The ancient Egyptian pyramids, the Parthenon of Athens, Mona Lisa’s face and the peak of Derren Brown’s goatee all have one thing in common. Their attractiveness is said to be based on the “golden ratio”, which is supposed to be the most aesthetically pleasing shape to the human eye.
The golden ratio, also known as the divine proportion, produces a shape similar to a widescreen television or a cinema screen and describes a rectangle with a length roughly one and half times its width. The proportion is said to pervade art, architecture and nature.
I’m looking at the print of the Mona Lisa hanging on my wall now, and yes, the shape of her face IS very pleasing…as is Derren’s goatee. (Never shave that thing off, Derren…It seems your career partially depends on it!)
Despite this, we seem to be slowly moving away from the 2:3 ratio and using 16:9 and 5:6 and even 6:7 more often. 2:3 is going out of fashion.
Funny you should post this, I was looking into the golden ratio this morning. An interesting link here on beliefs and maths http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujAlmq_v32c . Have you ever heard the expression ‘Blinded by Science’ .You decide ladies and gentlemen
A widescreen television is of the ratio 16:9, that’s a width roughly one and a half times its length, not “a length roughly one and half times its width.”
That’s funny cause on Mr Maker the rectangle is my least favourite, I like the circle best. “I am a circle”, doo doo doo doo!
Also they can be linked to the phallus!
why limit it to the peak of derren’s goatee? we all know his entire self is aesthetically pleasing!
Nope, ‘fraid I’m still none the wiser as to why some shapes are more pleasing to the eye than others.
Not that I’ve ever met the man but Derren appears to measure up perfectly. Is it possible to love a brain? Will it be auctioned for scientific research? Obviously being way serious and not brown nosing at all.
Ehehe …. there is no standard in this … my wide screen tv def. is not my preferred type of screen, that for starters.
Nothing has been proven … it’s just someone’s theory. A bit shallow and safe I’d say … but hey .. otherwise there was a bit too much to say about the topic I guess.
That stumped me too, Simon. What IS the accepted nomenclature?
has ‘length’ traditionally been a measurement along the horizontal axis? (in 2 dimensions that is)
Take that, George Clooney’s head!
To be truly pedantic, the widescreen tv ratio 16:9 is a width roughly one and a three quarter times its *height*.
This is bunk, inasmuch as it purports to explain anything at all. Things which have some underlying but simple mathematical principle invoke more connections in the brain than things which don’t, thereby giving us a greater sense of pleasure. The golden rectangle invokes the simplest unconscious reaction of all, in that it is the only rectangle that can be folded in half and still be the same shape – so the mind experiences a shape which can be folded into itself.
I always thought that was a given.
Get your maths right, OtherMike: the golden rectangle is the only rectangle which can have a square removed in such a way that the bit remaining is the same shape as the original.