Author: Salome Mindiashvili (Page 1 of 2)

Here is the Youtube link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0lzADPoJPQ

I will be exploring the mathematical concept of the Golden Ratio in nature, art & design. My plan is to give a brief explanation of this mathematical idea, mention earlier works of art and architecture that employ the Golden Ratio, then move to examples found in nature, the human body etc. After this, I will refer to Grid Systems by Josef Muller Brockman and find ways to relate his ideas to this topic.

In the second section of my presentation, I will spend more time looking at contemporary logo and web page designs using Golden Ratio and at the very end, I will go in depth of how Golden Ratio plays a huge role in National Geographic’s logo, web page, photography and even typography.

Here is my bibliography so far:

Cousins, Carrie. “The Golden Ratio in Design: Examples & Tips.” Design Shack, Design Shack, 24 June 2020, designshack.net/articles/layouts/golden-ratio-in-design/.

“The Golden Ratio in Modern Architecture: Phil Kean Design Group.” Phil Kean Design Group | Distinctive Custom Luxury Residences, 1 Apr. 2020, philkeandesigns.com/blog/golden-ratio-modern-architecture/.

Schneider, Jaron. “See How the Golden Ratio Plays a Huge Role in National Geographic’s Best Photos from 2016.” Resource, 9 Jan. 2017, resourcemagonline.com/2017/01/see-how-the-golden-ratio-plays-a-huge-role-in-national-geographics-best-photos-from-2016/73204/.

Udayan, Thejes. “10 Top UX Design Principles for Mobile Apps & Websites.” Blogs, 18 Aug. 2020, aufaitux.com/blog/ux-design-principles/.

Wells, Chelsea. “Golden Ratio in Art Composition & Design: The Definitive Guide.” Art Ignition, 24 Feb. 2021, artignition.com/golden-ratio-in-art/.

The terms I carefully had to define while reading Rhetoric of the Image by Roland Barthes:

The linguistic message, which is the caption, the copy, or the title, are two types of messages:
a) The denoted message, which is the literal meaning of the labels on the produce in this case the name of the company, Panzani.
b) The connoted message, which is the sociocultural and ‘personal’ associations drawn from the label or text. For example, the word ‘Panzani’ in the illustration connotes Italianicity.

Iconic Non-coded Messages: The literal Image or denoted message

Under coded iconic messages there are symbolic or connoted message

Anchorage is text that provides the link between the image and the context.

Relay is the interpretation of an image separate from the meaning of the text.

Technology and media is an extension of ourselves as it allows us to express our thoughts and ideas in various ways. There are many benefits of technological progress, however, it can also negatively affect society by changing the behavioral patterns of social interdependence and cause some mental distress.

I enjoyed the comparison of the “the medium is the message” idea with Cubism. “Instead of the specialized illusion of the third dimension on canvas, cubism sets up an interplay of planes and contradiction or dramatic conflict of patterns, lights, textures that “drives home the message” by involvement.”

In other words, Cubism, by seizing on instant total awareness, suddenly announced that the medium is the message. That is a powerful comparison and very modern by thought as well!

Designers should be well aware of all the positive and negative aspects of the communication tools they are employing and by keeping these ideas on mind, they should try to produce the content that hopefully makes the world a better place.

According to Walter Gropius, the art of the past was missing the unity, universality and balance, creating a work without fundamental inner meaning. That is exactly why he founded Bauhaus, the art institution based on ideas of “creating a new unity through welding together of many “arts” and movements”.

Gropius believed that schooling without natural talent would never produce ingenious art. However, he saw theoretical training and manual dexterity as a necessary foundation for all creative efforts. Without the knowledge of the language of construction, design theory, structural laws, form, and color, the ideas would never emerge from chaos. This is a powerful thought that made me think more about imagination and the creative process.

I absolutely loved reading Moholy Nagy’s Typophoto essay about his enthusiasm for typography + photograph which according to him is the visually most “exact rendering of communication.” This still remains valid even today, especially in advertising! (which requires the most effective, exact rendering of communication). Daily we are exposed to ads containing a photograph, logo, and simple typography. Somehow, parts of the brain responsible for typographic and photographic visual processing go hand in hand together and in the end, this creates a fulfilling visual experience; this is certainly what Moholy Nagy was trying to convey in his teachings.

For Jan Tschichold, the ultimate qualities of a design were clarity and objectivity. He advocated the New Typographic style which embodied sans-serif, flush-left ragged right and asymmetrical typography. He thought of ornamental, centered typography as something arcane and impure in the field of design and communications. Jan Tschichold regarded Baroque and Renaissance style designs as impractical and illogical for the visual senses. The central placement of decorated text was especially problematic in his observations as most Westerners read from left to right and the centered layout created real issues of readability and disrupted the natural flow of the visual communication. The function of a good design was communication and the logical sequence of the contents according to Jan Tschichold. In asymmetry, he saw the nature of modern times, the unlimited scope for variations and the design principle based on real-world application.

Josef Müller-Brockmann who came little after Jan Tschichold took the ideas of New Typography and placed them under the grid-based method of communications which according to Brockmann, resulted in the purest expression and universality. This type of design thinking was the expression of visual order, objectivity and mathematical thinking. I found this especially fascinating because I have always found mathematical (technical) thinking more familiar to design thinking than art and abstract expression. It is also fascinating to think that when processing visually based information, the processes in our brain are also very methodological and orderly and that is perhaps why, according to Brockmann, the grid was the answer to the question of design quality, clarity and objectivity. As a designer, in the past, I used to find the grid systems a little too constraining but as I have gained more experience, I have realized that the order within any design radiates attention to detail, coherence and simplicity.

Karl Gerstner who was one of the later pioneers of Typographic Style developed a far more methodological approach in the design field which suggested a model for design in the early days of the computer era. Gerstner created a “morphological box of the typogram” which breaks down certain expressive characteristics of typography by rows. By randomly combining these characteristics, one can generate a systematic yet creative output which is the result of his design programme. This algorithmic and systematic approach developed by Karl Gerstner is taking the design thinking to that level of practicality where the design process, the outcome and the application are all equal of importance.

All of the three authors were enthusiastic about the new possibilities for their immediate futures. Out of three of them, Filippo Marinetti had the most extremist ideas and therefore, was more eager for change and a newer future. His philosophy Futurism was indeed all about the new beginnings in Italy where the history did not matter and the horizon offered more aggression, speed, militarism, anti-feminism and recklessness.

They all shared somewhat similar views on the love for technological advancements. Rodchenko was interested in grids, lines and because he was one of the pioneers in Constructivism movement, he adored any change within the society that would promote logic, theory, experimentation and artistic analysis. He was an artistic engineer for whom technology was the only mean for all the desired experimentation.

El Lissitzky mentioned an interesting idea about the art and design that would follow and his idea was “dematerialization”. He believed that the society was experiencing “dematerialization” caused by technological advancements. This is especially true now, after almost 100 years!!! We have gotten rid of almost all physical properties of our lives. Everything is digital, existing on servers, clouds and then on our screens.

I believe that all these three designers rebelled through history and paved the way for the design that we know today and without their revolutionary ideas, things might have either not advanced enough or might have advanced in various different ways. Their experimental attitude is beyond inspiring given the background of the times these people were living in but the ideas that I find problematic for today’s world and for society in general is Filippo Marinetti’s obsession for war, destruction, aggression and toxic masculinity. Perhaps, other artists thought the same way too but the fact that Futurism was based on these radical ideas, would certainly remain problematic for today’s world.