Starship design and the golden ratio.
caoimghgin (845 pencils) | Thu, 2008-11-20 15:45
Some of you who are in touch with your inner-geek may already be filled with anticipation for the new Star Trek movie coming out next year.
Shots of a newly designed Enterprise NCC-1701 were released recently and the reaction from fans has been very mixed. I didn't think it was that bad, but then again, anything that didn't look "Next Generation" was cause for a minor celebration.
I wondered if there was an empirical standard for beauty in design and it occurred to me that classical architecture seemed to think there was.
Realizing this, I did an experiment to see if I could find those same sacred geometric principles in the original Enterprise design and if it would explain why many fans believe it is one of the more attractive spaceship designs in science fiction.
Take a look at this blog entry and tell me what you think. Starship design and the golden ratio.
Also, check out this YouTube video. It could be one of the most inspirational videos for use of the golden mean in every design element.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zWivbG0RIo
Thanks!
Without my sense of direction, I don't know where I'd be.
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The golden mean. . . :)
Don't start your projects without it! :)
"Try not, Do! or do not, there is no try."
-Yoda
God was totally a math major.
And yet, it's chaos that I think of as the Mother of Creativity. Is this because we're hard-wired to seek that natural ratio in all things, and are restless until we achieve it? Does this make my obsessive need to mentally rearrange furniture in other people's offices an act of artistic genius, or is it only base instinct leaking out at the seams?
For extra credit: if the Fibonacci sequence is at the heart of all things pleasing and proper, is it our duty as artists to screw with it, to prove some kind of dorky creative point?
Mara
"Try not, Do! or do not, there is no try."
-Yoda
Or perhaps the Fibonacci sequence in visual design is much like musical theory where infinite possibilities of sound and rhythm exist within a well defined and time tested framework.
So, sure, experiment. Break the mold. Create and create anew. But, I suspect where design is created outside of the knowledge, respect and appreciation for the Divine Proportion, the result suffers.
The Star Trek example could be applied to any design discipline.
Look forward to many posts on Mara's extra credit question.
Without my sense of direction, I don't know where I'd be.
I think just like other things in art, our tendancy to find certain ratios pleasing is linked to our survival instinct.
I'd guess it has to do with sex and finding things pleasing in each other ;) or safety and finding safe structures pleasing.
"...and mamma cried: Watch out where the huskies go, don't you eat that yellow snow" - Frank Zappa
That would explain why there isn't much twelve-tone make-out music around.
Mara
hmmm we don't need to break into music theory now... this thread could go on for years. Are you a musician?
"...and mamma cried: Watch out where the huskies go, don't you eat that yellow snow" - Frank Zappa
A bit. Irish traditional on fiddle. Good fun that.
UPDATE: I was thrilled to see the same golden ratios in the design of the x-wing fighter today. Also the a-wing as well. Probably could go on and on with that. Would post on blog but fear I'd be forced to wear propeller hat and pocket protector in public if I did.
Still, nice to have my sense of aesthetics backed up by mathematics. Something comforting about that.
Cheers!
Without my sense of direction, I don't know where I'd be.
I mess around with a penny whistle, but I'm not comfortable playing live with it yet, mostly I play bongos that I made myself. I startd making a bhodran, but have moved in the middle of it, and haven't gotten my workshop properly set-up yet to finish it.
You ever been to East Durham, NY for the Irish Festival? I'm Scottish, not Irish, but I go anyway :) I figure it's close enough...
I just checked out your website: what are you printing with? I used to use a Epson 9600 when I worked for RR Donnelley(also used the x-rite model you have photoed there)
"...and mamma cried: Watch out where the huskies go, don't you eat that yellow snow" - Frank Zappa
Was there any doubt about its perfection?
Damn it, JimD, I'm a graphic designer not a magician.
"Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible."
— Frank Zappa
"Art -- the one achievement of Man which has made the long trip up from all fours seem well advised." - James Thurber
Ach! Cap'n, I dunna noo if the dilythium crystals can take much more of this punishment!
"...and mamma cried: Watch out where the huskies go, don't you eat that yellow snow" - Frank Zappa
Scotty! Gimme da power!
"Try not, Do! or do not, there is no try."
-Yoda