Semiotics

Semiotics - The study of signs (aspects of meaning)

French linguistic theorist - Saussure
- Sign = signifier + signified
- The relation between them arbitrary (e.g the relation of love and danger with the colour red)
- Signs are organised into codes (signs, systems, underlying rules, patterns, cultural codes)
- Structuralism (underlying structure of cultural codes)

Barthes 'Mythologies'
- Sign = signifier (creates a literal meaning + signified (hidden, coded meaning) (denotation & connotation)
- Myth (something that is subjective, an expression made at the level of the connotative disguised as denotative

The Shannon-Weaver Mathematical Model, 1949
Information source - Transmitter(encoder) - Channel - Receiver(decoder) - Destination

e.g Mcdonalds

Golden arches - what is evoked in the mind, mental concept (signified)
i'm lovin' in - things that give meaning to words and image (signifier)
the image and slogan = anything that conveys meaning (sign)

Being able to link meaning to imagery and text can persuade people in a way that they will not be conscious of the persuasion. 


Noise
- anything unintended added to the signal between transmission and reception
- culture jamming (an intervention in a reestablished system of communication)

Redundancy Entropy
- a communicative act that is conventional, predictable and easily understandable
- redundancy - high predictability, low information
- entropic is the opposite of redundancy
- entropy = low predictability, high information, unconventional (cultural codes need to be understood for this to be effective and to maximise effect)

Paradigms & Syntagms
- Saussure defined two ways in which SIGNS are organised into CODES (cultural and linguistic)

- PARADIGM - a set of signs from which one is to be chosen (the alphabet in which you choose one letter to make your communicative gesture)
- SYNTAGM - the message into which the chosen signs are to be combined (letter from alphabet(paradigm), places into sintagmatic relationship according to pre-existing rules)

Other types of paradigm
- Changing shot in TV
- Typefaces
- Colours
- Choice of wording

Paradigmatic analysis is a structural technique which seeks to identify various paradigms which underline the 'surface structure' of a text. This involves the positive or negative connotations of each signifier. (This would be interesting to bring into analysis of an image in essay)

This lecture has bettered my understanding of how to visually communicate without having to literally write the message on the design. This will be particularly useful in my practical work for COP as I have a specific message that I want to be understood however I have now learned that this is important in terms of the SIGN and REDUNDANCY.