Aesthetic preferences for the unity ratio resist the influence of color illusions

SUSAN T. DAVIS
University of Dayton

The addition of color produces an extension of previous research examining aesthetic preferences for proportional relationships. To date, most favored preferences have been for the unity (1:1) and golden section (1.618:1) ratios. Two experiments examined preferences in and assessed the accuracy of area judgments for divided figures that varied in saturation contrast and were presumed to present a complementary color illusion. Regardless of colors, saturation contrast, direction of division, or area-to-area ratio, participants were accurate in locating the boundary between the two areas of the divided figure, and preferences for the unity ratio dominated as the most preferred ratio. There was no notable interest in the golden section ratio. Looking at the world through colored glasses seems not to interfere with a preference for symmetry, as produced by the unity ratio.