Composition and layout

Member lesson

Golden ratio and its overuse

Lesson 18 of 27 in Composition and layout.

The Golden Ratio: Is It Myth or Math? · Be Smart
Lesson

The ratio is real mathematics and appears genuinely in some natural growth patterns. The claim that it governs beauty, that great paintings were composed on it, and that the Parthenon and the pyramids were built to it, is largely unsupported.

on theintersectionnot the centre
A frame divided in thirds with the subject on an intersection.
Four small pictures of a cat, a teacup, a scribble and a car, each with the same red spiral drawn over it at a different size and angle.
The same spiral, turned and resized, seems to fit a cat, a teacup, a scribble and a car. An overlay that can be made to fit anything proves nothing about any of them.
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  1. Question 1, locked

    Which of these words means this? “Approximately 1.618. A real mathematical constant.”

    • Fluid canvas
    • Near miss
    • Fixation
    • Golden ratio
  2. Question 2, locked

    Which of these words means this? “A logarithmic spiral drawn from golden rectangles. The thing overlaid on everything.”

    • Rhythm
    • Golden spiral
    • Saccade
    • Module
  3. Question 3, locked

    Which of these words means this? “Seeing a pattern in data that does not contain it.”

    • Apophenia
    • Saccade
    • Module
    • One idea

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