A Brief - though rather inarticulate - primer on why I design the way I do. And often without a great deal of concious thought about it.
I was thinking about why I instinctively placed the title where I did on a cd cover I designed. On the theme of instinctive human response to certain shapes, this is what I discovered about myself and the world.

This is a circle. It is the shape which appealed most often to ancient man. It stands for eternity, having no beginning and no end. It is one of several sacred or primal shapes which affect humans on a gut level. Though consciously they may never know exactly why, the end result is the same.

In modern design, artists who wish to discomfit their viewer often employ the circle, but in marketing it is more often avoided since people will feel safer with other shapes and people only part with their money when they feel comfortable - unless, of course, you happen to be holding a pistol to their head at the time.

I believe it is because humans perceive their lives as linear - having a chartable beginning and end that the circle - lacking either - seems to last beyond us, to be immortal. That frightens us.

The artist Damien Hirst has done a very clever thing here; he has taken the wild and scary circle and placed it in neat and orderly rows, convincing the viewer that what frightens them can be somehow tamed and corralled, yet this work still leaves the eye jumping about for either a place to rest or to create some sort of coherent pattern out of the various bright colours clamouring for attention.

It makes me laugh.

Our friend the square. Another one of the elemental shapes and the one most familiar to us. Among other things, it denotes home (security) on the one hand and brutal control (total confinement) on the other.
In order to see just how conditioned we are to a shape and what it means without having to question it, take a look at a few examples to the right.  
It's really amazing to think that a couple of wisps of cloth on two flimsy sticks can control tons and tons of burning metal, but wait, there's more...
The reason why checker cab is an iconic symbol of NY isn't the sunshine yellow paintjob.
And here's a Brit Badass. That's not exactly polka dots he's sporting.
Lastly, take a look at this...in buildings designed by Masons (Freemasons) they love their black and white tile floors. From a humble local masonic temple...
...to the imposing St Paul's Cathedral...

squares can also denote either safety or control (or both, depending upon the household) as in the shape of "Home"

 

I am interested to hear the name of the Prime Minister's country residence..."Chequers"

 

Squares get our attention, they give us a feeling of security, they are positively everywhere. Which leads me to my next example...

Whenever you see two squares superimposed upon each other it means "We control everything. We even control the controllers."

You often see this used on police badges and by secret societies, most regularly as an eight-pointed star.
It's interesting because the Americans often prefer the five-pointed star, as in the shape of marshal's badges and the Pentagon. What is doubly interesting is that Christians usually revile the five pointed star as pagan - as in a witch's pentacle.
Returning to the two superimposed squares of control and security... from Coldstream Guards to crop circle and
from Damascus to Berlin.
and now...the triangle. Means Shelter (a roof) Strength and Endurance (pyramids) Hierarchy (leader at top, lesser beings at base) and, for my particular purpose, it is an ancient symbol of fire.
like this...
and this...
this cracks me up for some reason...
and woah...double triangles. Nice...
Put it inside a square it becomes a modern symbol for fire
use it as the basis for the composition of one of the world's great works of art and it moves us on a level beyond the immediate.
fill it with red and it becomes more powerful still

fill it with blue - a colour associated with water - and the brain goes, "Hey...wait a minute...what is different about this?"

 
In the marketing world, you want to take the familiar and put a twist on it.
You want to get and keep the buyer's attention for long enough to create an emotional attatchment.
I present to you the art...
and why I liked the title at the top.