Visual Semiotics
A Pocket Guide
An interactive guide exploring the use of semiotics when applied to graphic design principles.
Look around - what do you see? The tree, the stop sign, the carpet? Are you influenced by the visuals that surround you?
Visual Semiotics: A Pocket Guide
You will come to learn that everything surrounding you carries a series of mental associations that can affect our interpretation and application of such objects. If you had a cat as a child, you may consider yourself a ‘cat person’ and smile when you see one pop up on an Instagram feed. If you once took a way-too-spicy bite of a ghost-pepper-seasoned dish, you may hesitate when you see that telltale flame next to an item on a menu. These visuals that inspire these inner reactions are called signs.
Semiotics is the study of signs and significations; graphic design creates visual signs for users to interact with. Though not often discussed together, semiotics and graphic design work hand in hand. Designers naturally understand, almost intuitively, aspects of semiotics. We know that different typefaces have different voices and that a color palette can suggest a tone for the overall design. The reason for this lies in semiotics, the meaning behind our visuals.
“Graphic design has been an academic discipline since the post-World War II era, but it has yet to develop a coherent theoretical foundation. Instead it proceeds through styles, genres, and imitation, drawing on sources that range from the Bauhaus to deconstructivism. (Steven Skaggs, Firesigns)
The Challenge
Applying Foundation
So why don’t we talk about semiotics in design?
Graphic design is a young discipline still lacking a theoretical foundation. With this in mind, few resources have been offered posing semiotic theory as the foundation to graphic design. Even more, semiotics is a complex theoretical field, consistently analyzed by semioticians through the Suassarian branch of linguistic application. The Piercian branch (visual application) is overlooked and not often analyzed in conjunction with design practice.
Target Audience
The Approach
Primary Audience: Young Designers (18-22)
So how can we make semiotics applicable to young designers?
We set out to create a pocket guide that would serve to distill this dense topic into something more palatable. With a clever layout that can be read in multiple directions and ways, our exploration of semiotics lies both in the text of the guide and also in the decisions made. Though in no way a complete or detailed account of semiotic theory, our guide acts as an introduction, allowing budding designers to dip their toes into the world of graphic design theory and providing a platform from which to dive into deeper thought forms.
