Architecture school. The dirty little secret of architecture is that it has no theoretical theory beyond jaw boning. (It can work, so don't rush to knock it.) So in architecture, a coherent narrative that can inform form making (like the light & gravity b.s. in OP) is the best you're gonna get. (The actual science based stuff is called Structural Engineering.)
It looks like they're trying to force an art into a science and it's just ridiculously off the mark. I wonder if agencies have to do this thing to have something more concrete to prove to clients even if it's bullshit and they know it.
Also, it's pretty impressive seeing the Pepsi branding just get progressively worse over the years. It's a little out there by today's standards, but I kind of like the 1898 branding the best.
https://www.goldennumber.net/wp-content/uploads/pepsi-arnell...
While I disagree about the heat map in the article being pseudoscience, I agree that Arnell's "design thinking" totally is.