Well, there are linguistically interesting reasons for their particular shapes. Each template consonant is cleverly chosen to reflect the positions which the articulatory organs take when the sound is produced.
For example, the plain velar stop /k/, serving as the basic form of the velar stop family, takes the form of the tongue with the back of it raised, of course, to make a contact with the velum.
The alveolar nasal /n/ stands for the form of the tongue with the tip of it raised to touch the alveolar ridge.
And the dental plain fricative /s/ resembles the form of teeth viewed from the side.
Velar nasal /ng/ and glottal fricative /h/ are said to be viewed as taking the form of the larynx itself, viewed cut across (round, isn't it?).
Finally, bilabials imitate the form of the mouth, if you could only imagine it as square (East asian cultures, however, seem to have no difficulties in doing so; the chinese character meaning `mouth' is of the same form as Korean /m/ - some obvious connec
tion exists here.)
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