Keywords:

Spoken and written language                                                                                                       Images                                                                                                                                               Pictures                                                                                                                                             Objects                                                                                                                                               Gestures                                                                                                                                            Sounds                                                                                                                                               Codes                                                                                                                                                  Symbols

What is a Symbol?

• An acquired relationship between an originally unrelated signifier and signified
• Infamously, the Hamburger icon

Semiotics is an investigation into how meaning is created and how meaning is 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 we live in has a massive impact on all of us unconsciously. 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.

Semiotics are also highly used in advertising to create a message.

The first poster for the frontier post features a car key in the shape of a gun. This highlights that a car can just be as dangerous as a gun. I really like the second poster for Apple, as even though there isn’t an actual image of an iPod, the audience recognise it immediately due to the shape.