The Thursday Blog: Fibonacci and The Golden Ratio

In mathematics the Fibonacci sequence is a seequence of the following integers:

1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55,89,144...

It can be represented visually this way:

This is the basis for the Golden Ratio, that can be used as a compositional guide to help balance compositions of images in an aesthetically pleasing manner:

It has been used for centuries by the likes of Da Vinci.

Below is a video by Ali Shirazi examining a contemporary use of the Golden Ratio in the film There Will be Blood.

Here are a selection of posters from baubauhaus that also make use of the golden ratio

A couple of many many MANY examples in architecture

Frank Millar's Dark Knight Returns

One I personally found in Watchmen, I also found occurrences in issues of Sandman and Promethea

Rather more oddly the the Fibonacci sequence occurs regularly in nature:

Romanesque Brocolli (The most delicious Fibonacci Sequence?) 

Hurricanes

Spiral Galaxies

DNA

The psychologist Gustav Fechner  devised a test to see what role the golden ratio plays in human perception of beauty. While his results showed a preference for rectangle ratios centred on the golden ratio more recent attempts to test his hypothesis have been inconclusive at best.

The Golden Ratio is clearly an affective tool but its also a great mystery that seems intricately bound with the basic structure of the universe. And that just makes it cool.