AEN UI

Photo by tanakawho

This is a continuation of my original post on Wabi Sabi—Zen Aesthetic Principles. If you have not read that article, I recommend you read it before this one.

This article is the first of the seven principles I will be discussing, with my thoughts on them along with real examples of these principles manifest themselves in our everyday life. I will also show real life applications of the principles and how it can help make your design or artwork more effective and meaningful, or meaningless (in the Zen sense). I’ve already started to sound profound, read on and you will be able to understand.

Fukinsei 不均斉: Asymmetry, odd numbers, irregularity, unevenness and imbalance as a denial of perfection. Perfection and symmetry does not occur in nature.

If you look around you, you will seldom or in fact never observe perfect symmetry in nature. Water is never completely clear, Clouds are never perfectly white, your left hand is always a different size than your right hand, the moon is never a perfect circle, everything is random and even the most regular of events like day and night have slight differences in time. Exact measurement is human science which does not occur in nature.

Because nature is imperfect, we are comfortable and familiar with a world that is not perfect. Nothing has been perfect since the beginning of time. We cannot even give ourselves a perfect explanation of how it all began. Even the Big Bang is just a theory. Einstein tried to come up with a unified theory of the universe but he failed. We live in a much less than perfect world. Although humans have made attempts to strive towards perfection, we can only come close but we will never reach it. This familiarity with imperfection is what makes designs and art created with this principle in mind so pleasing to the mind.

In Industrial Design

Take a look at these bookcase designs by Naoto Fukasawa (more info). He introduced imbalance and asymmetry into the design of the bookcase simple by slanting one or more of its panels. The design is aesthetically pleasing and very functional too, with angles providing excellent support for books. People usually place their books slanted if without the help of an extra book stand, so it is just books and shelf, all that you need. If you can make something work better just by changing or adjusting existing elements without the need of additional elements, that is good design.

In Architecture

Who else to mention when it comes to asymmetrical and organic building designs than Toyo Ito? Toyo Ito happened to be the architect for VivoCity, a mega shopping mall in Singapore, where I live. The main exterior of the building as you can see from the photograph, is covered in panels resembling gentle waves on water, perfectly suited for its location at the harbor front. 49Black has a good flickr set of VivoCity and its construction.
Photo by Food Trails

In Logo Design

Asymetry and imbalance is common in the design of logos. The current Adidas logo was introduced in 1997, designed by Peter Moore, the then Creative Director for Adidas. It is inspired by the 3-Stripes as they appear on footwear. The shape formed by the bars also represents a mountain, indicating the challenge to be faced and the goals to be achieved.

The new logo is a dramatic move from the legacy Trefoil logo designed in 1971, which is symmetrical in appearance.

Thank you for reading this article on Fukinsei. Next I will be writing on Kanso (simple, basic).