The Elements of Design are: light, space, line, form, size, pattern, texture and color.
The Principles of Design are: balance, proportion, rhythm, contrast, dominance and scale.
The "Handbook for Flower Shows" concludes its chapter on the Principles and Elements of Design by stating that "the Elements of Design are tangible ingredients while the intangible Principles of Design are directions for combining those ingredients into a successful design."
It took me awhile to grasp how flower show judges are trained to think because I was familiar with critiques in art class, where the students made suggestions about how a work of art might be improved. In a standard flower show, the judges evaluate the designs and award ribbons before the show is open to the public. The judges often leave brief comments on the entry tags for arrangements, but they are never supposed to suggest that "maybe if you had used more red flowers, that red flower in your arrangement might not stand out so much". The judge is supposed to leave a written comment such as: "red too dominant, disrupts rhythm". That comment tells the designer what the problem is without telling them how the problem might be solved.
I can't imagine that there has ever been a gardener who hasn't felt at some time that the design of their ornamental garden might be improved. When we do this, most of us start thinking about color from flowers or foliage. We may consider adding a shrub with variegated leaves. When we do that, we are thinking about the Elements of Design. It would be better if our first thoughts were about the Principles of Design.
When a flower show judge leaves a comment which says "red too dominant, disrupts rhythm", the designer is likely to look at their arrangement and think of possible ways to solve the problem. Maybe the red flower is too bright for their desired arrangement and they should have chosen a different flower. Maybe they should have used more red flowers to establish a rhythm. Maybe they should have used red, rather than green foliage in the arrangement. All of these alternatives could solve the design problem. The red flower isn't really a problem. The problem is caused by a visual ingredient being too dominant. If the designer had evaluated their own arrangement by thinking about the Principles of Design, they might have avoided that design problem.
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