- June 17, 2014
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What Shapes Reveal about Your Company
With so much emphasis placed on analytics, big data and optimization, it’s easy for integrated marketers to forget that websites are still very much a visual medium.
As we’ve previously reported, effective use of color is essential to brand building and reader engagement. But, according to a recent article by designer Carrie Cousins, so are the shapes used in your site design and the graphic elements that comprise it.
Shaping the Right Impressions
The creative use of shapes, subtle or overt, can add or reinforce meaning to your web design, and leave visitors with a more accurate impression of your mission, vision and values. The three main shape groups, according to Cousins, are:
- Geometric — The epitome of symmetry, including familiar grade-school shapes such as squares, rectangles, circles and triangles
- Organic — More free flowing and asymmetrical, organic shapes often represent leaves, rocks, clouds and other elements of nature
- Abstract — Super simple and lacking true definition, abstract shapes often appear as an outline or icon of an object
Familiar Shapes, Hidden Meaning
1) Squares and rectangles are comprised of four intersecting lines that combine to convey a sense of equality, balance and uniformity, says Cousins. They’re used most often to represent stability and trustworthiness.
2) Circles, which are considered softer and more feminine than other shapes, represent completeness or wholeness. They can also suggest movement (like a wheel), as well as harmony and love. Circles are in vogue now, more among digital designers than print, according to the article.
3) The meaning of “T,” “X” and other crossed lines transcends obvious religious connotations, says Cousins, who also asserts that intersecting strokes can be used to symbolize health, hope and balance.
“The perplexing and fascinating thread of your ability to make meaning starts with being able to think with symbols.” — Maggie Macnab, from Design by Nature: Using Universal Forms and Principles in Design.
Associations of Other Shapes
Here are some other often-used graphic treatments and some meanings assigned to them by digital (and print) designers:
- Spirals — Signify growth, life and transformation (the familiar DNA strand, for example)
- Curves — Convey pleasure, generosity, motion
- Triangles — Can communicate two meanings, depending on orientation: base down, point up implies stability (like the ancient pyramids), while topsy-turvy triangles can stir up feelings of conflict, tension and instability.
Of course, the elements used in any creative endeavor are subjective and open to interpretation. But if you find these observations interesting, as our MarketingTango team did, share them with your graphic designer or web developer. The impression your site is making may not be what you intended.