Free Transcript of Episode 1.13 This NEW Approach to Semiotic Representation Will Change Your Designing FOREVER!
Semiosis 101 Season 1 Video 13 Transcript
Hello readers.
In this free transcript for the video published on Semiosis 101 on 9 Nov 2022, we focus on the middle level of semiotic representation in Semiosis - Indexical. This episode points out what it is and why it is semiotically important to creatives.
Watch the free video on YouTube for the full impact…
…and here is the video’s transcript.
NOTE: As with any video transcript the tone used is conversational. The following transcript text features ad libs, and therefore should be read in the spirit of any semi-scripted video.
Let us get to the thirteenth Semiosis 101 episode on general Peircean semiotic theory for illustrators and designers. This week in around 10-minutes, we will focus on the middle level of semiotic representation in Semiosis - Indexical.
The Index in a Peircean context is a fresh notion.It is semiotic representation that POINTS to existent things… just like your index finger does. You will see when we discuss Indexical representation its Peircean meaning creates a whole raft of new visual communication denotative and connotative possibilities.
It is important to begin today with an open mind. Remember, words in different socio-cultural contexts have different definitions. Okay?
Now Peirce wrote his Pragmatic semiotic theory in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. To understand Indexical representation in Semiosis in order to know HOW to apply it into Visual Communication Design, you must 'bracket out' any other definitions for the next 10-minutes as we explore Indexicality.
So, stay tuned, subscribe, hit the bell, point your finger and let us go.
Hi. Welcome to this week's talk. OK, we have now moved up from Iconicity, and we are going to look at Indexicality. Now, within Semiosis - Peirce’s semiotic theory - Indexicality is the second level of representation of the concept that we need to visually communicate. So what we are seeing here is the Index. Think of the index finger as a way of getting your head around Indexicality… because the [index] finger points… and we are going to keep coming back to this throughout today's talk.
What we are looking at here is the difference between an image of a panda and an EXISTENT panda. Forget about the photograph. Look through the photograph. We will talk about photographs in the context of semiotics in much greater detail in future videos. But right now it is not about the photograph, it is about "the panda," the EXISTENT panda.
So what we have is… on the left-hand side… just marks, Iconic marks that put in a particular order… and a particular composition… we get a sense of a resemblance to what is on the right-hand side, a real life panda. Left-hand side is Iconic representation of the idea of these things together suggest "a panda." Whereas in the photograph… and remember, it is in the photograph… not THE photograph… but in the photograph… we have an EXISTENT panda… an EXISTENT thing.
So that THING exists. Now, obviously, this is a full-bodied, full-blooded living creature, but it is just a picture, a photograph of that creature. But it could also be an EXISTENT idea. Okay? So the idea could be EXISTENT, it could be a THING, not even "living." But in Indexical representation, it is connecting that existential connection to something that does actually exist. So that is where we are going to go with this talk today on Indexicality.
So, moving forward. Indexical representation is the second subclass of a Concept… or Representing Concept… as a semiotic sign… where it has a clearer EXISTENTIAL connection back to the original Concept. If you think about this… an Indexical representation does not assert anything other than a statement of… THERE! The index finger. THERE! IT exists. It is something that the target audience knows is actually EXISTENT somewhere in their experience. OK?
So what we have going for us here… is the fact that the Concept that we are tasked to visually communicate from our brief… may connect to something that is IN EXISTENCE. And this is where the actual idea and the knowledge of Semiosis will change how you design forever… once you understand this, and are more consciously aware of the EXISTENCE… and the EXISTENTIAL connections [TO THINGS]… so that you can [visually] craft them in much stronger [semiotic representational] ways.
So let us move forward. The Index as a [semiotic] Representation, "Asserts NOTHING"
"It [can] only say THERE!" And this is Peirce talking. And as Peirce says, “The Index [the Indexical representation] takes hold of our eyes, as it were, and forcibly directs them to a particular Object [or Concept in designer-centric terms]… and there the [Indexical representation] stops." It does not go any further.
What do we mean by that? Well, let us move forward and explore that in a little bit more depth. So the direct EXISTENTIAL connection that points from the semiotic sign to the Concept - which is in the brief that we need to [visually] communicate - is just like an index finger… that it can point to SOMETHING in the real world.
So, making that connection… that visual connection… or strengthening that visual connection that you might already be intending to design for… or to illustrate for… is the moment where you will change your designing forever… by being more mindful of how to strengthen that EXISTENTIAL connection in what you design to YOUR INTENDED TARGET AUDIENCE.
How do we do that? Well, we have looked last week at Iconicity and that is the lowest level, but it still features in this [Indexical] level of Representation. So if you think about Russian dolls, you know, those wooden dolls that have another doll nested inside, and then you open up that wooden doll and there is another Russian doll inside that and he keeps going down, down, down, down until he gets to the smallest nth degree of a Russian doll?
That is how Iconicness - Iconicity - operates within a [semiotic] sign. The Iconicness grabs our attention. But it is only when the audience starts to interpret what we have crafted in our visual communication, in the visual language that we choose within our designs and illustration, that we can actually start to have a lot more…POWWWERRRR over how effective our visual communication is.
So the Iconic representations are nested within the higher signs… as we go through… (next week we are going to talk about Symbolic, but [Iconic] is in the highest one). So if you think about [Iconic] as "assemblages"… Okay? So these are "assemblages" of Iconicness, that leads the target audience to a point where they can start interpreting more information from… the Iconicness. And that is where Indexicality comes in.
What we have here is a poster from 1978/1979… from Iran. If you know your history, then you will know around about that period of time, there was an Iranian revolution where the Shah was overthrown and a new regime was put into place. So we can start to interpret what we are seeing here within the actual poster designs, because we can see shapes within here. Figure-ground again… Gestalt - figure-ground. We can see shapes.
You cannot read the Arabic (or Farsi?) - unless YOU CAN read Arabic (or Farsi)? - But we are seeing here… that we can see a "protest" figure. Now, it could be somebody with a hood on, but (there is) an arm up in protest(?) We [have] black and white - [which] is drawing our attention to the "redness" - so the red obviously has got some sort of - some sort of semiotic - meaning to that.
But let us put the colour red to one side for now… and concentrate on the "arm" going up. Because [the shape] also could be interpreted on an Iconic level as similar or a resemblance to a "gun barrel." So here [in this image] we get a people's protest, which could also be an armed struggle… just from a few Iconic shapes and figure-ground, we get this bigger idea.
It is only if you make the connection… through knowing the [Iranian] history… that there was a revolution in 78/79 in Iran that we have this focus… that this poster…Indexically… is pointing to a moment in history where there was a revolution.
So on that note, let us move forward to the next [example]. In this one we have a famous poster by Shigeo Fukuda. The previous image was Morteza Momayez. (Hopefully I pronounced that right?) But in this one Shigeo's poster… we again get the Gestalt figure-ground…the black and the white… and it is only when you start to analyse what we are seeing… that you can start to see "legs."
But Indexically, we can start to interpret those "legs"… much more because we can start to put gender to those "legs." That the "white legs" are feminine… and the "black legs" are essentially masculine. Well, obviously women can wear trousers as well, but in this case we have got one [gender] forming out of the other. So it is the optical illusion being able to see two things at once, but also only being able to focus in on one thing.
So what we have here is Iconically it is making us see "legs," it is making us see then "shoes" and "trousers," but it is just Iconic lines. But Indexically, we can go one step further than that.
Indexically, we can actually start to interpret that as more than just "legs." Indexically it is pointing us to "these are legs," but we have got multiple "legs." We have a visual rhythm across the poster which suggests it could be "dance." So Indexically it is moving us up to another interpretation [at] the Indexical level that what we are seeing here is DANCING. Okay?
You could also interpret that from just the Iconic shapes, that this could be anything between the 1920s to the 1930s (even 40s)? You know, YOU might have a completely different interpretation of the period of time this could relate to, but that is my interpretation of this from my experiences, and my knowledge, I am projecting that onto this poster.
So it is not just about "legs." Indexically, we got to the point where it is "legs." The [semiotic Iconic] resemblance suggests "legs." Indexically, we are now saying "these are legs," "male and female legs." But then we can Indexically have another go at this and say DANCE. So this is the power of what you have by understanding this level of semiotic communication… [semiotic] representation… which is at the Indexical level of pointing to EXISTENT THINGS, ideas and THINGS that EXIST in the real world, that we get a sense of being able to change how we design or illustrate forever. Because we are now understanding that what we [semiotically] see is SOMETHING that is more than just the Iconic mark-making.
The right audience, with the right information that we craft into our visual communication can then suggest bigger and more complex ideas and even EXISTENT THINGS. So let us just move forward to the "take home" from this.
Last week we said about having a "take home" within [the Semiosis 101] videos because the first eleven [Semiosis 101] videos are just setting the scene. And now we are here to actually think about how to enhance your visual communication. So my suggestion to you is now, during your development, when trying to connect with your target audience, consider as you visually represent, how can you reinforce the audience's understanding what they are looking at, to the Concept you need to visual communicate.
So think about that as you read the brief and how you come up with ideas to actually perform, like what you have been paid for or what you need to do. So it is not just about the actual technical part of you are designing or illustrating, but it is also the aesthetic and how the visual language you use [works].
So how can you craft your visual communication to take hold of your audience's eyes, and ensure your aesthetic visual language points them to the THING you are tasked to, and you need to, have your audience understand?
Okay? So that is where we leave today. And next week we will move up one more level and we will look at Symbolic representation. But that is it for this week.
Thanks for watching. And check in next week.
Watch the free video on YouTube for the full impact…