Metaphor is conceptual. This makes metaphor a pretty soft science. Not that there isn’t a ton of incredible research and thinking on the topic. The man to look to for metaphor theory is George Lakoff. His research and model subdivides metaphor into three dominant types:

• Structural Metaphors - conceptual overlays, forming the foundation, and framing of ideas.

• Orientational Metaphors - directional signposts, guiding our attention, and laying out a path including a clear start and finish line within ideas.

• Ontological Metaphors - memorable comparisons, demonstrating the systems at play, and bringing physicality and emotion to ideas.

We could spend a lot of time, space and energy explaining all this, but we use metaphor.

Metaphor provides the scaffolding on which our understanding of the world around us hangs. Metaphor provides the connective tissue between datapoints.

Metaphor unlocks meaning.