3.1415
Pi Day is always magical, but this year it is extra special — Pi Day of the century. 3/14/15 @ 9:26:53.
Pi is beautiful and irrational (mathematically it can’t be represented by a common fraction). The digits of pi never end and it never settles into a pattern. As a kid I was fascinated with infinity — how can something go on forever and never end?
3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749445923078164
As a designer I’m always looking for patterns and using patterns to improve my designs. Pi captures my imagination because there is no pattern.
Pi is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter yet there is no pattern in it. Circles are perfection. There is total symmetry. The tension between order and randomness is one of the tantalizing aspects of pi.
It’s easy to assume pi is irrelevant to design, but that would be a mistake. Pi is connected to nearly everything in the universe. Pi’s relationship to circles means pi is fundamental to cycles, waves and rhythms. This is everything from the beating of a baby’s heart to the seismic waves in an earthquake. The pattern of the light blinking on the Apple Mac is timed to a human’s breathing pattern. Pi is in the formula to calculate this.
Pi is my reminder to consider the irrational as well as the rational.
I am currently a student in BDW’s 50 week graduate program. Learn more about the BDW program.
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