The swept-wing motif

1. Draw a golden rectangle ABCD. Bisect it with a line EF.
2. Draw two squares EGPD and IBFJ in the golden rectange.
3. Draw a smaller golden rectangle KFCM to enclose part of the lower half of ABCD.
4. Draw a circle with centre O (at the intersection of diagonals IF and BJ) so that it touches all four corners of IBFJ.
5. Draw a larger circle with centre J of radius JG.
6. Construct an irregular polygon by joining points E, L, N, P.

This odd shape is interesting because of its frequent use in contemporary car design, although it is likely to have first arisen in aeronautical engineering due to its ability to help wings generate lift without excessive drag. I don’t know if it has a widely used name so I call it a swept-wing motif. Its dynamism causes it to appeal to designers of objects that are engineered to move quickly or to look as if they might. Here are some swept-wing motifs in everyday objects – none of them related functionally to aircraft.