Design - Tuesday, April 22, 2008 18:23 - 5 Comments

Golden Section

You can find tons of info on the Golden Section, online. I bring it up now because of a friendly argument I had with another designer. We debated the golden section’s merits; the true reasoning, its mathmetical values, phi and the logic behind the phenomena in nature.

Afterward, I decided to read-up. Here’s what I found.
The golden ratio was first evident in art in Leonardo da Vinci’s illustrations -especially De Divina Proportione. The question is, did he or did he not use the golden section deliberately? Most believed he did. Da Vinci seldom spoke about his work. So some believe it is pure coincidence. They argue that his art wasn’t based on formulas but rather, his genius.

Salvador Dali, in contrast, used the golden ratio in a majority of his masterpieces. It is most striking in “The Sacrament of the Last Supper”. Dali’s implementation is unbashed.

The golden section – as an arithmetic formula is termed “phi” (or “pi”). It is seen in art, sculptures, music, architecture, nature, mathematics, geometry, and in different sequences, and as decimal expansions.

For over 2400 years people have been fascinated by this phenomena. The number 3.14159 is used in many forms and can be explained by examining shell shapes. The cut through of a shell and its exterior shows us that the formula exists in harmony with nature.