Have you heard of the golden rectangle?

Philosophers, mathematicians, and artists have admired the properties of what’s been termed the ‘golden rectangle’ for thousands of years.

It’s a mythical shape based on 1.618 or about 5 x 8.

Today it’s the common shape used for books, flat screen TV’s and smart devices. Why?

Research discovered human vision and cognition developed together, result in the ability to scan an image faster when its shape is a golden rectangle.

Which means this simple shape accelerates our ability to absorb information, which is why marketers use small paragraphs of text in their blogs, articles and on product information.

But, as much as we love these rectangles, further research discovered we have a stronger preference for designs with rounded edges rather than angular.

This is true for products and even their packaging, which is attributed to an adaptive fear response to sharp objects that could inflict physical harm to a person.

This led Apple to patent the idea of rounded corners and then suing Samsung for using rounded corners on their smart devices. Which a common sensed Judge threw out.

Which makes sense, as Apple would need to own the human brain and continued brain evolution to have a chance of patenting the golden rectangle shape with rounded corners.

As an office technology company ourselves, it’s important to understand why people absorb information much easier through golden rectangle proportions, and why screens on our printing devices, internet phones and laptop bundles are shaped in this way.

…could your products or marketing material be redesigned to benefit from the golden rectangle.