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Golden Ratio, bullshit or not bullshit

over 6 years ago from , Webdesigner & Graphist Freelance

I think the title is clear, So do you use it ? For me i use it and like it :)

Sorry for my english, i hope i was clear.

Cheers

24 comments

  • James GreigJames Greig, over 6 years ago

    25 points
    • Joe Crupi, over 6 years ago

      As amusing as this is, this is in fact what a lot of people think the golden ratio is. It's a lot more than this. It is the framework woven into every single thing in the universe - from the atoms in your body through to the rotation of our galaxy.

      Those designers out there that think 'eyeballing' it is better, they simply don't understand that they are most likely subconsciously using the divine proportion to make their design beautiful.

      4 points
      • Ethan BondEthan Bond, over 6 years ago

        Sure but so are pi and e. Why don't we use those? There is an infinite number of important numbers throughout nature. It's not all that significant to pick the one that results in pleasing proportionality and then justify its significance by the fact that its proportionality is pleasing.

        0 points
        • Joe Crupi, over 6 years ago (edited over 6 years ago )

          If by pi you actually mean mean 'phi' then you'll know that this is the golden ratio (1.618033987)

          The point I'm trying to make is that it isn't bullshit because it's interwoven into everything - you simply can't dismiss it.

          The grids we use in our layouts (even this designernews.co page) uses an approximate content vs sidebar ratio of 1.610...

          Photography/image composition - ever used the rule of thirds? It's based on the golden ratio.

          The hierarchy of typography we choose more often than not follows a mathematical scale. Learn more at http://www.modularscale.com

          Highly suggest you watch:

          The Code: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iANW9Yn980 The Connected Universe: http://www.theconnecteduniversefilm.com

          And if you wanna get REALLY hardcore and have your mind blown, start listening to theoretical physicist Nassim Haramein (c:

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7UOCw-FsIc

          2 points
  • Elliot EllisElliot Ellis, over 6 years ago

    bullshit

    9 points
  • Bruno AbattiBruno Abatti, over 6 years ago

    I think it isn't bullshit; people made it bullshit.

    For instance, Alexandre Wollner — a brazilian fucking graphic design genius — used, and still uses, the golden ratio to design. It's a guide, like grid. You use the golden ratio to design a grid, and then, if you like, or the project requires, you break the grid.

    In today's design world, people are lazy and just open the vector app and "design" a logotype, or a symbol. But back then the golden ratio were the basic scale to design almost everything.

    I, however, don't use the golden ratio as much as I'd like, unfortunately. But I don't think it's bullshit; people are.

    5 points
  • Suganth SSuganth S, over 6 years ago

    Can Designers Goldenratio?

    2 points
  • John KarlssonJohn Karlsson, over 6 years ago

    I'd say it is around 161.803399% bullshit

    1 point
  • Brian MooreBrian Moore, over 6 years ago

    I made this twitter bot recently. Perhaps it can help answer the question?

    https://twitter.com/goldenratiobot

    1 point
  • Mal SMal S, over 6 years ago

    I use it as a starting point. It serve as a framework to base my other decision around. -frameworks makes the dream work

    1 point
  • Zaid Edrees, over 6 years ago

    I like this article about the golden ratio. There are some scientific proofs that it doesn't work: The Golden Ratio: Design's Biggest Myth

    1 point
  • Christopher Reath, over 6 years ago

    It's a good guide but not the final answer for everything imo

    1 point
  • Peiran TanPeiran Tan, over 6 years ago (edited over 6 years ago )

    It’s all bullshit because it does not yield any objectively meaningful or arrive at some physically beautiful truth. It is a social construct, just like letterform proportions and book margin ratios. In this sense, it is as bullshity as Durer’s roman capital construction diagrams.

    But when you have a ton of people repeating it over a long time, it can get embedded into the collective aesthetic consciousness and enforced by trade practices. Then posterior rationalization kicks in.

    0 points
  • Rostislav Blaha, over 6 years ago

    I don't use it very often and I am very skeptical to it being some universal standard of beauty. There are people who are looking at nature and searching for any two completely random dimensions of anything that are to each other (approximately) in golden ratio. Of course they find it but the same is truth for any other number.

    On the other hand professional photographers are quite frequently using it so it good to take it in account when you do anything with photos.

    So the general conclusion for me is – yes it is most probably bullshit but the kind of bullshit which (as far as other creative professionals are using it) is good to know and take in account when necessary.

    0 points
  • Thomas Michael SemmlerThomas Michael Semmler, over 6 years ago

    I think the golden ratio is a mathematical thing, nothing else. Take it too far and your design will look ugly, despite the mathematically proven beauty.

    0 points
  • Freckley FrecklesonFreckley Freckleson, over 6 years ago

    I don't think anything beats learning to eyeball, but it takes years to perfect and to be confident in your eye. It can be a good guide to start off with, but then ditch it when you're ready. I probably should have used it earlier in my career to make my life easier.

    0 points
  • Emanuel S.Emanuel S., over 6 years ago

    That's all that matters.

    0 points