Always nice to read about the use of geometry in design. It is surprising how often geometry is neglected while designing… how many of us designers have a very limited or no knowledge of geometry. While I strongly believe that even a basic knowledge of geometry can drastically improve a designer and help him make more educated decisions, Im not sure that rules as strict as the golden ratio can be truly applied when designing for a dynamic context such as web or mobile. Of course Im not saying that it should be ignored, Im saying it might make more sense to be less strict, more flexible and a bit dumbed down. :)

Take the example of golden ratio usage in photography — it is often complicated to really apply it, so it’s “dumbed down” to phi grid — making it a lot simpler to use. And in the end most of us just end up using rule of thirds. (Hope photographers will not read this :D )

As you said “our consciousness tends to harmony and beauty”. There are many ways to achieve harmonious relation between design elements. When choosing our tools context really matters. I feel like the strict usage of a golden ratio in mobile UI could actually prevent you from using some other “systems” that might be more suited for the context of mobile devices. One of those systems being 8pt or 4pt soft grid that achieves harmony by just calculating all the measures (sizes, margins, paddings etc) in increments of 8pt or 4pt. So dumbed down and simple yet very flexible, fast, effective and very suited for the context of mobile design.

Anyway, nice article… it really got me thinking.