PERFECT CIRCLE

Nothing could be simpler than drawing a circle. 

A compass – or more correctly, a pair of compasses – accomplishes this in no time. 

As easy as it may be, however, there is still a magical power to drawing one.  Give any kid a compass and watch their expression as the arcing line meets up with itself.  Pure satisfaction and true for most adults too. 

Something about that perfectly circular shape resonates in the part of the brain that loves simplicity and a sense of completion.  For this reason perhaps, most cultures throughout history have used the circle to represent life, the universe, even divinity.  Medieval art and literature, for example, are filled with the idea that God is the geometer of a complex world.  The image that is used most often to illustrate this shows a crouching bearded figure using a pair of compasses to conjure the world into existence.

Circles are not only visible objects though; they are also maneuvers in the creative mind.  From the color wheel to the Circle of Fifths to the organic chemistry ring, the history of thought is filled with circles as insight, innovation, and inspiration. 

Circles, of course, are everywhere in design as well, and making them is built into the tools we use whether the string-and-post used in ancient architecture or the Photoshop file I worked on this morning.  But there is another way to make a circle that is even more compelling and that is to do it free-hand.  Drawing a perfect circle with no tool at all, just using the gesture of the hand and eye, has an especially magnetic attraction.  In fact there are events like the World Freehand Circle Drawing competition, among others, devoted to this fascination.  Not to mention hundreds of YouTubes. 

Try it yourself and you will see.

Just take a marking tool – even your finger on a dusty glass will do – and sweep your hand in one fluid motion around to make the best circle you can.  It is addictive if you cannot get it right away and even more compelling once you do.  It elicits a very satisfying sense of conclusion...and freedom, considering that the only tool besides the marker is your own body thinking circularly. 

By the way, you can cheat on this if your circle is big enough.  Just stand sideways to a wall with chalk in the hand next to that wall and sweep your arm around while keeping it straight.  Your shoulder becomes the hub of a circle that cannot miss and you will get your hand-drawn circle all right, but maybe not quite the same feeling of satisfaction because to draw a circle spontaneously and make it perfect through grace and balance and rhythm puts you in touch with that one great circle that exists only in the imagination.

This is the thrill of design, after all, since making a thought real is what design is all about.