Semiotics

Semiotics is the systematic study of sign processes and the communication of meaning. A sign is anything that communicates a signification or meaning that is not the sign itself to the interpreter of the sign. The meaning can be intentional, as when a word is uttered with a specific meaning, or unintentional, as when a symptom is taken as a sign of a particular medical condition. Signs can communicate through any of the senses: visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, or taste. 

The study of semiotics can allow people to better understand the framework of the world by looking at how meaning is created and communicated; indeed for designers, it provides knowledge of how to create more effective logos and brand identities; it has become a methodology for researching and analysing consumer behaviour and brand communications.

For Ferdinand de Saussure, 'semiology' was 'a science which studies the role of signs as part of social life'; whilst for philosopher Charles Peirce, 'semiotic' was the 'formal doctrine of signs'. Pierce held that ‘a sign... is something which stands to somebody for something in some respect or capacity'. He went further to say that 'every thought is a sign'.

Semiotics is important because it can help view reality through a different lens, and oppose that which is taken for granted as something purely objective and independent of human interpretation. It offers the perspective that reality is but a construct or system of signs. Studying semiotics assists the student to be more aware of this construction and the roles played by people in making it. It can help them to realise that information or meaning is not 'contained' or ‘transmitted’ in the world; instead, people actively create meaning according to a complex interplay of codes and conventions of which they are normally unaware. Awareness of this can help a person learn from semiotics that they live in a world of signs and have no way of understanding anything except through the signs and the codes into which they are organised.

People seem as a species to be driven by a desire to make meaning: above all, people are Homo significans - meaning-makers. Distinctively, people make meanings through their creation and interpretation of 'signs'. It could be viewed that 'we think only in signs'. Signs can take the form of words, images, sounds, odours, flavours, acts or objects, but such things have no intrinsic meaning and become signs only when we invest them with meaning. 'Nothing is a sign unless it is interpreted as a sign'. Anything can be a sign as long as someone interprets it as 'signifying' something - referring to or standing for something other than itself. People interpret things as signs, for the most part, unconsciously by relating them to familiar systems of conventions. It is this meaningful use of signs which is at the heart of the concerns of semiotics.

Semiotics therefore has a large influence on design principles and aesthetics. Designers use semiotics to produce aesthetically appealing and meaningful designs that communicate effectively with their intended audience. Its application within design will be discussed further, but it is first important to establish the theories, theorists and background involved.