There are many out there comfortable with fighting for the artistic reputation of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), particularly the company’s software and hardware design methodology. There are fewer, though they certainly exist, that would argue for the artistic nature of the company’s iconic logo. Over at Forbes, David Cole looks at that very image, and attempts to derive the divine from it.
Over the years, mainly though the medium of forum posts and photo shopped images, many have claimed that the company’s logo lines up with a particularly interesting mathematical phenomenon, the golden ratio. Cole seeks to prove the contention, or find it false.
For those who aren’t familiar with the concept, the golden ratio is approximately 1.618. Artists and architects are fond of incorporating the number into their pieces, and famous examples of its use include some of Leonardo Da Vinci’s work, most notably On the Divine Proportion, and in Debussy’s Reflections in Water.
Many have claimed that the golden ratio can be found in many different parts of nature, as well. Oft cited examples include much of the work of Adolf Zeising, who claimed to see the golden ratio in everything from the branches and stems of plants to the human skeleton. Some observations have even concluded that the harmonious comparison exists at one of the universes smallest observable levels, the atomic scale.
Whether or not the golden ratio is a realistic way to look at the world or not, it’s become important if only because of the weight of belief that it is. Cole takes the mathematical perspective and finds that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is not a Golden Ratio compliant company.
Cole finds that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) does not actually have a single stringently defined logo that they use for everything. The unicode model and the press kit model are actually slightly different. Cole, in a move familiar to many technology fans, assumes that the newest logo is the most perfect, and analyzes its shape.
The Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) logo does not match up to the golden ratio, though it appears to, and Cole explains why. The proofs that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) had a Golden Ratio Compliant Image relied on images with arbitrary measurements, and no definable methodology. That makes it easy for almost anything to be considered based on the golden ratio. Cole’s work can be found over at Forbes, and it makes an interesting read.
