There are some general guidelines to follow when designing your dessert plating. Think like an artist--our eye is generally drawn to curves rather than straight lines. Symmetry can be pleasing to the eye, but asymmetry will keep your eye moving around the plate. Groupings of odd numbers (1 and 3) are much more interesting than groups in even numbers (2 or 4). Don't be afraid of negative space. No need to crowd your dessert together--let the white plate shine through. Oh, that reminds me--white plates will be your best bet to show off your dessert to best effect. Colors of sauces will stay much truer on a white background. White gives a nice clean background for all your components. Do you really want your mousse creation to compete with the big cabbage roses on your grandmother's fine china? I didn't think so. You can also use clear glass, especially when served on a white tablecloth.
Decide your color palette: you can go monochromatic, with all colors being generally different shades of the same color. You can have a complementary color scheme in which the colors used are opposite of each other on the color wheel, or you can have an analogous color scheme in which the colors of your dessert components are adjacent to each other on the color wheel. Please remember, in coming up with your schemes, color combinations should always take a back seat to flavor and texture.
