Nine strategies for developing a successful landscaping project
Landscaping extends beyond just garden design; it encompasses both natural and built elements like stones, fences, bollards and site furnishings. Effective landscape design is vital in public spaces, aiding in traffic control and improving usability. In this article, we dive into nine key principles of landscape design that ensure any space, whether urban or green, meets user needs and enhances the environment. Discover how thoughtful planning, unity through repetition, strategic use of lines, and attention to balance, form, and scale can transform landscapes into exceptional places. Keep reading to explore these principles and how they can elevate your landscaping projects.
1. Effective Landscape Design Improves User Experience
Planning and organization make a property easier to read and navigate—helping increase comfort and familiarity.
When planning any landscape, it’s important to know how it will be used. First, decide how you want people to see and use a space. Every design decision should stem from this idea. Will it be a sports field or a rose garden? Are you looking to attract visitors or guide them to another location?
Planning should consider the full space available, including:
- Hardscape: Non-organic features such as paved areas, stones, fences, and other hard-wearing materials.
- Softscape: Living elements such as trees, lawns, and other plant materials used to lend character to the landscaping.
Consider existing site conditions in the final design of a project. Features like slopes, drainage, utilities, and existing structures—as well as climate and other environmental considerations—can have a significant impact on planning and design. Integrating elements like decorative bollards can reinforce many of the strategies discussed, providing both functional and aesthetic value.
2. Create Unity Through Consistency and Repetition
Without harmony, a space lacks completeness, which users sense intuitively.
When planning a new project, “unity and cohesion are key principles of design,” said Sarah d’Artois, Commercial and Residential Designer at Greenspace Design & Décor. “We select certain elements to focus on, such as line, texture, and shape, and combine those with selected principles—repetition, for example. Repeating a certain texture or shape throughout the landscape will help create unity.”
Dominant characteristics or attention-grabbing focal points are key to establishing strong patterns. Unique tree species or decorative architectural features are ideal for building entrances, pathways, leisure spaces, or other places of interest. Incorporating unique site furnishings, such as our garden and planter bollards, can further enhance the landscape by adding both functionality and aesthetic appeal, reinforcing the overall design strategy.
Read more about how site furnishings can improve community spaces.
3. Strong Lines Make for Strong Designs
Lines influence how visitors interpret and navigate a landscape. They tie elements together—achieving unity through interconnection or distinguishing unique elements.
“Lines are an integral element of design and evoke different effects,” said d’Artois. “Horizontal lines create a sense of ease and relaxation, where vertical lines suggest a more dynamic sense of expansion. Analyzing a client’s style and ensuring unity with the rest of the property is the first thing to consider in any new project.”
The R-9836 Lighted Bollard, for example, creates strong vertical lines that enhance navigation and safety while adding a modern aesthetic to the landscape. For many designers, site walkability is not just a goal but a requirement.
4. Straight Lines vs Curved Lines
Straight and curved lines can be used to reinforce order and encourage movement.
Straight-line landscapes
Ordered, straight-line landscapes are common in urban settings, such as busy downtown environments, where vehicles and pedestrians need to move around as quick and efficiently as possible. Straight-line landscapes also complement the basic rectangular shapes of traditional office building architecture, though curved lines are also common with more modern building styles. However, straight-line configurations with lots of plant material can be labor-intensive to maintain, as plants require significant attention and pruning to keep their intended forms.
Curved-line landscapes
Curved linesemphasize more natural forms and asymmetric compositions. We can look to traditional Japanese gardens for examples of free-form, natural landscapes that embrace asymmetrical compositions. As d’Artois mentioned, these types of spaces encourage more intuitive or unplanned wandering and exploration. Curved lines can also be used to create focal points for attention. Curves naturally embrace radial movements and imply a central point, and they are common around water elements, reinforcing natural waterlines or drawing attention to fountains or ponds.
5. Keep Balance and Symmetry in Mind
Landscapes should be designed with balance in mind. Balance can be achieved both formally and informally by mirroring like materials and forms.
“Balance and symmetry are integral to design,” d’Artois said. “It’s impossible to ignore a picture frame that hangs crooked on a wall, or a lone tree that appears out of place in a garden. Landscape design should flow naturally—however, key principles should still be followed. Designers can create focal points by emphasizing certain areas, but the focal points must have some unifying factor within the overall space.”
6. Direct Attention with Form and Shape
All design elements have form, whether it be in the shape of an elaborate building, a picnic table, or a vast expanse of pavement.
Form describes the shape of an object, as well as the relationship between objects. Positive and negative space should also be considered. Trees offer a flexible range of shapes and compositions for the landscaper. Conical and column-shaped trees direct attention upwards, which can reinforce open areas or guide attention to tall buildings. Willows and other trees with draping branches attract attention and emphasize their immediate surroundings—making them an excellent compositional element for water features and leisure areas. Trees with high trunks can create shade-giving canopies for benches or hammocks. When set in a line, trees and shrubs can create barriers to direct people and traffic.
7. Play with Scale
When we look at scale, we compare relationships between objects.
“Playing with scale in landscape design can tremendously affect the feeling of an area, and it must be executed carefully to maintain balance,” said d’Artois. “Large boulders next to tiny flowers are an obvious misuse of scale. However, intentional misuse of scale lends well to playground designs, where it allows kids to feel taller in their environment.” Successful use of scale considers the total square footage of architectural components onsite, as well as the area to be landscaped. Designers can select from a wide variety of heights and materials to reflect the qualities they wish to enhance or reduce.
8. Inspire Emotional Context with Texture and Color
Texture and color have subtle emotional and psychological impacts.
Plant materials feature a range of textures from short, broad leaves to long limbs with dense foliage. Broad leaves are the most attention-grabbing, as they often shimmer and rustle in the wind. Compact shrubs with small leaves, when kept trimmed, can appear almost smooth from a distance. Other surfaces can complement or contrast surrounding greenery.
Concrete and paving stones can reflect the design and texture of rockwork throughout a site, and different types of wood features can complement surrounding trees. Bright colors make a place feel more energetic and alive, while neutral and subdued colors have a more calming effect.
Lighting can also play a crucial role in enhancing the texture and color of a landscape. For instance, the R-9835 Lighted Bollard, with its warm white glow and geometric design, can highlight specific textures and colors in a garden or pathway, creating an inviting and aesthetically pleasing environment.
9. Design for People
Landscape design should enhance the quality of the user’s experience.
High-traffic urban locations typically require more hardscape materials and areas for social interaction. Plazas, college campuses, retail centers, and transit stations need to accommodate both pedestrian and vehicle traffic. In contrast, parks, decorative courtyards, and country clubs benefit from more natural greenspaces.
Universal design ensures effective design for all users, regardless of age or ability. “If a user is unable to access certain areas, these spaces become irrelevant and wasted,” said d’Artois. “Universal design is the principle of designing for all users, regardless of age or ability. Landscape design is intended to enhance the quality of the user’s experience outdoors. This would include patio and pathway circulation, ground-cover transitions, and lighting to ensure safety for all ages.”
Exceptional Landscape Design
These basic principles guide the development of personal style and taste while encouraging new ideas. When developing new landscape designs or re-visioning existing ones, consider the landscapes and locations you enjoy. Using the design elements covered in this article, look for neighborhoods and communities that integrate elements you’d like to achieve, and that deal with similar urban or climatic constraints. Using the right tools and strategies, we can better analyze, plan, and implement great landscape design.
