretty Clemmie from Neptune below. 

(Image credit: Neptune)

How clear you keep the negative space is up to you, but if you want the headboard to be the main focus, keeping it relatively clear is a good idea.

Ruth Doherty is an experienced digital writer and editor specializing in interiors, travel and lifestyle. With 20 years of writing for national sites under her belt, she’s worked for the likes of Livingetc.com, Standard, Ideal Home, Stylist and Marie Claire as well as Homes & Gardens.

why we need it and how to use it

Emptiness in our culture is perceived as the absence of something, a sign of trouble, spiritual and material poverty. But in design, the main property of emptiness is its neutrality. Empty or negative space is essential to balance the interior visually and functionally. And don't let the definition of "negative" confuse you - there is no negative in the usual sense of the word in such a space.

Why

In the interior, negative space is a place free from furniture, decor and any other items. In design, it is regarded as "air" or a blank canvas, allowing a deeper sense of colors, contrasts and boundaries of objects, combining elements into a composition and drawing attention to them.

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Even in spacious apartments and country houses, there is often not enough “air”. Our cultural perception of emptiness tells us to occupy every free space, if not with furniture and decor, then at least with a print on the wallpaper.

Often, the only negative space in our interiors is functional emptiness, that is: free space necessary not to bump into objects when moving around the apartment, so that cabinet doors do not knock down lamps, and the sofa can be expanded.

Elementary ergonomics calls for leaving free space between objects, the quality of life and household comfort directly depend on it. And the more such space, the more comfortable we are.

Empty space in the interior is a luxury that not only allows freedom of movement, but also allows you to achieve visual balance, while the lack of “air” can spoil the whole composition. Even if all the elements of the interior are in harmony with each other, it may be crowded for them to live next door. In addition, an overloaded background does not allow you to pay the deserved attention to any of the elements of the composition. No matter how good a designer sofa is, it can be visually crushed by the abundance of neighbors. Even the light is "lost" in a crowded room, encountering many obstacles in its path.

Negative spaces have an anti-stress effect: having the right background, we know where to look, paying tribute to each accent object, and not moving our eyes from subject to subject. Visual balance is calming, while feeling cluttered can cause emotional discomfort and anxiety. An unbalanced abundance of decorative and furniture elements is perceived as a mess, even if it is not.

As

If a living space doesn't boast infinite ceilings, open floor plans, spacious rooms, and other interior perks, negative space can be present in wall decor.

You need to understand that just a bare wall can cause a feeling that they have forgotten about it and a constant desire to hang something on it, a completely different thing is negative space, thought out in advance by the designer as an important element of the composition.

Negative space, along with an abundance of natural light, is at the heart of Scandinavian and Oriental minimalism, but is welcome in any interior style and becomes a good canvas for eclectic interior experiments.

"Air" is especially important in the living room and bedroom, where we relax ourselves, which means we are looking for rest for the eyes. Neutral white walls can be ditched in favor of a muted, sophisticated hue. A bright color will be too dominant - such a “canvas” can no longer be called clean.

Leave negative space between groups of objects whenever possible. This approach is the logic and order in the interior, this is especially important for rooms that combine two or more functions, such as a kitchen-living room or a bedroom-study. Negative space is the best zoning tool.

This is all good, but what if there are a lot of things, but there is really little space? Minimalism and real everyday scenarios in the interior can be mutually exclusive concepts. Hidden storage systems, “disguised” as the color of the walls, will help maintain visual balance on a small footage. In fact, such built-in solutions, of course, will “eat up” the space, but they will visually unload it and put things in order.

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Negative space in design: tips and practices

We often think that silence, emptiness or colorlessness is bad for us. We take them for granted without thinking that they are a solid foundation of contrast. Only silence allows us to understand the meaning of sound. Only negative space allows us to feel colors brighter and deeper when they appear on the stage. And only the absence of air allows us to understand how important it is. Today we are talking about air in design. Let's talk about negative space.

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What is negative space in design?

Basically, negative space—or blank space as it's often called—is the area of ​​a layout that remains empty. This can be an area not only around the objects that you place in the layout, but also inside them. Negative space - not only defines the boundaries of objects, but also creates the necessary connections between them in accordance with the principles of Gestalt and creates an effective visual composition. This makes white space a legitimate design element that has a big impact on how the user interface is perceived.

"Negative space is like a canvas: it's the backdrop that brings elements together in a design, allowing them to stand out," says Mads Sogaard of the Interaction Design Foundation.

Negative space in graphic design is often found in logos, illustrations, posters and lettering, where it becomes an active part of the visual presentation, making key objects even more expressive. For example, in the blog illustration below, we can see how the background element (the moon) plays the role of contrasting negative space, making the astronaut more vibrant and dynamic.

In the design of user interfaces for websites and mobile applications, the use of negative space is a significant factor in high usability and navigability of the interface. The negative space around layout elements is also called macro space, while the space inside those elements is micro space.

What is the difference between white space and negative space?

Short answer: no difference. These concepts are completely interchangeable.

Why is this phenomenon reflected in two different terms? It is easy to answer if you trace the origin. The term "white space" comes from print design, since when pages were mostly white, so there was white space all around, between letters and symbols, and around illustrations. Used in design today, the term has nothing to do with white: it's all about white space, not color. The term "negative space" comes from photography: in photographs, positive space is what attracts attention (objects), and by extension the background is negative space.

It's important to remember that negative space in web design doesn't have to be all white - you can use any color, texture, solid pattern, or background image.

Why is negative space important?

Imagine that you have entered a room full of various objects. Shelves, boxes, bags, piles of books and clothes, a table full of various things. Can you concentrate on such conditions? Do you really need all these things right now? Can you find what you need and how long will it take? This is the same experience that users will experience when opening pages without the free air of negative space.

Both clients and some designers may want to put as many elements and functions as possible on a single page or screen, thinking that this will be useful to consumers. But this is a mistake: in fact, users do not need everything at once. Moreover, too many elements without enough air greatly increase the level of distraction: overloaded with information and interactive elements, and users have to make an effort to find what they need. As Aarron Walter observed, “If everything is screaming, then nothing is heard.”

Among the benefits of the thoughtful use of negative space in design, we might mention the following:

  1. it supports page reading;
  2. it improves the visual hierarchy;
  3. it maintains a visual link between elements;
  4. it provides enough air to the page so it doesn't feel cluttered;
  5. it focuses the user's attention on the main elements and reduces the level of distraction;
  6. it adds style and elegance to the page.

For example, let's look at the landing page of the Big City Guide. Here the designer uses a background photo, and it plays the role of negative space. Moreover, the elements of the photo and the lettering of the main element are interconnected: this makes the negative space an active element of the design and gives the page a coherent harmonious look.

Factors Influenced by Negative Space

Proper use of negative space can have a significant impact on the following user experience factors.

Readability and legibility: if there is not enough space between elements, they become difficult to read and require extra effort to read them. Balancing negative space, especially microspace, solves this problem and makes reading more natural. Thus, negative space directly affects the effectiveness of typography on a page.

Branding: If you look at any logo, you will find that the designers define the appropriate amount of negative space around it to make it feel right. Violation of these rules spoils the perception of the logo.

Based on this, negative space affects visual perception in such aspects as:

Let's look at some examples. Here is the main page of The Big Landscape. Without any visual frames and tables, due to the balanced use of negative space, the designer creates a strong visual hierarchy and allows the user to scan different blocks of content in seconds. Thus, the design looks organized, but also light and airy. The white background and layout make it look like a magazine page that harmoniously informs the reader about the purpose and nature of this site.

Another example is the Upper application: here the negative space is black, which creates a great contrast with the main interface elements. Only one straight line is used for the entire screen. However, all the layouts look organized and well-read due to the ample amount of air and no distractions. The space also maintains stylistic elegance to promote aesthetic satisfaction.

Problem area

1. Complicated terminology. When you're talking to clients who may not be familiar with design terms, make sure you communicate the meaning of negative space before describing design decisions. It can be hard for a non-designer to understand why "this screen needs a lot of white space".

2. Wanting to reduce the negative space to fit more elements on the page or screen.

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