Reading shapes, we tend to dissect them into simpler forms based on geometrical units. Most people can immediately perceive the total area of a circle, a square, a triangle, an oval, or a rhombus, without difficulty. If we were shown an image for a couple of seconds, we probably would not be able to remember it in all the details, but we would have a general grasp of it's basic form. We can say that the geometric basis of shapes provides us with an elementary vocabulary, an alphabet of the shape language. It helps us to dissect, analyze, and structure the world.
Besides that intellectual perception, restricting our view of the outside world to things of practical interest and immediate necessity, we have a spontaneous vision of shape, the capacity to be surprised, enchanted, or impressed by it's visual phenomena. We respond to them emotionally. They hold for us their own expressive meaning and character.
Different shapes tell us different stories. The endless variations and interplays are stimulating our curiosity constantly. The sensory perception of shape is probably connected with the deepest levels of our perception of the world. It is universal, and can be understood beyond the limits of the cultural identity.
Circle - calm, pacific, assured, natural, optimistic. example: the sun
Square - dull, straight forward, honest, lacking imagination, stable, less natural than the circle. example: a box
Triangle - action, agitation, conflict, tension, and aspiration. example: the Pyramids, arrowheads
Shapes are in every part of a person's life. We can see a square in a window, a circle in the moon, a triangle in the roof of a house and even octagon in a stop sign.
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