The Unrealised Impact Of Golden Ratio

Did you have any clue that most of the aesthetic and designs that we see around us today have a mathematical ration embedded in them? Yes, my friends, it’s called ‘The Golden Ration’

Artists, illustrators, photographer or even graphic designer, no matter what field of design they are in, it’s important to consider the golden ratio on any design project.

In the world of design, framing a scene of elements is the basic building block of creating a design. And one technique that you can never go wrong with is the golden ratio.

It is a universal concept when put to use; it fosters natural looking and balanced compositions that are aesthetically pleasing to the eye. If you look around you will find the use of golden ratio in nature like flowers and shells, the human body, hell! Even Greek architecture!

What is the golden ratio?

It all started with the Fibonacci sequence — a series in which the pattern of each number is the sum of the previous two numbers. Beginning with zero the sequence is 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144… and so on.

Inspired by this mathematical pattern the golden ratio is the perfect symmetrical relationship between two proportions. It equals to approximately 1:1.61 ratio. It is also known as Golden Mean, The Golden Section, or the Greek letter Phi.

Imagine a large rectangle consisting of a square and a smaller rectangle. Let’s remove the square from the rectangle, we will now be left with a smaller rectangle. We could repeat the same process and it can go on infinitely like the Fibonacci numbers that work in reverse.

Use

The concept of golden ratio showcases harmony and proportion and is believed to be used thousands of centuries ago in human art and design. It has been found in Pyramids in Giza, the Parthenon in Athens and even in modern day company logos like Pepsi, Twitter, etc.

Parthenon in Athens

Mona Lisa & The Last Supper

Apart from these historic treasures, it is even found in the dimensions of the human body, spirals of the shell, Milkyway, flower petal, hurricanes and many more objects.

Photography

The golden ratio is used to decide how to split the frame for better image composition. Instead of putting the subject right in the middle, photographers can use the horizon as their guide and place their subject at the 1.681 point. This change of angle only leads to better composition creating appealing pictures.

Phi Grid

A majority of the photographers use a gird based on Phi when it comes to composing a picture. It is a variation that is derived by the rule of thirds.

The rule of thirds divides the frame into a grid of three rows and columns that are equal in size, resulting in 1:1:1 horizontally and 1:1:1 vertically. Similarly, the Phi grid divides the frame in a manner where the middle row and middle column use the golden ratio, hence it is 1:1.618:1 vertically and 1:1.618:1 horizontally.

When you look at an image that uses the Phi grid, attention is drawn to the intersection of the of the grid lines. This technique can be used for better photo-alignment.

Fibonacci Spiral

We learnt earlier that the golden ratio can be expressed in the form of a rectangle. The area of the rectangle can be constantly divided into a series of squares to form the Fibonacci spiral.

The Fibonacci spiral is known to be pleasing to the human eye. This technique gives delightful results in landscape and wide shorts photography. If the image is taken correctly, it naturally draws attention from the focal point outwards.

Brain

Our brain processes everything it sees, the faster it processes an image, and the more pleasing it is. The brain swiftly accepts any image that makes use of the golden ratio faster, so it is a signal to the brain that the image is aesthetically pleasing.

In fact, our brains are drawn towards images and objects that use the golden ratio. It is a subconscious attraction. The essence of the golden ratio is to create a sense of beauty through balance and harmony.

Even if you are not aware of the golden ration, your subconscious mind was inclined towards this concept.

Conclusion

The application of the golden ratio is going to enhance your designs by providing beautiful compositions, artistic framing and images that are appealing to the eye. With the different elements, you can improve your designs from good to great. And obviously, once you master the rule you can create your own trends and patterns to create your unique yet magnificent artwork.