Shape: Talking About Seeing And Doing
by George Stiny /
2006 / English / PDF
1.6 MB Download
In
InShape
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.
, 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 than visual expression. Design uses shapes while business,
engineering, law, mathematics, and philosophy turn mainly to
symbols, but the difference, says Stiny, isn't categorical.
Designing is a way of thinking. Designing, Stiny argues, is
calculating with shapes, calculating without equations and
numbers but still according to rules. Stiny shows that the
mechanical process of calculation is actually a creative process
when you calculate with shapes -- when you can reason with your
eyes, when you learn to see instead of count.
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 than visual expression. Design uses shapes while business,
engineering, law, mathematics, and philosophy turn mainly to
symbols, but the difference, says Stiny, isn't categorical.
Designing is a way of thinking. Designing, Stiny argues, is
calculating with shapes, calculating without equations and
numbers but still according to rules. Stiny shows that the
mechanical process of calculation is actually a creative process
when you calculate with shapes -- when you can reason with your
eyes, when you learn to see instead of count.
The book takes the idea of design as calculation from mere
heuristic or metaphor to a rigorous relationship in which design
and calculation each inform and enhance the other. Stiny first
demonstrates how seeing and counting differ when you use rules --
that is, what it means to calculate with your eyes -- then shows
how to calculate with shapes, providing formal details. He gives
practical applications in design with specific visual examples.
The book is extraordinarily visual, with many drawings throughout
-- drawings punctuated with words. You have to see this book in
order to read it.
The book takes the idea of design as calculation from mere
heuristic or metaphor to a rigorous relationship in which design
and calculation each inform and enhance the other. Stiny first
demonstrates how seeing and counting differ when you use rules --
that is, what it means to calculate with your eyes -- then shows
how to calculate with shapes, providing formal details. He gives
practical applications in design with specific visual examples.
The book is extraordinarily visual, with many drawings throughout
-- drawings punctuated with words. You have to see this book in
order to read it.