In design we say to do things in 3′s. For some reason we happen to like things in three’s, whether they’re items lined up or they’re placed in an irregular triangle.
I tend to think we like items in 3′s because it seems more random and natural. Nature isn’t so well planned that it makes things even numbers like humans more often do.
But then that seems to contradict with the design need to anchor items so they feel like they have a home. In fact, a lot of the elements of design are there so the elements feel deliberately placed instead of stuck on the layout haphazardly.
Is this a contradiction then. Which do we like? Natural randomness or deliberate placement? Maybe we need a certain balance of both. We need things to look and feel natural enough — after all, we ultimately come from nature. But nature is also dangerous and we need to know we’re secure. So maybe we do want to see a little bit of random nature and a little bit deliberate human placement for security when it comes to art and aesthetics.
Or maybe it’s also skill. Somewhere in the midst of natural randomness, we want to see the skilled touch of the human hand and intelligent mind. That’s the theory of Denis Dutton. Click on the 15 minute Ted Talks video above to watch his very enlightening demonstration about universal human taste and our opinion of what is beautiful…
