4 ms·

The Golden Ratio and Typography

20 points by lauradhamilton 12y ago

coreymaass 12y ago
Inspired by Brown's modularscale.com, I built another viewer for golden ratios for my own use. I use them all the time in css. http://gelform.com/golden http://gelform.com/golden
mef 12y ago
Relevant: Mythbusting the Golden Mean http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.ca/2013/01/mythbusting-golden-mean-part-1.html http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.ca/2013/01/mythbusting-golden-... http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2013/01/part-2-golden-mean-and-leonardo.html http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2013/01/part-2-golden-mean... http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.ca/2013/01/part-3-golden-mean-in-nature-and-man.html http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.ca/2013/01/part-3-golden-mean-... http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.ca/2013/01/part-4-golden-mean-and-human-body.html http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.ca/2013/01/part-4-golden-mean-... http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.ca/2013/01/part-5-last-question-about-golden.html http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.ca/2013/01/part-5-last-questio...
kmm 12y ago
That's actually a common misconception. There's no proof the proportions of Parthenon especially exhibit the golden ratio, neither do the proportions of the human body. Not to mention that there are so many body parts to compare to each other lengthwise, that it's inevitable some will end up close to 1.618. According the Wikipedia article for the golden ratio, there's a few places where it might show, but nothing too conclusive. In my opinion, it's just make-belief, people want to believe in a mysterious and divine constant guiding nature. I don't know a lot about typography, but I see no reason whatsoever to use the golden ratio to determine the proportions between sizes. 1: http://measureofdoubt.com/2011/08/29/lies-and-legends-about-the-golden-ratio/ http://measureofdoubt.com/2011/08/29/lies-and-legends-about-... 2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_misconceptions#Mathematics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_misconceptions#M...
- jmyc 12y ago
  Another nice summary of this sort of thing: Fibonacci Flim-Flam http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/pseudo/fibonacc.htm http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/pseudo/fibonacc.htm
deleted 12y ago
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nolaneo 12y ago
It'd be nice to see an example at the end. Does the page itself even use the ratio for the headings?
lutusp 12y ago
I wish this myth would die a well-deserved death. The Golden Ratio isn't a well-kept mathematical secret behind Greek architecture, art and typography. This is New Age nonsense masquerading as science.

Inspired by Brown's modularscale.com, I built another viewer for golden ratios for my own use. I use them all the time in css. http://gelform.com/golden http://gelform.com/golden

mef 12y ago

Relevant: Mythbusting the Golden Mean http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.ca/2013/01/mythbusting-golden-mean-part-1.html http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.ca/2013/01/mythbusting-golden-... http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2013/01/part-2-golden-mean-and-leonardo.html http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2013/01/part-2-golden-mean... http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.ca/2013/01/part-3-golden-mean-in-nature-and-man.html http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.ca/2013/01/part-3-golden-mean-... http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.ca/2013/01/part-4-golden-mean-and-human-body.html http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.ca/2013/01/part-4-golden-mean-... http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.ca/2013/01/part-5-last-question-about-golden.html http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.ca/2013/01/part-5-last-questio...

kmm 12y ago

That's actually a common misconception. There's no proof the proportions of Parthenon especially exhibit the golden ratio, neither do the proportions of the human body. Not to mention that there are so many body parts to compare to each other lengthwise, that it's inevitable some will end up close to 1.618. According the Wikipedia article for the golden ratio, there's a few places where it might show, but nothing too conclusive. In my opinion, it's just make-belief, people want to believe in a mysterious and divine constant guiding nature. I don't know a lot about typography, but I see no reason whatsoever to use the golden ratio to determine the proportions between sizes. 1: http://measureofdoubt.com/2011/08/29/lies-and-legends-about-the-golden-ratio/ http://measureofdoubt.com/2011/08/29/lies-and-legends-about-... 2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_misconceptions#Mathematics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_misconceptions#M...

jmyc 12y ago
Another nice summary of this sort of thing: Fibonacci Flim-Flam http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/pseudo/fibonacc.htm http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/pseudo/fibonacc.htm

deleted 12y ago

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nolaneo 12y ago

It'd be nice to see an example at the end. Does the page itself even use the ratio for the headings?

lutusp 12y ago

I wish this myth would die a well-deserved death. The Golden Ratio isn't a well-kept mathematical secret behind Greek architecture, art and typography. This is New Age nonsense masquerading as science.