Exploring the Aesthetic Effects of the Golden Ratio in the Design of Interactive Products

We conducted an experiment to test whether the use of the golden ratio as a design guideline in interactive products has aesthetic value, that is, whether it influences users’ aesthetic evaluation of the product and their preferences for it over other product of the same type. We studied two types of products (mobile phones and web pages), each was wireframed in two design versions and then manipulated systematically to form various width × height proportions, including the golden ratio. Each of ninety-one participants evaluated one design version of each product by means of pairwise comparisons of all proportions. The results support the golden ratio hypothesis regarding the mobile devices but not regarding the web page designs. We discuss possible explanations for these results