Have you ever thought about applying the Golden Ratio to your website? Let me back up and ask – do you even know the Golden Ratio is? According to Wolfram MathWorld, the Golden Ratio is:
The golden ratio, also known as the divine proportion, golden mean, or golden section, is a number often encountered when taking the ratios of distances in simple geometric figures such as the pentagon, pentagram, decagon and dodecahedron. It is denoted phi, or sometimes tau.
The Golden Ratio is often associated with the Greeks and arts and architecture. However, Chris Pearson, the Creator of Thesis and Founder of DIYthemes, has a pretty convincing argument for applying it to typography and Web design. He said that if people relate aesthetic beauty and efficiency to the Golden Ratio, then why not use it in typography?
“There’s a whole lot of conjecture and assumption and arbitrary decisions that have been made throughout history to say this is the right way to set text,” he said. “I’m not satisfied with arbitrary choices and preferential selection.”
As Pearson explained it to WebProNews, looking at the Golden Ratio in this way gives proper placement to every single pixel on a website. He built a calculator to simplify the process to allow others to take advantage of this concept too.
“The idea is that you’re gonna produce the most aesthetically beautiful, aesthetically pleasing, and easy-to-read text that you can have,” Pearson pointed out.
He went on to say that applying this idea to a website is extremely important since content is the primary mode of communication for publishers.
“Since content is the only way that you’re communicating with people online… I don’t want to leave to arbitrary selection and choice,” he said.
Pearson also added that applying the Golden Ratio to typography also helps publishers organize their content proportionately, which is critical since people view content on so many different devices.
Are you open to trying Pearson’s idea for your website? Let us know.