Background Research > Aspect Ratios

“For many artists, however, aspect ratio is, and in their view, should be, determined not by the constraints of the technology or medium, but by the content or the story. Indeed, as long ago as the early 20th century, film directors such as D.W. Griffith, one of the early giants in film, would sometimes change the picture aspect ratio within the film. In "Intolerance", for example, a single shot where a character falls from a high wall has the sides of the vista greatly cropped to enhance the dramatic height of the fall. Today, Directors of Photography often compose the shot to keep the essential subjects in the sweet spot of the frame, regardless of final view aspect ratio. And, sometimes, frame a shot with foreground objects obscuring frame edges to, in effect, change the screen aspect ratio using in-shot mattes.”

This is a very interesting extract on aspect ratios from Wikipedia. The first lines mention that artists feel that rather than designing for a certain aspect ratios, that aspect ratios should be adaptable to fit the constraints of the work. Mobile phones however will contradict this to a high extent, altering aspect ratios and work to fit the constraints of their varying screen sizes. Surely designers should break free from the concept that design Is purely a monitor based medium, in today’s multimedia world with increasing platforms for browsing, designers must think of the big picture, with more and more users using alternate means to access web content.