The golden ratio is harmonious mathematical proportion that has been used and studies in mathematics and the arts since euclid (Ancient Greece). Palladio coined the term, divine proportion (Italian Renaissance)
It is often credited as being able to deliver aesthetically pleasing and harmonious composition.
The golden rectangle shows how the golden ratio can be applied on two dimensions.
100cm / 1.618 = 61.80
100cm = 61.80 + 38.20
the ratio of 61.80 to 38.20cm is 1:1:618
adding...
100cm x 1.6.18 = 161.80cm
the ratio of 100cm to 161.80cm is 1:1:618
The golden ratio can also be applied to type.
A 55pt heading is complimented by a 34pt body.
After the introduction to golden sections and the mathematics behind them, each of us drew our own on graph paper. I found this to be really simple. All I did was divide the longer axis of each rectangle by 1.618 and I got the measurement for the next line to draw. You eventually get all the rectangles.
Using the golden section, I was then able to create a grid layout using columns for a website. Diving the longer axis again by 1.618 and then marking its measurement from both ends of the rectangle allowed me to do this grid. I then again repeated the procedure on both of the axis and created horizontal rows and vertical columns.
Rob Janoff on the apple logo; From a designer’s point of view and you probably experienced this, one of the big phenomena is having the experience of designing a logo for whatever reasons you design it, and years later you find out supposedly why you did certain things. And, they are all BS. It’s a wonderful urban legend. Somebody starts it and then people go “oh yeah, that must be it”.
There has also by change been examples of the golden section being adapted and used in certain things before even being invented. We discussed the occurrence of the Fibonacci sequence in nature as well.
J.A. Van De Graaf was a 19th century dutch scholar of book design. He observed a system of page layout used in page layout since gutenberg.
The margins and text are are determined by the page dimension and the spread dimensions on a whole. Margin and text are are determined by the page dimensions and the spread dimensions
continue on the other page to build up the Van De Graaf pattern.
Jan Tschichold adopted a similar approach influenced by Gutenberg layouts.
In studying these layouts Tschichold deduced that in order for these canons to work harmoniously the page ratio must be 2 - 3. The rest are also 2 - 3 and the vertical length is equal to the horizontal length of the page....(circle)..harmony.
My own drawing of a van de graaf diagram. I made sure I started off with a rectangle that was 2 - 3. The vertical was 18cm so the the horizontal had to be 27cm. After halving the page into two sections it was pretty easy from there on. After making lines from each of the corners and then into the middle, the body copy sections could be then allowed to be drawn out from within the lines.
Romek Marber - Penguin Grid
We were also introduced to the Marber grid, of which is used extensively throughout the penguin books, which started with the crime series of green penguin books."In 1961, a Polish graphic designer by the name of Romek Marber, conceived a grid layout for Penguin book covers that became one of the most praised and recognised layouts of all time."
In 1961, after being impressed by some of Marber’s designs for The Economist, the then Penguin art director Germano Facetti commissioned him to produce covers for Simeon Potter’s books ‘Language in the Modern World’ and ‘Our Language.’
Using the golden section within grids and getting used to the placement is very helpful. It allows you to understand the positioning of golden ratio grids and mathematics behind it more. It ties in well with the Design for web brief because you can interpret the golden section information well into your grids. You can add more lines to your grid and create more proportionate sections that
ultimately create better looking design that is aesthetically pleasing to the eye.
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