Hello readers.
In this free transcript for the video published on Semiosis 101 on 10 Aug 2022, we dig deeper into the key differences between Semiology and Semiosis - the two forms of semiotic theory - to understand Pragmatic sign-action.
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 today's third episode on general Peircean semiotic theory for illustrators and designers.
Today in around 10 minutes, we will focus on revisiting Hall’s Semiotic Journey in the context of Peirce’s Semiosis. We will dig deeper into the key differences between Semiology and Semiosis - the two forms of semiotic theory - to understand Pragmatic sign-action between a concept, representations and interpretations; to help you see the real-world benefits of Semiosis in enhancing your visual communication skills.
I will end on explaining how the theory’s Determination Flow between the concept, its representation and audience’s interpretation works. It will be a theory packed 10 minutes of Peirce’s Semiosis but in designer-centric terms. You ready? Subscribe… hit the bell button… and let us go!
Okay, so we are exploring Peircean semiotic theory, we will just come back to Sean Hall and in his book This Means This, This Means That: A User’s Guide to Semiotics. He talks about the Semiotic Journey.
So let us just explore the Semiotic Journey once more. We did it in the first video, but we are going to explore it again once more, because it is important to put this into a context now of Semiosis - Peircean semiotic theory… Pragmatic semiotic theory.
Okay, so in Peirce's semiotic theory it begins a journey of the SENDER. The SENDER of the semiotic communication begins the whole thing off.
It continues with the INTENTION of that SENDER. Why does that SENDER need to communicate semiotically? What is the INTENTION behind that?
In that INTENTION what is the MESSAGE that needs to be semiotically communicated?
How will that be TRANSMITTED?
What will be in the way of that TRANSMISSION that we need to overcome? The NOISE.
Who does it go to? The RECEIVER of the semiotic communication. Because communication is a two-way thing. It needs to have a RECEIVER as well as the SENDER. So communication is a two-way thing at least. And ultimately the DESTINATION of where that Semiotic Journey ends.
Okay, so we have got this which is very useful in Hall’s book… in Sean Hall's book:
the SENDER.
the INTENTION.
the MESSAGE.
the TRANSMISSION.
the NOISE.
the RECEIVER.
the DESTINATION.
This is really a crucial overview on how, in our case, visual communication works. Okay, this is about communication in general, but these videos are about visual communication.
So the SENDER, the INTENTION, the MESSAGE, TRANSMISSION, NOISE, the RECEIVER, the DESTINATION, let us put this into the context of Visual Communication Design - graphic design and illustration.
Everything starts off in our world, with our CLIENTS. They are the ones who commission us to do a particular visual communication job for them. They have a BRIEF. They BRIEF us on what they need, that we can supply them through our skills that we have honed and learned, through design school into professional life.
The BRIEF. In that BRIEF, as visual communicators, we are looking to really find what needs to be communicated, through the skills that we employ for that. Which comes into how we, as Visual Communication Designers - graphic designers and illustrators - what mediums are we going to use to communicate that MESSAGE?
That is our TRANSMISSION. But it is not just about pushing ideas out there through visual communication and hoping everyone is going to basically lap it up, and really enjoy everything that you put out there, because there is always going to be some NOISE getting in the way of that.
What gets in the way of that? Well, when I talk to students about… if they're doing a poster project… how many other posters have they seen that day that they've not taken any notice of? Because if they're designing a poster it is going to be competing against that.
If you are designing a book, it is going to be on a bookshelf next to other books, competing for the attention span of the audience. So what visual NOISE, and other NOISE, is going to get in the way of your intended RECEIVER understanding, and making decisions on, what you design?
Well, understand who your audiences are is crucial in design. Full stop! And it is also crucial within Peircean semiotic theory because it was really geared towards crafting, in our case visual communication, using semiotics that our audiences will connect with. In future videos we will really unpack all the aspects of all what that means.
Where the DESTINATION is, is the fact that once your audience is exposed to your design, your illustration, your creative output, you want those outcomes of your design process to answer the BRIEF for the CLIENT, and actually do what your CLIENT has asked you to do, rather than just be… “oh, that is good.”
So, effective visual communication. That connects back to the MESSAGE through the TRANSMISSION, that connects with the INTENTION of what your CLIENT asked you to do in the first place. So, it is a win-win situation all around.
My arguments throughout all of these videos are going to be, that Peircean theory, despite the complexity of his language - of Peirce’s language - gives you tools to be able to do that. That is what we will unpack in these videos.
So, let us just quickly finish this video off by a reminder that there are two different semiotic theories. I would just outline what those two different semiotic theories are, because from now on we are only going to be focusing in on Peircean semiotic theory. Okay, so we already aware that there are two forms of semiotic theory. There is from the North American school of thought, which is Peirce, and from the European which is Saussure.
Peirce's semiotic theory I call Semiosis, is the word he defined which basically means sign-action - the action of the sign - Semiosis as opposed to Saussure's Semiology. Semiosis. Semiology. Both are semiotic theory. So, let us just unpack what this means a little bit further. Well Peirce is a Pragmatist. He is one of the founding fathers of the Pragmatic school of theory.
Then we have in Europe, Saussure, who is a Structuralist. I am not going to go any further into what those two things mean. I will focus in a future video on Pragmatism in general, as a philosophy that helps designers action their skill sets to move forward. So, I will be talking about that theory in connection to the design practice, and this is the one of the last times I will probably have anything on Saussure.
I have already mentioned in a previous video about Peirce's semiotic theory is based upon triads… sets of three… whereas Semiology - the SIGNIFIER and the SIGNIFIED - is a dyadic structure. Two. So the SIGNIFIER and the SIGNIFIED is the Structuralist one. Pragmatic is essentially a different way of approaching semiotic theory, and the triadic nature is broken down into three key forms of his approach to things.
These are terms that he defines himself - Peirce defines himself - of the OBJECT, the REPRESENTAMEN, and the INTERPRETANT. Those three are… there is a Determination Flow between those three. But, before I move on to the Determination Flow, I would just finish off on Saussure. His is the SIGNIFIER and the SIGNIFIED. Dyadic.
Triadic = Pragmatic
Dyadic = Structuralist
Okay? As I said in previous videos, and I will say in future videos, Peirce's language is very problematic for anyone who is not Peirce. Because he defined and created these words…REPRESENTAMEN and INTERPRETANT… and it pertains to his theory.
The point behind these videos is for you to come away from them with more designer-centric terms, that are a meta language that you understand, which will encompass his theory. So… OBJECT, REPRESENTAMEN and INTERPRETANT… very problematic words… so let us look at these in a different way.
This is the Determination Flow between the three. OBJECT in Peirce’s language, from a designer-centric point of view… it is the concept you start from. The INTENTION, the MESSAGE that comes from your CLIENT that you need to actually think through, and find out what it is that you need to visually communicate.
The second one, the REPRESENTAMEN is the representation that you decide upon, that is going to be the most effective way of gaining the audience's attention over the NOISE, to actually be able to focus them into making decisions about your design. Positive decisions, hopefully, that will change their behaviour. (I will talk about Frascara in future talks as well).
If the representation - the REPRESENTAMEN - the representation that you define within your visual communication, makes connections to your target audience, they will interpret it in the correct way that we want them to.
The INTERPRETANT is… using a term that is better for designers …is how the visual communication will be interpreted by the audience. If interpreted in the right way, they will make the connections to the meaning and the INTENTION of the BRIEF.
So it should become a triangular flow from the concept (the OBJECT)… to its representation (the REPRESENTAMEN)… to its INTERPRETANT …which is the interpretation. And from the interpretation - the correct interpretation should reflect the concept. So, this is what we call the Determination Flow. And I will talk about Determination Flows in future videos and unpack that further to a more specific focus for graphic designers and illustrators.
This diagram came from a workshop that I did with a Professor of Semiotics Paul Cobley (he is another Scouser) back in 2018, at the Graphic Design Educators Network (GDEN) conference in Northumbria University. I have done that workshop a couple of times with designers. So these are the languages… these are the words… that come out from designers, and what designers use, that can be used as a meta language over the top of Peircean terminology, to make it more accessible to graphic designers and illustrators. And that is the intent of these videos.
So that is our 10 minutes of Peircean Semiosis 101 for this week. You will now have a clear understanding of how Peirce's Semiosis theory of semiotics involves the audience directly in the sign-action.
By embedding a Peircean sign-action model we can enhance addressing our key audiences in our design process, and improve how we connotatively visually communicate. This enhancement in our visual communication abilities rests in the communicational space between our concept, how it is represented so that it facilitates a successful interpretation in our target audiences.
Over the coming weeks in Semiosis 101, we will explore further how this semiotic Determination Flow can be applied to enhance visual communication.
I hope as creatives you agree that Peirce's semiotic theory of Semiosis offers a lot of rich pickings to enhance our visual communication skills? There will be another video next week. So come back again.
Watch the free video on YouTube for the full impact…