Semiotics

The use of semiotics is a crucial part of graphic design, essentially every piece of design has an intended purpose and therefore will have certain aspects that put whatever the point is across using the language of signs and signifiers, even in the subtlest ways. Roland Barthes was a pioneer in semiotics and devised many theories that form the base for our understanding of signs and signifiers as a means of language, stating that objects can have connotations as well as denotations, highlighting the concept of the use of visuals for more than one meaning and this in itself is a huge part of design on the whole. For example if a promotion for a bottled water company uses imagery of a spring, then the denotation is the obvious use of water, and the subsequent connotations of this image are the fact that spring water is known to be naturally clean and pure, so this represents the content of the water company, this technique can be interpreted into many different styles of design, from the use of colour to express feeling to using language to incur meaning. As a designer I find playing around with different possible interpretations of my work as essentially the way in which it is received is the crucial part of designs being, and finding different techniques and methods of inducing connotation is an integral part of every design process.