24 March 2010

I'm now hysterical. Officially.

I just received a draft of my new business card with the almost-finished logo intact. The URL, e-mail address and the rest are not the final copy but aesthetically it's just about there.


Endless praise go to Amy Allen from Allen Harris Design. She embodied everything I want to say about myself and about K&RD in an image. I am stunned speechless. If you ever need someone to handle your graphics, your marketing, your communications, etc. Allen Harris is a one-stop shop.

Now the final version will get tweaked a bit from here based on my last round of changes but this is wonderfully close. If you need a primer, that image hinges on something called the Golden Ratio. The Golden ratio is the intersection of art, math and science and it's represented by the lower case Greek letter phi (ϕ).

Specifically, what it means is that two quantities are in the golden ratio if the ratio of the sum of the quantities to the larger quantity is equal to the ratio of the larger quantity to the smaller one.

Expressed in art, it looks like the Fibonacci Spiral.


Algebraically, it's expressed with this equation.


As a decimal, it's an irrational number. That's a number that can't be expressed as a fraction because it divides into itself endlessly.


The discovery of the Golden Ratio is attributed to the Greek mathematician Pythagoras. Adherence to the Golden Ratio defined classical architecture and art, it ruled the Renaissance and it captivates math and art people to this day.

The Golden Ratio is perfect proportion. It's what Greeks were chasing when they built the Parthenon.


It's what DaVinci is expressing in his Vitruvian Man.


It's the shape of a nautilus shell


a hurricane


a head of broccoli.


It's buried in every classically beautiful building, interior and yes kitchen there is. It's the proportion of my arms, my face and my DNA. And now it's in my logo. I don't think I've ever loved something as much as that business card layout.

33 comments:

  1. Congrats, Paul - it's so good-looking!

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  2. Thanks Raina, I'm so close to the subject matter I'm having a hard time actually seeing it. I appreciate your feedback.

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  3. Nice post, I've heard of the golden ratio of course but I never knew it was found in so many things. Your card looks great!

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  4. Among the most beautiful business cards I've ever seen. Well done! I like that it's white too. You can write stuff on the back.

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  5. This is great, LOVE it!

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  6. I approve too! Definitely you.

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  7. Thank you thank you thank you!

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  8. Looks GREAT Paul! :) But I have to say it... you like Green! Really I love it... the green pops very nicely and a wonderful design.
    Kudos!

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  9. This is absolute GENIUS! You are!

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  10. Michelle: That green might get calmed down a little but I'm not quite sure. It's funny, in this case, I'm the waffling client.

    Laurie: Thanks! I mena wow, thanks. That means a ton.

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  11. I get the waffling. I recently re-did our business cards and it too me months to decide to pull the trigger.

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  12. My letterhead and business card have to be done by KBIS and I am rapidly running out of time. This process has been a real thrill though.

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  13. It's really cool re-inventing yourself in a small way. :)

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  14. Love it! Classic and modern at the same time... not so easy to do.

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  15. I really like the design but you really lost my poor math mind with all that other stuff....I have a headache from even trying to read it...gosh and now I am just getting you over the "birdhate" thing! But, I am going to email your creative folks because we are also looking for new logo for the biz. Good thing you put their link right up at the beginning or I might not have made it....well, the vetruvian man always makes me giggle like a school girl so I would have gotten that far....

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  16. oh but to redeem myself..in all my free time today, I have, you know, not that much to do...I wrote a song. Yep. Pick up your jaw. It is set to the tune of "Michael row your boat ashore" and the beastly bitch ( that would be me) even sang it for my employees. I may have many job openings tomorrow...

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  17. Love it! recognized the golden mean spiral right away.

    Do you work the golden mean ratio into your designs?

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  18. Michelle: That's it exactly.

    Nicole: Thank you.

    Cheryl: I thought you were a math fan too. Oooops. Anyhow, Amy will set you up but good. I'll give you her phone number if that will make it easier for you to get hold of her. I'm not so sure I want to hear your song, but sing it for me in Chicago in a couple of weeks.

    Johnna: Thank you and I'm forever finding Golden Ratios in my work. It's one of the ways I use to check my proportions and it's my go-to tool when I'm confronted with an empty room.

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  19. Nicole's comment fits you perfectly to a tee: Classic and Modern. The card is perfect. I wouldn't change a thing.

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  20. I use to work for an architect that was nuts over the golden section! Brings back drafting memories for me. I like the green... very popular right now...maybe it's the new environmental awareness?
    I found your blog through Life of an Architect and I'm glad I did... your post on marble is perfect timing for me as I just talked about our counter making decision on my last blog entry. The link to the marble test was perfect, Thanks! Jennifer

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  21. Thanks for the vote of confidence Pam.

    Jennifer: Thanks for the comment. I am happy that you found me through Bob, I don't think he's aware of the difference his blog makes. I am a one man booster team for marble, feel free to ask me anything. There is so much nonsense and outright misinformation on it out there it enrages me.

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  22. Wow Christine. Thank you. You're going to make me cry. Not really but it's very kind of you to say all of that. I appreciate it!

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  23. Also love it Paul. Very professional yet chic at the same time. -Brenda-

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  24. Psssst, Paul, that's fibonacci spiral. You're thinking of your Italian grandmother's cooking when you wrote the Finonacci Spiral.

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  25. Typos keep me humble, good catch! I looked at that countless times and every time I saw it, it read "Fibonacci." Oy!

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  26. Sorry I am late to this post. stream of consciousness reaction:

    LOVE the business card. It is SOOO you.

    I hope you don't have an ampersand in your site domain name.

    Is that really broccoli??

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  27. Thanks Rachele, yours is an opinion I value pretty highly. Would that I could have an ampersand but alas, they are an invalid character. I think it looks better with one, but I had to spell it out in the final version. That's not typical American Broccoli, it's an Italian heirloom variety but it really does grow in Fibonacci spirals. But then again, ferns unfurl themselves in Fibonacci spirals too.

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  28. whew, on the ampersand. Be glad you can't use the character! I used to be webmaster for usa-gymnastics.org. I can't tell you how problematic it is to have a non-alpha character in a domain name! It costs real money on the bottom line.

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  29. I guess you have to buy all of the URLs that are iterations of the name among other things. It's just easier to suck to alphanumerics.

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  30. What on earth is a Nally's bag?

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  31. apparently a 1960's potato chip:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/wafflewhiffer/2074090602/

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  32. I guess my Yankee roots are showing, I've never heard of them. Cool package though.

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