The Golden Ratio, also known as the divine proportion, is the ratio of 1.618 between two numbers. While noted by early mathematicians such as Pythagoras and Euclid, it wasn’t until “De Divina Proportione” by Luca Pacioli and Leonardo da Vinci that the golden ratio’s usefulness was truly recognised.
The Golden Ratio was derived from the Fibonacci Sequence (1,1,2,3,5,8,13…etc), which has been utilised countless times in art and design due to its’ ability to add scale, proportion, and balance to designs.
I found a lot of great examples of the golden ratio being used in Josef Müller-Brockmann’s work using just points, lines, and planes.
I like these examples of standard golden ratio progression (1,2,3,5,8, etc.). They’re all concert posters and the curved planes getting larger and larger as they move out is great way of representing sound. I find the design sketch also very interesting, showing how a circular design can be applied to a grid.
These also follow the standard progression, however are presented in the classic golden ratio spiral. I like how the final point isn’t fully in frame while still having enough in frame to show its progression in the sequence.
I particularly like how these designs have used units of negative space which are in the golden ratio. For example, the design on the right has used 2 units of negative space length to offset 3 units of plane length.
