The Language of Shapes
Originally published on Novisali Blog, September 30, 2025
Shapes are not mere geometry—they are a silent vocabulary whispering stories of movement, meaning, and memory. In this article, Novisali invites us to listen to the “language of shapes”: the triangle, the circle, and the square as forms that speak beyond sight.
Key reflections from the full article include:
• The triangle as reaching — The triangle points, it leans, it gathers energy to rise. Upright, it suggests strength and harmony; inverted, it hints at fragility.
• The circle as wholeness — The circle embraces, flows, and returns. It is the line with no beginning and no end—a form of completeness and infinite motion.
• The square as grounding — The square belongs to earth: boundaries, structure, stability. It is the form of order, framing our houses, our thinking, our sense of solidity.
• From noticing to inhabiting — These shapes don’t just appear in art or architecture; they move with us through daily life. The piece explores how walking through Stockholm City Hall revealed triangles, circles, and squares in dialogue—bridging idea and experience.
• Shapes as metaphors for life — The triangle, circle, and square are more than visual—they map how we reach, return, and root. The article invites reflection: Which shape calls to you now? Are you in a season of reaching, flowing, or grounding?
The invitation is clear:
See the ordinary shapes around you—and listen. In what shape do you dwell today?
Read more at: The Language of Shapes
About Liselotte Engstam, Digoshen & Novisali
Liselotte Engstam is an explorer of perspectives, an adventurer of ideas, a pathfinder of meaning, and a guide of timeless transitions. She bridges the worlds of board leadership and art, helping organizations and individuals navigate disruption while nurturing creativity and reflection.
As founder of Digoshen, she works with boards and leaders to expand future insights and reduce digital and sustainability blindspots. Through research, networks, and executive programs, Digoshen supports responsible value creation in the digital and sustainable age, contributing thought leadership via books, articles, events, Digoshen Exploring Leaders podcast, and blogs.
She also serves as Chair of the Boards Impact Forum in collaboration with the World Economic Forum and the Climate Governance. The Forum convenes board members, thought leaders, and experts in dialogues, webinars, and collaborative events, accelerating action on climate, AI, and sustainability.
Through her artistic practice as Novisali, Liselotte explores creativity and meaning. Her watercolors, digitally reimagined, invite reflection and renewal, offering perspectives that connect head, heart, and hand, and complementing her work with leaders and boards.
→ Discover more at www.Digoshen.com
→ Learn more at www.BoardsImpactForum.com
→ Find more about Liselotte at www.liselotteengstam.com and her Google Scholar page
→ Explore Liselotte’s art and reflections at www.novisali.com and follow on Instagram @novisali_arts