Teppo Räisänen School of Business and Information Management Oulu University of Applied Sciences

Golden Ratio  At least since the Renaissance, many artists and architects have proportioned their works to approximate the golden ratio believing this proportion to be aesthetically pleasing.  Golden ratio appears in the nature a lot  Other names  golden ratio, golden mean

Golden Ratio

 Greek letter Phi ϕ

Golden Ratio  Mathematicians have studied the golden ratio because of its unique and interesting properties.  E.g.  1 / Phi = Phi – 1 (= …)  In Fibonacci sequence if you divide a number by its predecessor the results converge to Phi  0,1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, …

Golden Ratio

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Direction  In western world people read from top left to lower right  In Asia people read from top right to lower left  This must be taken into account in design

Direction  Photos have also direction  Always leave more room ”in front” of the photo  E.g. leave room to the face side/direction of gaze  More room in front of a car than in behind

Direction

 When you have text and pictures, make sure the pictures face the text  Look at newspapers and how pictures are used in stories!

Direction  There is also depth in pictures

Balance  In graphical design balance plays an important role  Layout must be in balance  Balance does not need to be symmetrical  Every page/image has a focal point

Balance  When arranging elements on a page you must consider their visual weight  Size, value (dark weigh more than light objects), density of the texture  Don’t use too much contrast

Cropping images  With cropping you can improve picture balance  The rule of thirds can be used as a guideline  htm

Break the rules  You can always break the rules  But you must know what you are doing