Everything lines up

Our eyes have evolved to be extremely sensitive to misalignment, which is why we say there’s nowhere to hide when making a simple, symmetrical piece of furniture.

The more symmetrical something appears, the more skilled we believe the maker to be. We read this as effort, which in turn we value.

But our perception goes further than this. It senses when too much symmetry suggests an industrial hand, and so values most a combination of symmetry where it matters (the integrity of the construction), and a softening where it doesn’t. It interprets this as mastery, which in turn brings peace of mind.