The pattern of the florets in the head of a sunflower is one that fascinates me. It's a pattern of efficiency and beauty. Each floret is placed next to the previous by approximately the golden angle. 

 

The hidden beauty of the pattern, is that it's made to work over time. Think about it this way; To pack seeds, why doesn't the sunflower have a more condensed pattern without spirals? The answer lies in the fact that the seeds grow over time. If all seeds were packed tightly together without a spiral, once a certain seed grew, it would block the sun light to the other seeds...

 

The thought that nature's design is built to be efficient over time could help us with our own human constructions and patterns. Take for example most modern offices. Are most workspaces designed so that all participants receive the same amount of sunlight or just some? Would we be more productive if we emulated nature in this case? :)

 

For fun, I'm going to personally label nature's pattern "Design for Growth". It's a concept we should all embrace in our creations and designs. That is, don't plan for one end goal, plan for an evolution of your design that will occur over a period of time.

THE SUNFLOWER

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