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 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.

Shape: Talking about Seeing and Doing PDF

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