ABSTRACT
In this chapter we discuss the emotive nature of forms based on both the personal and universal character of perception. As designers we need to spend a lot of time looking. To develop expertise in our discipline we must cultivate a heightened understanding of the relationship between form and idea. This chapter discusses the nature of visual perception as a form of thinking and as an instrument which orders reality. This includes the space-time phenomenon of vision, its haptic qualities, and the dynamic nature of physically static objects. The authors explore how this universal nature of vision forms the basis for human perception and becomes an active process of organization that engages all of our senses. Through this lens, the chapter reveals the power and importance of equilibrium and order in our potential for meaning making. Finally, we explore phenomenon such as metaphor, experience, empathy, and affordance as the basis for our conceptual system.
