Tell me something Reader,
Do you believe that beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder?
I believe sometimes it is true, sometimes not.
There are some natural laws that apply to everyone, across the globe. Since the beginning of the time. Laws of what we find beautiful and what not.
I want to share with you one such law: golden ratio.
Don’t worry, you don’t have to be good at math to use it.
I have been using it for many years: in documents, presentations, photography, and designing.
It always works like a charm.
Look at these two slides:
Random slide-1 |
Random slide-2 |
They look impactful, don’t they?
Try a similar arrangement in your PowerPoint software. Play with the placement, font size, etc.
Test it with your friends and colleagues and tell me what worked.
These two slides are based on Golden ratio.
1.61803398875
That’s the Golden Ratio.
We can use 1.618 for practical purposes.
This ratio appears frequently in nature and has been used for millennia in art and architecture.
But let’s see how it works in our context.
The ratio of its sides is 1618/1000 = 1.618
What if we change the dimension of one side?
Let’s decrease the width from 1000 PX to 700 PX.
Now, this is no longer a golden ratio rectangle.
The ratio of the second rectangle’s sides is 1618/700 = 2.311
It shows, huh?
Now, why are we not keeping the text in the center?
There’s a reason behind it.
The Golden Spiral
When we start dividing a golden rectangle’s sides, new golden rectangles start emerging.
For example, let’s divide the rectangle’s length at 1000th PX.
Dividing a golden rectangle with 1000 px width |
When we do this enough, something like this happens:
You can create a spiral running through these dividing lines.
It is called a golden spiral.
The eye of the spiral as you can see, sits slightly away from the center. Slightly near the dividing line.
That is where we can get the maximum attention of the audience/reader. It feels natural to look at it. That’s why, our main object of attention has to be placed around the eye of the golden spiral.
Revisit the first slides I shared with you at the beginning, the titles are placed near the eye.
Use in photography
Rule of thumb: place the object near the spiral eye.
Your photos will be enhanced instantly.
We don’t look for symmetry, we look for balance in photos.
A few examples from the internet:
The photograph becomes more impactful by cropping it by golden ratio |
Placement of object at the eye of the golden spiral |
Curious?
If you want to understand more about the Golden Ratio and its usage, check out this fun YouTube video.
Want to look at its insane applications? Try this Golden Ratio Typography Calculator.
Pheww! Today’s letter contained the most number of images. I hope you found it helpful.
Had you heard about the Golden ratio before? What other concepts do you use in your work?
Hit Reply and tell me.
Reads of the week:
The title is self-explanatory. There is no other way but to exert emotional labor to stand out in current times. Emotional labor is a key point in my New World Rules, published a few years back.
This ‘School of Life’ publication provides a much-needed pessimistic angle for the people who are already married or the ones who are yet to get married. I love their writing, something that all of us need to teach our kids.
David had penned down this post a decade ago. When everyone is hustling their way for the elusive thing called success and startup culture, he asks the reader to reconsider.
So, would you reconsider?
Written: September 19th, 2023 | Place: Ahmedabad