Ornamental border designs

Ornamental border designs  (or border patterns) line the surface of a specific shape where some content (text, image, motif, design...) is found. In addition to the fact that each border design directs attention to the content within, it also prevents the content to get out of the defined borders and overlap the neighboring motifs.

The choice of the border design depends on personal taste, whereby there is a general recommendation that might come in handy, found in a book on art history: the border design should be in accordance with the design of the content that it encircles. If it encircles a content that is not visually appealing, then the border should have an attractive design. On the contrary, if it encircles some attractive content, then the boarder design should be less attractive so as not to distract attention away from the content. For example, if the border encloses a text, it is the border itself that should be attractive because the text is less interesting in appearance. This is just a small, helpful hint for selecting the right border, as the border design depends on many factors.

The border does not have to be of regular geometric shape, but of any irregular shape. If the border pattern encloses an irregular shape at its center, its inner margin can follow the irregular contour of the content and the external margin may be regular, or vice versa.

Frieze patterns and border patterns are very similar. Frieze patterns can be made from most border patterns by cutting the segment and copying it. Also, border patterns can be made from most of the frieze patterns if you solve the corner rotation.

Border design can also be created from corner deigns by copying them into corners, which allows space in the middle to place the content.  If you have not found a border design to your liking in this category, visit the category Sign and sign end patterns of that may help you find inspiration, as ornamental signs, borders and frames can be very similar.

All border designs in this category are free to use for personal use and some of them can be used commercially. These designs are under Creative Commons Attribution License. Before you make use of these border pattens in your project, please check and observe the license that we have prescribed.

All the ornamental border designs will be available in universal vector file formats (svg and eps), as well as in .dwg file format which is the most commonly used 2D format.

We'd love to see what you create using our border designs and have your work featured in our Showroom gallery.