🧮 The Golden Ratio

[adam]

Do you ever use 'The Golden Ratio' in your designs? It is something I have been aware of for a while but never really thought to implement. I came across this article today and found it interesting but some of the examples a bit strange...

Understanding the Golden Ratio in Design

The proportion for Golden Ratio is 1:1.618. It is a mathematical equation that has found its way into design practices as well. The golden ratio has been scientifically proven beautiful. The best example to understand the importance of the Golden Ratio can be traced back to one of the most...

line25.com

Am I missing something, or does the Twitter logo not really connect at all? I understand it's made of circles but not how it connects to the golden ratio next to it.

Have you ever used this ratio in your designs? What are your thoughts? 😄

 

[Gummibeer]

We not even use it in most photos. 😅
It's a rule to simplify the entry but not a fixed one and nothing else would be valid.

 

[avena]

Using the golden ratio as a proportional rule for composition if often misinterpreted and overused. Sometimes people became obsessed and try to use it to explain many good visual icons or imaginary without any proof.

In the case of twitter, the image of the article is not official, the original redesign didn't use golden ratio for the circles, but they did use a lot of circles. This is the official one.

Official Twitter brand resources here.

Even if you are not in the design "world" you probably already used or consumed golden ratio without noticing because that's the ratio for the standard DIN paper format "A" and "B" series (like A4, A3, A2, etc), which are very common in small posters or books and documents.

Proportional rules are often used in typography, and there are wonderful books, like The Elements of Typographic Style of Robert Bringhurst in which you can learn a lot about typography, including tricks on proportional rules. But a common mistake is trying to apply the ratio to everything just to justify a design decision.

Good design-related site: Brand New

 

[kilian]

The thing about golden ratio in design is that you don't need to use it perfectly, it's just a very nice way to make sure things are sized distinctly enough.

A slightly different, IMO more interesting system to look at is "Tschichold’s Golden Canon", which is focused on (book) page layout but is really elegant with lots of application for web design too (see the examples at the end of that link)

 

[Gummibeer]

The thing about golden ratio in design is that you don't need to use it perfectly, it's just a very nice way to make sure things are sized distinctly enough.

A slightly different, IMO more interesting system to look at is "Tschichold’s Golden Canon", which is focused on (book) page layout but is really elegant with lots of application for web design too (see the examples at the end of that link)

Mind-blowing how many got, independently, to the same result over multiple decades. 😱🤯

 

[avena]

A slightly different, IMO more interesting system to look at is "Tschichold’s Golden Canon",

Oh yeah, Tschichold's canon is a nice one.

Resource: using ratios for typography Type Scale - A Visual Calculator