Free Transcript of Episode 2.1 Why Semiotic Signs Are Not Signage - But Signage Uses Semiotics
Semiosis 101 Season 2, Video 1 Transcript
Hello readers.
In this free transcript for the video published on Semiosis 101 on 12 Apr, 2023, we focus on separating signage from semiotic signs, and dispelling the false syllogism that because they are both “signs” they surely must be the same thing!
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.
Semiotic sign.
Sign.
Signage.
A notice.
A warning.
Information.
Wayfinding.
Highway Code.
Street signs.
Toilet signs.
STOP!
You can now see the train of thought of creatives when we mention semiotic signs and design in the same context. Signage are design outcomes that we see everyday whether on a toilet door, a street or a piece of packaging.
So, surely, (some creatives will say) they are the same thing?
No.
I have found that assemiotics is not that well taught within design schools (things are changing), designers and illustrators have to unlearn design language to relearn skillsets that will benefit them.
As a design educator of nearly 25 years experience, I still employ a Bauhaus method of taking every student back to basics to reconstruct their own knowledge. As a design lecturer, I got a shock this year when presenting a lecture on semiotics to young design students. I opened with a question to the students what they thought semiotics was. I was confronted with blank faces (not unusual in lecturing). I felt this reaction was still a little strange compared to previous years, so I modified my question to “Have you heard of semiotics?”
The answer was a no! (Except one student who had watched one of my Semiosis 101 videos). This answer at least allowed my lecture to explain the semiotic fundamentals to them (obviously then plugging this channel for further researching!). The actual shock came later. When going table to table after the semiotic lecture, I observed a student who had gone to the library for further semiotic reading
(Woohoo - great!).
The design student had returned to the design studio with a book on SIGNAGE. Road signs, street signs, information signs… lots of images of signage. He looked crestfallen when I told him this is not what we had been discussing in the semiotics lecture.
“But these are signs, yes?”
Yes. They are signs but they are not the same thing as semiotic signs.
At this point I saw the confusion on the student’s face. He had built a false syllogism where logically for him…
Signage are signs;
Semiotic referents are signs;
Semiotic signs are signage.
He is not alone in following this false syllogism. A design system of representing information in pure graphic forms is an obvious entry point for visual communicators to jump on when they hear SIGNS. These graphic signs, that depict everything from which toilet to use to what to avoid to ensure health and safety, are signage. To be clear, they are a subset of visual communication that offer in everyday life wayfinding and immediate, simple information.
Signage is an area within graphic design that focuses attention to a single important piece of information such as STOP! at a road junction, to CORROSIVE on a liquid container, to press PLAY on a device. Signage uses a specific form of image to denote a single concept. A STOP sign on a road junction means stop. There is no room for other interpretations, no connotative meanings to possible other points of view or Concepts.
The signage denotes a single meaning agreed within the visual culture of the society it is used. Signage is intended to be unequivocal. As any alternative reading could be disastrous (car pile up) or embarrassing (entering the wrong room). How does signage do this? Well as signage has to be accessible to many people, it has to be visually simple.
Signage has to abstract complexity into a graphic that can be learnt to mean what it is designed to mean. People have to learn that when they see the particular example of signage it means “this” now. This learning is achieved with other forms of graphic design outcomes, from Highway Code books to visual displays on notice boards, of a key to the signage used within a particular context. People have to have contextual memory that, at different times of day, different forms of signage address different pieces of information to them.
Remember, semiotic signs are not signage. But signage utilises semiotics to work.
When is a semiotic sign a sign?
You may think I am relishing perpetuating a conundrum, but in Peircean semiotic theory, a semiotic sign is not a sign until it is first PERCEIVED as a sign for something. A semiotic sign is a referent to a Concept, a thing, to facilitate effective communication. A semiotic sign performs an action to trigger this communication at subconscious levels. For this sign-action (Semiosis as Peirce calls it) to perform it needs a Representational form that will result in a successful Interpretation.
In Semiosis 101 we focus on visual communication. So a semiotic Representational form is crafted by a designer or illustrator, to connect with their intended target audience - a subset of people - to Interpret it. In signage graphic designers utilise icon sets - sets of graphic elements - to simplify, abstract and convey the intended information. It is unfortunate that Peirce’s technical semiotic terminology (written over a century ago) uses words in a particular way to explain Semiosis, which now are used in design for certain design outcomes. This is the point I made earlier about going back to basics to relearn.
In Semiosis, the moment a visual element is perceived by the target audience it will begin to suggest a meaning. At the basic semiotic level of Representation, a combination of lines, shapes, marks, colours may be visually crafted to HOOK the audience’s attention by resembling or suggesting something they already know. In Semiosis 101 we call this the Iconic level, the lowest of three levels of sign-action.
Signage operates at the highest of three levels of semiotic Representation of a Concept to an audience. This is the Symbolic level of semiotic sign-action. In each piece of signage that is non-textual (i.e. we are talking about signage that is graphic based and not a neon sign stating “Pharmacy” or “Exit”), the graphic element needs to quickly denote to people its specific piece of information. A neon sign displaying the word “Pharmacy” is obvious (if you understand what the word means).
A more universal piece of signage that works across languages is a green cross to denote a Pharmacy stockist (let us not worry about whether other additional medical emblems are included or not). The word “Pharmacy” may differ language to language, but around the world, the green cross has been adopted. The visual learning by people that a green cross means “Pharmacy” is at a Symbolic semiotic level.
So to conclude, and remove any confusion, signage, for it to denote its specific information to people, utilises semiotic Symbolic Representation of meaning. Signage is a specific graphic subset of information in specific contexts (highway rules, wayfinding, health and safety guidance, warning, etc) to an audience of people. These people agree that when they see a particular piece of signage it means “this” specific piece of information. Semiotic signs are the visual means to build the visual language to achieve that meaning.
Semiotic signs are referents, hints, visual clues to aid the target audience arrive at the correct Interpretation of the graphic. Signage is a visual graphic outcome. Semiotic sign-action is the crafting of the visual building blocks - semiotic signs - that achieve a successful interpretation. Semiotic signs are creatives’ raw materials to connect with their target audiences. To end this first season two video, we can conclude two important things about applying Peircean semiotic theory to enhance the effectiveness of visually communicating to an audience.
Firstly, words have unfortunate different contextual meanings. We have already seen this with the words “sign” and “icon” conjuring up differing meanings, depending whether you are a creative or a semiotician.
Secondly, as Peirce defines it semiotics is proactive. Sign-action involves the Concept to be communicated, how that is semiotically Represented as a “sign” - a referent - impacts on how the intended audience Interprets it. If the sign-action is not crafted well by the creative, the audience can misinterpret the meaning. If the semiotic Representation is poorly considered the audience may not perceive the sign.
Come back next week as Semiosis 101 season two will help you craft your semiotic signs.
Watch the free video on YouTube for the full impact…