A well designed pond can and should become a dominant feature in your landscape. With this in mind, there are a few factors to be taken into consideration in the initial layout of a pond:

A formal (i.e. geometric shaped) pond will look best in a formal setting such as within a hardscaped patio, against a house wall, in the center of a straight walkway, or at the center of a geometric garden or large lawn area. (NOTE: the term formal pond is also used here to describe single or multi-tiered fountains.)

An informal pond can be easily integrated into almost any setting, and can be surrounded by a planting within a garden bed.

If aquatic plants are desired, the pond must be subject to at least 4 hours of direct sunlight per day during the growing season. Overhanging trees, while aesthetically enhancing (especially over reflecting pools), may interfere with the light requirements of flowering plants such as water lilies. Deciduous trees may also increase the maintenance level required by dropping leaves and other debris into the pond at various times of the year.

Formal ponds and fountains are intended to look like man-made fixtures, and therefore the elevation of the water surface in the lowest basin does not have to bear any specific relationship to the surrounding ground level, and can be set any height desired.

Informal ponds are intended to look like a naturally occurring pool, spring, or stream, and as such, the water level in the lowest basin should never be higher than the surrounding land. If a waterfall is desired, the surrounding landscape behind the pond must be raised to accommodate. Nothing looks more unnatural than a 'natural' pond protruding as a random mound out of level ground. For this reason, constructing a pond against the backdrop of a fence, wall or clump of evergreen shrubs or trees often provides the most options.

Space permitting, a multi-staged informal pond (2 or more basins connected by streams or waterfalls) is preferable and will be far more striking than a single basin pond. The lowest basin, however, should always be larger than the others.

An informal pond, once finished, will appear up to 1/3 larger than the initial dugout, depending on the coping material used. This is not necessarily true of a formal pond.