To understand a molecule, we must understand its shape. Chemistry, after all, is the study of nuclei and electrons, with electronic interactions and energy levels impacted by residence within molecular geometries. This is especially true of molecular components or rigid groups which are distorted from their usual arrangement, exhibiting stretching, twisting or bending from regular structure. Those molecules exhibiting irregular shape have distinct chemical properties from their regular counterparts, especially in interaction with light and with reaction partners. While a mathematical form may be instructive, distortion-induced change is more often represented in qualitative terms, in a representational compromise between exact shape and expedient near-symmetry.