The 5 basic elements of landscape design are color, line, shape, texture, and space. The principles of design include balance, emphasis, contrast, rhythm and movement, pattern, unity, proportion, and variety. Elements are the building blocks used in design while principles are the rules used to organize elements in a visually pleasing way that guides the viewer's eye through the landscape.

1. Elements &Principles of Landscape Design

2. The Elements of Design
The 5 basic elements of landscape design are:
The building blocks or ingredients of art.
COLOR
VVAALLUUEE

3. LINE of SIGHT
A mark with length and direction.
A continuous mark made on a surface by a moving
point.
The line of sight is the viewer's eye
movement or flow being influenced by
the arrangement of plants and their
borders.
Eye movement is unconsciously affected
by the way plant groupings fit or flow
together, both on the horizontal and
vertical planes.

4. LINE of SIGHT
Meandering lines or curves
show movement and create a
natural, undisturbed feeling.
Hedges or rows of plants direct the
attention to a focal point or
specific area.

5. Consists of Hue (another word for color), Intensity
(brightness) and Value (lightness or darkness).
Color theory is often used in landscape design by
dividing the color spectrum into 4 categories:
PRIMARY: reds, yellows and blues.
SECONDARY: greens, violets (purples) and oranges.
TERTIARY: Mixtures of the primary and secondary
categories.
COLORCOLOR

7. SHAPE and FORM
An enclosed area defined and determined
by other art elements; 2-dimensional is a
SHAPE
A 3-dimensional object;or something in a 2-
dimensional artwork that appears to be 3-
dimensional is a FORM
For example, a square, which is 2-dimensional, is a
shape, but a cube, which is 3-dimensional, is a form.

8. •Tall plants create a
vertical look, drawing the
eye upward.
•Low spreading plants
draw the eye to the
horizon.
•Use individual specimen
plants to break monotony
and create interest.
•A mixture of a variety of
form becomes confusing.

9. Space in art refers to the distance or area between, around,
above, below, or within elements. Both positive and negative
space are important factors to be considered in every design.
Foreground, Middleground and
Background (creates DEPTH)
S P A C ES P A C E
Positive and Negative space

10. TEXTURETEXTURE
The surface quality or "feel" of an object, its smoothness,
roughness, softness, etc. Textures may be actual or implied.
The texture of a plant's foliage or bloom can be viewed as
coarse, medium or fine
Mix plants with larger leaves (coarse texture) and smaller
leaves (fine texture) to avoid monotony in a planting bed and
to add visual interest.
The greater the distance the plant is, the smoother the texture
appears to be.

11. What we use to
organize the
Elements of Art, or
the tools to make art.
The laws of designing

12. The visual relationship of the landscape components, relative to size.
BALANCE
Symmetrical – the repeating of the
elements on either side of an axis
(an imaginary central line)
Asymmetrical – equal size or
weight on both sides of the axis,
without repeating specific elements

13. EMPHASIS
The focal POINT of an
image, or when one area
or thing stand out the
most.
CONTRA
ST
A large difference
between two things to
create interest and
tension.

14. RHYTHM & MOVEMENT
A regular repetition or alteration of elements to
produce the look and feel of movement.

15. PATTERN
Repetition or alteration of
elements.
When all the
elements and
principles work
together to create a
pleasing image.
UNITY

16. P
R
O
P
O
R
T
I
O
N
The comparative
relationship of one
part to another with
respect to size,
quantity, or degree;
SCALE.
VARIETY
The use of differences
and change to increase
the visual interest of
the work.