Published on: Nov 06, 2018
Beauty is undoubtedly an important influence on our lives, but this exploration by Sagmeiser & Walsh together with Kurzgesagt illustrates why.
Beauty is defined as an appealing combination of colour, shape and proportion often includeing elements of the golden ratio, symmetry or fractal patterns. These patterns are all present in nature and recognising them helped our ancestors to survive. In short, 'beauty means an inherent need to useful information.'
These patterns are so hard wired into us that on seeing tham, our reward centres are triggered in recognition of safety and nutrition. Experiments have even showed that beautiful surroundings help patients to recover more quickly and that abstract paintings following strict adherence to pattern rules are deemed more attractive than works that did not.
Our brains simply need beauty in order to aide our understanding of our world and support our wellbeing.