golden mean 

noun: golden mean; plural noun: golden means 

1. the ideal moderate position between two 

extremes. 

2. another term for golden section. 

golden section 

noun: golden section; plural noun: golden sections 

1. the division of a line so that the whole is to the greater part as that part is to the smaller part (i.e. in a ratio of 1 to 1/2 (√5 + 1)), a proportion which is considered to be particularly pleasing to the eye. 

The golden mean; the basis of any design education foundation and the infrastructure of balance. When two parts are of equal proportion, western culture perceives this as beauty. What happens if two parts are not equal? What happens if we added a third element? What if we perceive the odd as even? 

In Greek mythology and the philosophy of Aristotle, the ‘middle way’ is the ultimate middle between two extremes, ‘one of excess, the other of deficiency.’ The golden mean symbolises the attributes of beauty and has been explored in the creation of aesthetically pleasing design in a modern context. Does balance equal beauty? Does symmetry equal perfection? Can you break the rules without first knowing them? 

Daedalus was a great craftsman, the designer of the ultimate labyrinth and father to Icarus, the creator of the dancing ground for Ariadne. Daedalus built feathered wings fused together with wax for himself and his son, so they may escape the perils of King Minos, who every nine years sent seven boys and seven girls to Daedalus labyrinth to be scarified by the Minotaur. Daedalus told his son to fly ‘the middle course,’ to stay in the middle between the seas spray and the suns heat. He did not listen. He flew beyond the middle and the sun melted the wax on his feathered wings, destroying his ability to fly. For not staying on the middle course he was punished, and he fell into the sea and drowned. 

Can one chase the beauty that the world seeks? Is the middle only between two halves? What if the middle was a third? Can you miss a life you have never had? What if the never is at the end of a labyrinth of beginnings just waiting for you to make wings? 

I aim to reclaim the words of the past. Instagram will ask us, ‘what is your hashtag?’ Social media tells us to define ourselves through the definitions they characterise us by; a gesture, a symbol for validation, a way to track ideas, a system of classifications that others have defined for us and define us by. What happens if we fly outside of the middle? What if you could become the middle, not between two perfect halves, but to become the third that separates the middle? 

This experimental design projects aims to refine the golden mean, in which I will become the middle; to reinterpret symmetry; readjust the interpretations of balance; to reinvent the meaning of words so easily thrown around as meaningless; to take the meaningless and turn it into social understanding; to see the extraordinary in the ordinary; to reformulate the beginning before it becomes an end; to turn the end into a story and to make the story just the start of the labyrinth. 

#hashtagshineon #shinning