This week we began studying the basics of visual design, which took me back to my earliest days as a freshman art student at Kent State, taking the widely reviled art-major-required introductory class known as "VisOrg I," or "Visual Organization." It can be kind of difficult to read primer-type texts on subjects that you feel like you've studied intensively in the deep, dark past, almost like trying to appreciate a children's beginning reader about "Dick and Jane" and their dog Spot as fine literature. But the truth is, you never really stop learning about things like this once you start, and there are always things you may have forgotten about, or haven't thought about in a long time -- it's always worth being reminded of even the most basic elements of a discipline.
Of the basic elements of which I was reminded this week, the one that really fascinated me was the concept of the "Golden Ratio." This ancient design concept has its roots in nature, and has been used by humans in designing all kinds of things, from the Parthenon in ancient Greece to web pages that haven't been released to the public yet. It ties together elements of math, biology, human psychology and visual perception in ways that almost blur the lines between science and magic, the way the Golden Ratio seems so often to be the perfect solution to design problems, to present a satisfying look and feel to things that humans are naturally attracted to. It almost seems like the kind of thing that cults develop around! But unlike alchemy or the pursuit of perpetual motion, the Golden Ratio is firmly based in hard science and math -- and so deeply rooted in nature as well, that of course we perceive it as completely natural when we encounter it in human-made design. I am definitely happy to have been reacquainted with this marvelous concept, and plan on investigating it further.
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