ACM Interactions

Authors:
Bernice Glenn

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Over centuries visual design has developed as a discipline that seems to supersede logic and reason. Visual designers can describe the characteristics of their work with words like complex, massive, colorful, disorganized, and even blah. But as a discipline, visual design has resisted anything resembling the cold realities of grammar or mathematical formalism. Enter George Stiny. George Stiny's Shape is an interesting read for anyone interested in understanding the theory behind visual design, and debunks any idea that the visual cannot be mathematical. This book distils Stiny's many years in researching shapes and their properties. He has developed a…

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