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 f all the figures mentioned in this article, the circle is the
most enigmatic, the most unusual, the most famous. It was, not
unreasonably, considered a perfect or even "sacred" form by the
ancients. Anyone who studied geometry knows that the circle
(in 2D) and sphere (in 3D) possess a set of unique features that
somehow set them apart from the rest of the abstract world.
However, I would not claim that circles are particularly favored
in any computer visual art, including web design. After all,
computers with their pixel-based screens aren't very well equipped
to display circles (much worse than rectangles). Circular designs
of, say, navigation bars are not rare, and some are nice, but I
haven't yet seen one that would definitely beat the plum of the web
layouts that do not use circles.
It is difficult to say why that is. Maybe the
viewer can't suppress the subconscious feeling of the circle being
too alien on the rectangle-dominated computer screen. Or perhaps we
just feel the inefficiency of the circle in terms of using screen
space. Indeed, the circle has the shortest perimeter among all figures
with constant area---while for layout purposes, on the contrary, it
is often desirable to minimize area and maximize perimeter. |
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