Understanding your customers is the single most important factor contributing to your brand’s success. As marketers, we’re always on the lookout for ways we can more deeply understand and relate to people. We get to know people based on demographics, geographics, and psychographics—but we’ve stumbled upon another interesting way to get to know your customers: psychogeometrics.
Psychogeometrics is a theory that was developed by Dr. Susan Dellinger in 1978. It centers around 4 shapes, and each shape describes a particular way people communicate with the world—from how one interacts with others, to career choices, choosing friends, dealing with stress, and making decisions.
Pick one of the following shapes
Don’t think about it, just select the one you’re immediately drawn to.
Ok. Got your shape?
Let’s see if it describes you. Take a look at the characteristics below—and don’t forget to share your shape with us on social media!
Circles are the social butterflies and best communicators of the shapes. In advertising, these are the people who really need to connect to the emotion and humanity of your material.
Really care about others, about all people
Will do whatever it takes to make co-workers, friends, family happy
Smooth the waters and keep the peace
Interested in interpersonal relationships; “read” others well
Best communicators and listeners of all shapes
Excellent “people” problem solvers and team players
Holistic thinkers
Positive Traits
Friendly, nurturing, persuasive, empathetic, generous, stabilizing, reflective
Negative Traits
Over-personal, melancholy, manipulative, gossipy, self-blaming, apolitical, indecisive
Personal Habits
Communicates face-to-face, easygoing, joiner, often in charge of social events, prefer small groups, old-fashioned and sentimental, complimentary, neatness not a priority, artistic, reader, loves to fix things
Squares are the most detail-oriented of the shapes. These are the folks who are going to want to read every nitty-gritty detail about your product or service.
Hard worker, determined to get the job done
Most structured of all shapes
Emphasize organization and logic
Need life to be predictable; everything in the right place at the right time
Very detail oriented (almost compulsive)
Excel when instructions and requirements are clear
Better at following a plan than designing one
Postive Traits
Organized, detail-oriented, knowledgeable, analytical, persevering, perfectionist, patient
Negative Traits
Meticulous, anal retentive, procrastinates, cool or aloof, resistant to change, loner, complains
Personal Habits
Love routines, lists, calendars, likes tangible things (i.e., put it in writing), promptness, neatness, cleanliness, precision, attention to detail, social loner
Squiggles tend to be the creative type. They’ll get the job done—but they want to have fun while doing it.
Symbolic of creativity; most unique of all shapes because it has no closure
More configural when processing information
Able to produce truly great and new ideas
Challenge the status quo
Future oriented; more interested in possibilities than reality
Excitable; energized by change
Uninterested in details, facts, figures
Postive Traits
Think outside the box; optimistic; energizing
Negative Traits
Hard to “nail down;” will be off to other activities; doesn’t pay attention to details
Personal Habits
Fast mover; interrupts a lot; loses things; daydreams constantly; seeks stimulation; enjoys new people and new situations; rebel; life of a party; spontaneous; will talk to anyone
You’ll usually find triangles in leadership roles. These are the thirty-thousand foot view thinkers, so when it comes to marketing, it’s best to reach out to them through headlines and bullet points.
Ambitious and focused toward the top
Leaders
Very competitive
Loves to make decisions for self and others
Able to focus on the goal of the moment
Needs to be seen as “right” by others; has trouble admitting mistakes
Movers and shakers, best politicians
Postive Traits
Leader, focused, decisive, ambitious, competitive, athletic
Negative Traits
Self-centered, overloaded, dogmatic, status oriented, political, driven
Personal Habits
Early arriver, good “scooper” of situations, fidgety, interrupter, power handshake, game player, informed, good problem solver, prefers small groups
It seems that the shape people identify with the most typically identifies their communication style pretty accurately, but if you would like to take the test developed by Dr. Dellinger, visit this link.