Semiotic Theory

This afternoon, we had a lecture on the semiotic theory, at first it puzzled me but I plan to read up more about it later to get a fuller understanding.

From the lecture I understood that the semiotic theory is that it is the science of studying signs, whether they be visual, audio or written language, we can unravel meaning from cultural practices. A cultural code is an important part of the theory as it is what we need to make sense of cultural artefacts. These codes/signs can be anything from paintings, pictures, gestures, written language and then a culture develops a decision to allow a certain sign to represent a certain meaning. (The cultural code- is a system of symbols and signs, basically anything that can convey meaning).  Different cultures have different symbols for different things.

The man behind the semiotic theory,  Ferdinand de Saussure, believed that signs have two aspects, a signifier, the thing that evokes meaning which could be a sound/image and the signified part which is the  mental concept. The relationship in a sign is arbitrary, there is no scientific logical reason for the colour red to be mentally recognised  for you and passion/love but this is a random decision made by a culture that is then accepted by the rest. Basically, meanings don't just come from the objects themselves but from other people. However, by analysing the connotational content of cultural artefacts we can access ideological meaning which can help us understand how culture operates in the world.

Furthermore, Roland Barther another semiotician . Barthes builds on Saussure's research and goes on to note that there are different depths to the understanding of signs, a denotation-which means we have a basic literal knowledge for example,  a dog is a dog, and connotation- an associational meaning, the dog is loyal, smelly and eats meat. The chain of signification he suggests is that generally people will only scratch the surface of a sign, the denotation and the connotation is left alone. He suggests the deeper aspects of signs are the 'myths' of cultural which are the ideological expressions.

To link with Graphic Design, advertising is a subject often linked with semiotics as adverts portray connotations to the product being advertised which encourage us to buy in- based on these connotations we associate with the product. For an example, women buy make-up possibly down to an advert, whether it be a poster or on television.The models/actresses in the advert will be beautiful, with flawless skin and aspirational lives therefore the products are bought. 

The science of semiotic I find quite interesting, I look forward to eventually going into more depth into the subject.