OUGD504 - Studio task - The Van de Graaf Canon & Golden Ratio

This technique had been used long before the computer, the printing press and even a defined measuring unit. No picas or points, no inches or millimeters. It can be used with nothing more than a straight edge, a piece of paper and a pencil. Using this type of grid system which is still as valid, can create a beautiful and elegant ultra-modern design.

For the studio session we looked into the golden ratio and the van de graaf canon. Seeing all kinds of designs and layouts that follow this method of the perfect positioning, compared to the golden ratio I think this system is a more refined process, The fact the grid has come together from using only the corners of the pages, rather than a mathematical devision through a certain ratio 1.618.

It is the empty space that works for this layout choice. the imagine playing an important role in catching attention along side the title. I personally think its an old layout that has strict rules on positioning. In todays book designs white space is still considered greatly but the consistency is fairly different.

Some graphic designers are fascinated with the golden section and use it to create various grids and page formats, entire books have been written on the subject. Other designers believe that the golden section is no more valid as a basis for deriving sizes and proportions than other methods, such as beginning from standard industrial paper sizes, or dividing surfaces into halves or squares, or simply picking whole-number page formats and making logical divisions within them.