[onli]

Studies have failed repeatedly to show that humans perceive the objects created according to this ratio as better looking or more aesthetically pleasing than those that don't.

There is probably no harm in using it, but don't expect any benefit.

[riffraff]

An somewhat interesting article on the this, citing some works that found evidence in either direction:

http://plus.maths.org/content/os/issue22/features/golden/ind...

[pault]

There was a great article debunking golden ratio woo linked from a comment here at some point in the past, and I can't find it for the life of me. I wish I still had it so I could send it to my designer friends that insist on using it everywhere.

EDIT: Found it! http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/pseudo/fibonacc.htm

[sgdesign]

Agreed, it's much better to adapt your grid to your content than pick a ratio first and then jam things in there.