The Golden Ratio
I know have been incredibly neglectful of the design side of Blog.H34, and so from here on out, I will make more of an effort at sharing the design-related content that has been influencing me…it goes without saying that I don’t operate in a vacuum, I derive inspiration from all over the place, trying to find it in almost anything I lay eyes or ears upon. One of the absolute biggest influences, and a design subject I’ve been relentlessly pursuing more knowledge in, is the golden ratio (also referred to as the golden mean). A friend and colleague at the agency I’ve been contracting at sent me this excellent article from Smashing Magazine about using the golden ratio in web design, which I felt is worth sharing here. A slight warning, this article is comprehensive, but geared a little to people who are either familiar with web design, or who have a natural interest in math. Also, the awesome design for today’s post comes from Michael Paukner, it’s one of the images that really got me interested in all this a few months ago.
This magical irrational number, which is equal to approximately 1.618, is a ratio or proportion where for instance, if you have two numbers, and the ratio of the sum of both the numbers and the larger number, is equal to that of the larger number and the smaller number. If this already sounds too complicated to picture, you can see it everywhere around you. The golden ratio is found throughout nature, in everything from the spiral of sea shells to the distance and angle at which branches extend from a tree. It can be found in famous artwork and music, in architecture, it’s referred to as “sacred geometry,” and it was even recently confirmed in quantum physics– the very nature of electrons and their orbit around the atomic nucleus corresponds with the golden ratio. ISO50 Blog ran a post focusing on this recent development, and got an interesting conversation started (see the comments). It goes without saying that many designers, or even just observers, find themselves naturally attracted to the application of the golden ratio, versus compositions that do not apply it.
I personally believe that the golden ratio holds secrets about the nature of the universe–we may well have centuries yet before they are discovered, but I believe it will either come into play, or be observed when the time comes that we all drive flying cars and can travel outside the solar system. But without going on too much of a rant, I have been trying to gain a true understanding, and a working knowledge in applying the golden ratio, working with fibonacci numbers (which adhere to the golden ratio), and other mathematical/naturally occuring techniques to my work. It will take practice and more reading and pondering, but if you happen to have come across any good articles, or if you have an opinion, please feel free to comment and share!
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