How Do We Read Shapes?

Project the following activity, or have students access the student chapter How Do We Read Shapes?

Explain that while we’re not always consciously aware of it, but shapes have a lot of personality. If each of these shapes was a person, how would you describe them?

Progress to the second slide and then explain that squares and rectangles feel strong and reliable, but they can also feel inflexible like a wall or a locked door.

Progress to the third slide and explain that circles feel friendly and open, because they don’t have any straight lines or sharp points.

Progress to the fourth slide and explain that triangles, on the other hand, are all points, so they may feel dangerous and unpredictable.

Progress to the fifth slide and explain that we can modify shapes in different ways to get more complex effects. One way of doing this is to mix shapes, just like we get new colours by mixing them. Rounding a square’s corners gives us a combination of its strength and the safety of the circle for a protective feeling.

Progress to the sixth slide and explain that rotating shapes can change how we read them, too. Flipping a triangle de-emphasizes the points and gives it the strength of a square, giving a sense of being powerful.

Finally, progress to the seventh slides and explain that changing the balance of a square by tilting it, on the other hand, emphasizes the points by making them sharper. This can make an inflexible square feel more dynamic, but it can also give a feeling of being unstable or off-kilter.