Semiotics
The meaning of study making and signs and symbols is called semiotics.It investigates into how meaning is created and communicated. Its origins lie in the academic study of how signs and symbols
(visual and linguistic) create meaning.
It is a way of seeing the world,
and of understanding how the landscape and culture in which we live has a
massive impact on all of us unconsciously.
Our actions and thoughts – what we do
automatically – are often governed by a complex set of cultural messages and
conventions, and dependent upon our ability to interpret them instinctively and
instantly.
For instance, when we see the different
colours of a traffic light, we automatically know how to react to them. We know
this without even thinking about it. But this is a sign which has been
established by cultural convention over a long period of time and which we
learn as children, and requires a deal of unconscious cultural knowledge to
understand its meaning.Viewing and interpreting (or decoding)
this sign enables us to navigate the landscape of our streets and society.Everyone is a semiotician,
because everyone is constantly unconsciously interpreting the meaning of signs
around them – from traffic lights to colours of flags, the shapes of cars, the
architecture of buildings, and the design of cereal packaging.And signs don’t only need to be visual –
they can be aural or sonic signs too, such as the sound of a police siren,
usually heard before the vehicle is seen.We know for instance that the following
sign in the West means everything is OK. This can be dated back to its alleged
use by Roman emperors to signal whether a gladiator would live (hence be OK).
Its reverse – thumbs down – signified death.But in scuba diving this sign means go
up to the surface, and by the side of the road it means you want to hitch a
ride.
In other words, we need to
understand the context in which a sign is communicated in order to comprehend
its real meaning, and hence act appropriately. What is going on around the sign
is usually as important for us to know as the sign itself in order to interpret
its meaning.
Semiotics is a key tool to ensure that
intended meanings (of for instance a piece of communication or a new product)
are unambiguously understood by the person on the receiving end. Usually there
are good reasons if someone doesn’t understand the real intention of a message
and semiotics can help unravel that confusion, ensuring clarity of meaning.Semiotics started out as an academic
investigation of the meaning of words (linguistics), it moved into examining
people’s behaviour (anthropology and psychology), then evolved to become an
enquiry into culture and society (sociology and philosophy), following that it
moved onto assisting with analyses of cultural products (films, literature, art
– critical theory), and finally and more recently became a methodology for
researching and analysing consumer behaviour and brand communications.It is from this social science
background that Sign Salad emerged. We apply the high-level thinking of
semiotics to enable clients to understand the commercial implications of the
culture around their brands and its impact upon consumers. Ultimately, we
assist with the development of culturally relevant brand strategies and
meaningful communication (packaging and point of sale).
