Sign Theory: Visual Semiotics

Peter Shimpeno Professor Johnson ART 6932 - Graphic Design Seminar Fall 2009 Sign Theory: Visual Semiotics

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Graphic Design is the practice of organizing visual elements for communication. Therefore, designers would greatly benet from a strong understanding of the theories concerning how the meaning of visual signs are developed. The designer is charged with organizing these elements in a way that should convey to the reader a specic message. The theory, which studies and explains how meaning is formed through visual signs, is known as Visual Semiotics. Understanding how signs are developed and how the meaning of a sign could be affected by context will help the designer craft an effective message. "Semiotics is the theory of signication, that is, of the generation or the production of meaning" (Martin 117). The focus of Semiotics is to understand the ways in which signs are formed. This has been a concern going back has far as Ancient Greece, where philosophers debated the relationship between signs and their meaning. In the nineteenth century, the Swiss philosopher Ferdinand de Saussure, dened the fundamentals of semiotics. His denition was signicant because it could be applied to language, music and visual elements. This new approach led to the birth of modern Linguistics. The fundamental concept of Semiotic theory is to dene the transfer of meaning to a sign. This system is dened with three main parts: semantics, syntactics and prag-

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matics. Semantics is the relationship between a sign and the thing to which it refers to. Syntactics is the relationship between multiple signs in a formal structure. Pragmatics is the relationship of signs to their impact on those who are using the sign. According to David Crow, author of Visible Signs, there are three concepts that dene how visual meaning is formed. Crow states that these are, "the signs themselves, the way they are organized into systems, and the context in which they appear" (Crow 33). These concepts help to dene the language of aesthetics and are clearly inspired by the three fundamental parts of Semiotic Theory. Perhaps the most important concept of Semiotics that designers should understand is the relationship between the signier and the signied. These two terms are used to distinguish between what the viewer can see and the meaning of what they are seeing. "The image is the signier, the concept or object the signied" (Penfold). The sign is the product of the relationship created by the signier and the signied. This relationship between signied and signier is reconciled only when viewed in the proper cultural context. This means that context is the greatest inuence on a signs readability. The majority of signs are read by the viewer in a unconscious way. Context is learned from an early age beginning with sounds that represent letters which we learn to organize into words. Words are associated with an idea in our society. When we think of the word dog we can instantly envision a dog in our mind. The word dog is the signier while the image of a dog in our mind is the signaled. Semantics allows the viewer to connect the signier with the signaled in the context that it appears. The relationship between the signier and the signaled is completely arbitrary and dependent on cultural context.

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Designers must understand the viewers cultural context so that they may accurately craft a design that communicates the intended message. As the message becomes more complex the designer can use the juxtaposition of signs to lead the viewer towards greater meaning. Juxtaposition is often used between text and image to produce a contrast that leads to an alternative reading of a sign. The media on which a message is carried can change the meaning. "The meaning of the sign itself is affected by who is reading the sign" (Crow 54). Another important consideration for designers is the use of a metaphor in the message making process. A metaphor, in the verbal sense, is comparing unlike things without the use of the words like or as in the comparison. Visual signs have multiple identities that stem from cultural beliefs, traditions and even superstitions. In the visual sense, metaphor allows the designer to use visual signs that provoke culturally signicant meaning in the mind of the viewer. A great example of this range in meaning is a large and dark rain cloud. Rain clouds are a common weather event that brings life to the surface of the planet in the form of rainfall. The visual sign of a dark cloud could also be interpreted as a metaphor of impending bad news (Crow 44). Understanding that visual signs could have more than one meaning based on the context and the culture that inuences the viewer is the basis for the creation of visual metaphor. Designers must also consider two different levels of visual signication, known as denotation and connotation. Denotation is the primary or literal meaning of the visual element. Denotation "refers to the physical reality of the object which is signied" (Crow 57). Connotation is the feeling or additional meaning that the object invokes in

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the viewer. This process requires the viewer to apply their cultural background in decoding the message. Convention and motivation are additional considerations for understanding how signs are created. Convention is "an agreement about how we respond to a sign" (Crow 58). As Crow describes, most of the meaning imbedded within a sign comes from convention. Signs with little convention have difculty communicating to a wide audience and therefore need to be fairly iconic. Motivation refers to the amount that the signier describes the signied. A motivated sign is typically a iconic sign. "The less the sign is motivated the more important it is that the reader has learnt the conventions which help us to decode the image" (Crow 58). Visual Semiotics is the theory which studies and explains how meaning is formed through visual signs. Graphic designers are tasked with developing a visual message or multiple messages to be absorbed and comprehended by the reader. Semiotics offers a clear methodology for encoding a specic message through the use of visual signs. Understanding context is paramount and frees the designer to experiment with otherwise conventional signs. The designer can utilize the concepts of connotation, denotation, metaphor and convention to develop multiple layers of meaning to be interpreted by the viewer.

Sign Theory: Visual Semiotics Bibliography

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Barthes, Roland. "Signs in Culture". Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1989. Bogdan, Catalina. "The Semiotics of Visual Languages". New York: Columbia University Press, 2002. Crow, David. "Visible Signs". New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 2003. Martin, Bronwen. "Dictionary of Semiotics". London: Cassell Publications, 2000. Penfold, Mark. "Semiotics for Beginners". Computer Arts, website. <http://www.computerarts.co.uk/in_depth/features/get_started_with_semiotics> Schirato, Tony. "Understanding the Visual". London: Sage Publications, 2004. "Visual semiotics." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 6 Aug 2009, 01:42 UTC. 6 Aug 2009 <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Visual_semiotics&oldid=306319574>.