Shape

" In Shape, George Stiny argues that seeing shapes--with all their changeability and ambiguity--is an inexhaustible source of creative ideas. Understanding shapes, he says, is a useful way to understand what is possible in design. Shapes are devices for visual expression just as symbols are devices for verbal expression. Stiny develops a unified scheme that includes both visual expression with shapes and verbal expression with signs. The relationships--and equivalencies--between the two kinds of expressive devices make design comparable to other professional practices that rely more on verbal…