The Golden Ratio and Fibonacci sequence were two things that I had heard of before, but I didn’t realise the role they had to play within design. This is due to the mathematical ratio which is commonly found in nature. As a result, designers use it to create organic-looking and visually pleasing compositions. The Fibonacci sequence is something I thought was solely used in maths, it is clear it is vital when trying to create dynamic designs as it describes the perfectly symmetrical relationship between the two proportions in question. These measurements are created by adding together the sum of the previous two terms:

0 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 …

 

It’s not only in design that the Golden ratio can be utilised, but it was widely used in Ancient Greece and is even believed that the Egyptians used it to build the pyramids. In modern times, it can be seen in music, art and design. Leonardo da Vinci was one artist who extensively used the Golden ration to make sure his designs are perfectly composed. 

 

TASK…

Using the knowledge I have learnt, I created a grid where I explored compositions of point, line, plane, utilising the fibonacci sequence to make sure they were in proportion. It took me a while to understand how and why the sequence worked, but after this task, I can see why.

 

 

There are various reasons why designers should use the Golden ratio and Fibonacci sequence as it controls the typography hierarchy and image composition, vital to logo design and helps create easy to use layouts which can be interacted with. I hadn’t realised the amount of tools available to designers and Type Scale is one. It can be used to create type which is in a balanced hierarchy, which allows designers to add emphasis on certain words, solely through the scale or weight of the text. 

 

TASK…

Back in the first week, I came up with a manifesto to keep my motivation up throughout the year. Using type scale, I redesigned my manifesto, using simple black text on a white background, but focused on keeping my text in proportion with each other and adding emphasis on the most important part.

 

 

The Rule of Thirds was something I had come across during my year in Foundation Art, but mainly in photography, so I wasn’t aware of how it can be utilised with digital design and the role it plays. How the human eye is attracted to the different areas of the 3×3 grid in a certain order. I didn’t realise that this was something I do do myself and when you place a poster or title of a webpage under the grid, the designers put the key information in the two points the eye looks at first and then mainly images on the others. 

 

A new concept to me was that of the Gestalt Principles which are:

 

Proximity, Similarity, Continuity, Closure, Common Fate, Figure and Ground, Focal Point

 

These principles of visual perception are key when it comes to UI design and are a way to manipulate visual communication. It links up with how the brain is always trying to make sense of the things around it and will try to connect the dots and perceive shapes and forms. A Gestalt when translated is a form/shape, and the group of principles is based on the theory that “an organised whole, is perceived greater than the sum of its parts”. The seven principles are built on four ideas: emergence, reification, multi-stability and invariance. The brain will recognise a simple, defined object rather than a detailed one and works to still recognise imagery if parts are missing using memories. It is key to understand the way people will interpret designs as UI design is all about the user interacting with your design, so if they interpret it wrong, will it still work the same. 

 

TASK…

Using the fibonacci sequence and planes, I recreated some wireframes of apps which resulted in a Leonardo layout. Also, keeping in mind the Gestalt Principles, I created the three thumbnails and added tone to help decipher the different elements.  

I learnt a lot of new terminology this week and the role they play when it comes to design. A lot of these are often overlooked, as I did before I was introduced, but this can’t down play the role they have in how we use and interact with designs.