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Natural Sections in Product Design

  • Page, Tom (Electronic Product Design in Department Design and Technology Loughborough University) ;
  • Thorsteinsson, Gisli (Design and Craft Education Department University of Iceland) ;
  • Ha, Joong-Gyu (Industrial Design in Fine Art Education Department Gyeongsang National University)
  • Received : 2010.06.04
  • Accepted : 2010.07.14
  • Published : 2010.09.28
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Abstract

The golden ratio is a mysterious number that surprisingly appears in science, physics, mathematics, as well as in nature. The number 1.618 seems to be a universal constant, and crops up whenever the subject is of beauty or elegance. Beautiful flowers and sea shells and also attractive people have a common number and that is 1.618 or $\varphi$ (phi). This paper does a study into the story of phi, and describes how the golden ratio is derived. Artists, architects and designers have employed the ratio into dimensioning their works of art to achieve visual appeal. Examples such as the Greek Parthenon of the Acropolis and paintings such as the Last Supper all use this magic number. An investigation was conducted among 50 people to test if looking at golden proportioning was actually appealing, or if it was just a type among overzealous enthusiasts. The results show that the golden ratio may actually be of some use.

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