Form Is Function: The Shape of Life and Design

“Form ever is function.” – Louis Sullivan

One deep insight about life comes from shape. Across disciplines, the forms that things take are inseparable from what they do. In architecture, for example, an architect’s task is to best utilize space to serve a purpose. Space creates atmosphere, but shape decides the function of that space.

A cathedral’s soaring vaults inspire awe and gathering, whereas a low, snug room invites intimacy. The same challenge faces any designer: how to make a visual form serve a specific purpose. In typography, the strokes and curves of a typeface give language its character and tone, influencing how we perceive the words we read¹. A company’s logo, often just a simple shape or symbol, can instantly signal its brand’s identity and evoke emotion ². Even in nature, form is function: the design of an organ – down to the very proteins within its cells – dictates what it can do. In short, shape isn’t just for show; form defines how things work.

Architecture: Space Shaped by Purpose

Architecture has long embodied the maxim “form follows function,” the famous axiom coined by Louis Sullivan in 1896. Sullivan meant that the shape of a building should be determined by its intended purpose rather than tradition or ornament ³. He noted that “form ever follows function” as a universal law in both nature and design ³. His protégé Frank Lloyd Wright went further, declaring that “form and function are one,” a unified whole ⁴.

Wright’s work exemplified this credo by uniting building design with human needs and the environment. In practical terms, architects continually grapple with how shape influences use. The layout of rooms and the contour of structures guide how people move and behave within them. Consider a modern open-plan office floor versus a warren of closed cubicles: the open form encourages interaction and flexibility, while the boxed-in form enforces privacy and focus.

A well-designed library might feature high ceilings and alcoves, its form cultivating quiet study. By contrast, a stadium’s bowl shape amplifies sound and focuses the energy of crowds. In each case, the architect asks “Does it work?” ³ – letting function drive the design. The beauty that emerges is not just aesthetic but deeply practical. In architecture, form is the vessel for function. Historically, this principle spurred early modernist architects to strip away excessive ornament and emphasize utility ³.

They argued that a building’s beauty should come from its purpose and structure, not decorative frills. While later styles revived adornment, the core idea persisted: the shape of a building must serve its use. Today, designers leverage advanced tools to further align architectural form with functional needs, from aerodynamic skyscrapers to adaptive acoustic walls.

Typography and Product Design: When Looks Mean Work

Designers in graphic and product fields know that how something looks directly affects how it works. Typography is a clear example. The font used in a piece of text isn’t mere decoration; it shapes the message itself. A dense paragraph in a delicate script font might feel whispery or intimate, while the same words in a bold, clean typeface project strength. Studies in font psychology confirm that typefaces influence our emotions and perceptions. ¹

Simply put, typography turns language into a visual form that guides how we interpret it. Logos, likewise, show how much power lies in a silhouette. We instantly recognize a bitten apple or a swoosh, and these shapes carry meaning and reputation. Different contours evoke different feelings – for example, circular logos often feel friendly and unified, while angular or triangular ones signal stability or dynamism ².

In a glance, a logo’s form functions as visual shorthand for a brand’s identity. Beyond graphics, product design shows form–function synergy in everyday objects. Pick up an ergonomic vegetable peeler: its chunky, cushioned handle and swivel blade aren’t just styling – they make peeling easier on the hands and more effective. In 1990, Sam Farber’s OXO Good Grips kitchen tools introduced thick, rubberized handles originally for people with arthritis, a form innovation that made peelers and spatulas more comfortable for everyone ⁵.

Similarly, the sleek rectangle of a smartphone touchscreen isn’t just a fashion choice; that form enables a whole new mode of interaction (tapping and swiping) that old flip-phones couldn’t support. Time and again, industrial designers find that adjusting a product’s shape, even subtly, can fundamentally change how well it works for users. Good design is largely about tuning form to fit function, like a lock and key.

Nature’s Designs: Evolutionary Forms and Adaptations

What’s remarkable is that long before humans started consciously designing, nature had already solved countless form–function equations. Evolution, through natural selection, is essentially a master designer, sculpting shapes that help living things survive and thrive. Perhaps the most famous illustration is Darwin’s finches in the Galápagos Islands. These birds evolved beaks of radically different shapes to exploit different food sources on various islands².

One finch developed a stout beak ideal for cracking hard seeds; another acquired a slender, pointed beak perfect for snatching insects. The form of each beak is finely tuned to its function – so much so that by looking at a finch’s beak, you can often guess its diet and lifestyle.⁶

Darwin’s finches evolved diverse beak shapes adapted to specific diets in the Galápagos Islands en.wikipedia.org⁶.

Each beak’s form – from thick seed-crackers to thin probers – reflects the feeding function that helped that finch survive. Finches with thick, crushing beaks can crack tough seeds, whereas those with slender, probing beaks can snatch insects from crevices. Over generations, each species’ beak molded itself to the food sources available, a vivid case of evolution sculpting form to fit function. Across the animal kingdom, form and function evolved hand in hand.

The cheetah’s lithe frame and flexible spine give it explosive speed; an owl’s broad wings and fringed feathers enable silent flight; a shark’s sleek, torpedo-like body minimizes drag for efficient swimming. Humans have often looked to such natural designs for inspiration – a practice known as biomimicry. For example, Japan’s Shinkansen bullet train was redesigned with a nose cone modeled on a kingfisher’s beak, eliminating ear-splitting tunnel booms while also using 15% less electricity ⁷.

And the invention of Velcro famously came after a Swiss engineer inspected burdock burrs under a microscope and saw their tiny hook structure – a natural design replicated to create a new kind of fastener⁸.

In biology, the intimate link between form and function goes right down to the microscopic level. Consider the human body: the form of each organ enables its job. Your lungs are spongy and branching, presenting an enormous surface area so they can efficiently exchange oxygen; your intestines are long and folded to absorb nutrients over a maximum area. Even at the cellular level, shape determines function. A protein is essentially a long chain of molecules that folds into a very specific three-dimensional shape – and that shape allows it to do a specific job in the body⁹.

Hemoglobin, for instance, folds into a form that cradles oxygen molecules; enzymes fold into forms that fit target molecules as a key fits a lock. Sickle-cell disease, for example, is caused by a single mutation that makes hemoglobin fold incorrectly – deforming red blood cells into a crescent shape that can’t carry oxygen efficiently¹⁰. A tiny change in form, and the function collapses.

The recognition that form is function has led to exciting intersections between biology and human design. Engineers and architects increasingly turn to nature’s library of shapes to solve modern problems. One striking example is the Eastgate Centre in Zimbabwe, an office complex whose very form mimics a termite mound’s ingenious cooling system.¹¹

The Eastgate Centre in Harare, Zimbabwe was designed with a termite-inspired form for passive cooling, featuring chimney-like vents that let it “breathe.” This biomimetic design allows the complex to use up to 90% less energy for ventilation than conventional buildings⁸. This building is constructed of high thermal-mass materials and essentially “breathes” like a termite mound, using passive airflow instead of air-conditioning. As a result, it uses only a fraction of the energy (up to 90% less) required by a conventional building for ventilation⁸.

The structure’s striking façade even resembles the porous exterior of a termite mound. By borrowing nature’s ventilation strategy, the Eastgate Centre stays comfortable in the heat with minimal mechanical assistance. Modern designers are also turning to AI to push form–function boundaries. In one case, Airbus used a generative design algorithm that mimicked slime molds and bone growth to “grow” a new interior partition for jets – achieving a form 55% lighter than the conventional design while maintaining strength¹².

The resulting bionic partition looks as if nature crafted it, with delicate lattices where material is needed and hollow gaps where it isn’t¹². Such examples show how marrying biology’s wisdom with computing power yields designs that maximize function with minimal form.

Conclusion: The Philosophy of Shape

All these examples point back to a philosophical truth: form is function. The shapes around us – whether a letter on a page, a gadget in our hand, or a bird’s wing cutting through the sky – are meaningful because of what they enable. Sullivan’s insight that “form ever follows function” resonates not only in steel and stone, but in flesh and bone, in art and technology. For anyone coming of age in a world of sleek devices and urgent environmental challenges, this principle is more relevant than ever. It reminds us to always consider why a form exists.

If we understand the purpose behind a shape, we gain a deeper appreciation of both our designed world and the natural world. In practice, “form is function” is a call to design with intention. It urges creators to ask: what is this shape for? It urges observers to see beyond aesthetics and recognize the purpose-built beauty in everything from a typeface to a finch’s beak. And it blurs the boundary between the artificial and the organic, showing that the same law of form holds true whether evolution or a human mind crafted it.

Ultimately, to say form is function is to marvel at the idea that shape is a kind of language – one that encodes solutions to problems. By learning to read that language, we can see the hidden unity between a leaf, a building, and a microchip. We see that, whatever the domain, form expresses life’s quest to function in the best way possible.

References

Footnotes

1. “Font Psychology: Everything You Need to Know,” Designmodo. ↩ ↩²

2. Tailor Brands Blog – “The Psychology of Logo Shapes” – on what different logo shapes convey (circles vs. angles, etc.)   ↩ ↩² ↩³

3. Form Follows Function - Wikipedia ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

4. The Harmony of Form and Function - Artland Magazine ↩

5. The Untold Story of the Vegetable Peeler - Fast Company ↩

6. Darwin’s Finches - Wikipedia ↩ ↩²

7. High Speed Train - AskNature ↩

8. Architects Look To Termite Mounts - LVI Associates ↩ ↩² ↩³

9. Protein Structure - Cliffnotes ↩

10. Sickle Cell - Mayo Clinic ↩

11. How Termites Inspired Building Cooling - Medium ↩

12. AirBus Newest Design based on Mold and Bones - Wired ↩ ↩²