The Perception of Proportions: Comparison between Golden Ratio and Root Ration in Japan

The Perception of Proportions: Comparison between Golden Ratio and Root Ration in Japan

Jung Joo, Y.

Badke-Schaub, P.G. (mentor)
Coimbra Cardoso, C.M. (mentor)

Industrial Design Engineering

Industrial Design

Master of Science Integrated Product Design

2012-10-25

Over the past few hundred years a considerable number of studies have been made on the Golden ratio. This paper is based on empirical studies, which reveal doubts on the universal preference of the golden ratio (?) proportion. The empirical study, preceding Gustav Fechner’s publication “Vorschule der Aesthetik” in 1876, was conducted in South Korea, Japan and Germany in order to examine differences on ‘preferences of proportions’ on the golden ratio (?). The research was conducted with 877 subjects between the ages of twenty to fifty in South Korea, Japan and Germany with the question on their preference on proportion showing ten choices of different proportions of rectangles. The data clearly revealed that Koreans and Japanese preference on proportions was 1:1.414, called root ratio (?) and the Germans preference was 1:1.618 known as the golden ratio (?). These results of the experiment contradict previous studies conducted in the Western cultures presenting the universal preferences on proportions on the golden ratio (?). It considers the possibility that ‘preferred proportions’ are different by country. Moreover, proportions are determined by mathematical logic, however ‘preferred proportions’ arise from cultural influences and experience. Therefore, the aspects of this result provide deeper insights of the influence of the design process in specifically on the design form. Within this point of view, the paper continues to examine and analyses various traditional and modern objects and architectural structures in Korea and Japan that exemplify the research results.

proportions
Aesthetics

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:c524f52c-0162-4021-9c82-2cbb852a091a

Campus only

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2012 Jung Joo, Y.