The Semiology of User Experienced Design 1

INFO 608 - 901

Spring 2018

‘The Semiology of User Experienced Design’

UX in the Real World

June 5, 2018

Charles Hermann

The Semiology of User Experienced Design 2

Introduction

Semiology can be understood as the ‘study of signs.’(Seiler, n.d.) Ferdinand de Saussure

is considered to be the ‘father’ of semiology/semiotics. Saussure created the idea of the study of

semiology as the ‘science of signs.’(Hämäläinen, n.d.) He considered linguistics to be a division

of semiology. Within this science, signs are considered to be conceptual objects, consisting of the

signifier and signified. The signifier is a representation of the mental conception. This can be

viewed as a tripartite relationship.(Fig. 1.1)

An in depth analysis of the entire field of semiology is beyond the scope of this paper.

The focus is largely on the application of semiotics as a signifier/signified/sign relationship for

users and designers. This is still a topic that could be too lengthy for such a short paper, so this

will be a general overview of the relationship and, more specifically, how semiotics apply to user

Fig 1.1Basic semiotic tripartite relationship

Fig 1.2*Complex semiotic relationship(Carter, Knight, & Graf, 2008)

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experienced design (UX). Without going into Lacan or Zizek’s interpretations of semiotics

(which would also be an interesting topic of discussion in relation to UX), it’s easy to say that

this is a quite complex topic itself. How does this fit within the dynamics of Human Computer

Interaction or the broader topic of User Experienced Design (UX)? Quite simply, it’s that to un-

derstand how the human brain processes the sign, signifier, and signified, is to understand how to

design for the human using that brain.

Don Norman discusses the ideas of signifiers in “The Design Of Everyday

Things.”(Norman, 2013, p. 14) Norman even states outright that his use of the term differs from

the use of linguists, such as Saussure or Barthes. Norman credits his use of the term in relation-

ship to his terminology of affordances, with a need to create a separate term.(Norman, 2013, p.

14) Norman explained that he felt at one point that he should have changed 'affordances' to 'per-

cieved affordances.'(Norman, 1999) He then goes on to explain in DOET, that he decided that

was not enough and replaced that with signifier.(Norman, 2013, p. 14) Norman explains that de-

signers were using the term 'affordance' improperly. He explained that he created the term signi-

fier to replace the improper use of 'affordance.' "Affordances determine what actions are possi-

ble. Signifiers communicate where the action should take place."(Norman, 2013, p.14)

There is still a commonality between Norman’s signifier and the use of the term in semi-

otics. To understand this commonality, it may be prudent to briefly examine the semiological de-

finition of a signifier and the use of this term. Ferdinand de Saussure largely examined semiotics

purely in terms of linguistics. One of his pioneering contributions was the idea that words are not

the things they represent, nor do they have an intrinsic meaning without someone to interpret

The Semiology of User Experienced Design 4

them. In this way, the word is a sign. The sign only has meaning when it has a signifier and signi-

fied. (Some may argue that Saussure’s interpretation was dyadic, where the signified (signifié)

and signifier (signifant) define the sign. This would still result in a tripartite relationship where

“signifier + signified = sign.”)(Seiler, n.d.) It could be understood in this way that the signifier is

the word and the signified is the concept that word represents. But with the contributions of

Charles Sanders Pierce and then Roland Barthes, it has come to be better understood as a tripar-

tite relationship, where the sign functions as a third part of the relationship.

Charles Sanders Pierce had “classified 74 different types of signs, they can be narrowed

down to three key types: icons, symbols and index.”(Carter, Knight, & Graf, 2008) Pierce con-

tributed greatly to this tripartite relationship, helping us understand how when an individual

hears/sees a word, they interpret it to mean a specific thing to the individual (and not all individ-

uals always interpret these things in the same way), creating the need to separate the sign from

the signifier/signified relationship.

Roland Barthes published “Elements of Sociology” (originally in French) in 1964.

Barthes claimed that semiology was a branch of linguistics, rather than the opposite claim of

Saussure. What is important about Barthes in the context here is actually his focus on social theo-

ry and his application of semiotics toward it. Barthes added to Saussure’s conception of semi-

otics by adding an additional layers. In “Mythologies,” Barthes claimed that “Myth is a type of

speech.”(Barthes, 1957) The important aspect of semiotics here was the idea that words (or

signs) can represent something that both real and not real at the same time. This added a layer to

semiology that transitioned it beyond the realm of linguistics. Barthes also wrote The Death Of

The Semiology of User Experienced Design 5

The Author, in which he claimed that to assign an author to detach works from the creator.

(Barthes, 1967) The important contribution of this was that interpretation of signs was no longer

bound to the moment of creation, but rather is now defined by the moment of perception. Hope-

fully, the previous exploration into semiology expressed the fundamental point that semiotics are

not merely linguistic, but can take on any/many forms to use a sign to create a mental concep-

tion.

Semiology of UX

Returning to Don Norman and “The Design of Everyday Things,” we can now examine

the divergence and convergence of Norman’s signifier to the semiotic signifier. As Norman

states, they are not the same term. (And avoiding going into Barthes’ “Death of the Author” in-

terpretation and a downward spiral into Derridian madness.) Norman states that he created the

term signifier to differentiate between affordances and that which points to an affordance. “[T]he

term signifier refers to any mark or sound, any perceivable indicator that communicates appro-

priate behavior to a person.”(Norman, 2013, p. 14) Norman goes on to explain that signifiers can

be “deliberate and intentional” or they may be “accidental and unintentional.”(Norman, 2013, p.

14)

The issue here is that there is still a commonality with the semiotic use of signifier. For

Norman, the signifier demonstrates how something is used. It gives the user an indication of the

affordances available. Indeed, this is different from the semiotic use of the term, but the relation-

ship between a thing being conceptually understood and the method of conveying this conceptual

understanding are still semiotic in nature. Perhaps Norman should have called his signifiers the

The Semiology of User Experienced Design 6

“signs.” But they still signify something. They convey a mental image of how to use an item. If

we use his example of door hinges, then we see the hinges create a mental conception of how the

door operates.

More importantly for UX, the understanding of how humans perceive and understand the

images/symbols and turn them into mental conceptions is invaluable in the design process. This

conceptual model itself is critical in the multiple aspects of UX/UI design. One obvious correla-

tion is between “Visual Design Principles” and semiotics.(El Mimouni, 2018) While aesthetics

are important, they are important for a multitude of reasons. Many of them rely on the semiotic

relationship with the user. When defining important aspects of design, such as “Line, Shape, Di-

rection, Size, Texture, and Colour,” the ultimate reason these are so important is the interpreta-

tion they create in the user.(J6 design, n.d.) This is a semiotic relationship. The design conveys a

message. The designer’s priority is typically that it conveys a message that is translated into us-

ability.

A common (something) example today is the depiction of the save icon. Many users to-

day have never even seen a 3.5” floppy disk in real life. Nonetheless, many users today do un-

derstand the 3.5” floppy disk image to be a visual representation of “save.” This is, without any

doubt, a semiotic relationship. The symbol (sign) takes on a conceptual model in the mind of the

user. These semiotic relationships with icons and symbols (which returns us to Pierce in many

ways), can also vary depending on the users.

In an episode of Family Guy, a Mac “Spinning Wait Cursor” appeared in an episode.(Pip

Seg, 2016)(Swain, 2010) The dialogue was centered around this event. “What is that?” “I don’t

The Semiology of User Experienced Design 7

know. It’s trying to do something. … Well, I

just guess we’re going to have to wait.”(Pip

Seg, 2016) The pinwheel/beachball was

something that only those having used Mac

OS (and possibly NeXTStep) would have

recognized. Although the image exists in this

scene, it doesn’t exist as it does in Mac OS. It signifies something that is not actually present in

reality.

To understand how to properly design, the UX process needs to identify the process of

semiology, whether intentional or not. The perception of the user needs to be understood in the

process of a successful design. Sheena Lyonnais states on Adobe’s UX/UI blog that “France-

based semiotics professor Michela Deni noted how once designers understand semiotics there is

no going back.”(Lyonnais, 2016) Deni does have much to contribute to the discussion on semi-

otics in UX. Most importantly is how perception itself is a result of cognitive processes that

translate symbols/signs into messages. Demi states that she finds semiotics most valuable in the

beginning and near the end of the design process.(Deni, 2011)

A common trait in design is the desire to not make the user think. This is even the title of

Steve Krug’s text on Web and Mobile Usability “Don’t Make Me Think (Revisted).” (Krug,

2014) In the opening of this text, Krug states:

People often ask me: “What’s the most important thing I should do if I want to make sure

my site or app is easy to use?”

The Semiology of User Experienced Design 8

The answer is simple. It’s not “Nothing important should ever be more than two clicks

away” or “Speak the user’s language” or “Be consistent.”

It’s “Don’t make me think!” (Krug, 2014, p. 11)

Norman uses a similar tone in discussing creating user friendly design. It is a common theme to-

wards UX. “Design is successful only if the final product is successful–if people buy it, use it,

and enjoy it… A design that people do not purchase is a failed design, no matter how great the

design team might consider it.”(Norman, 2013, p. 293)

The first chapter of Norman’s “The Design Of Everyday Things” is entitled The Psy-

chopathology of Everyday Things.(Norman, 2013, p. 1) The second chapter is entitled The Psy-

chology of Everyday Things.(Norman, 2013, p. 37) (POET was also the prior title to his work,

replaced by DOET.)(Norman, 1999) Other chapters discuss Knowledge in the Head and in the

World, Discoverability and Feedback, and how ‘Human error’ is really the result of ‘bad

design.’(Norman, 2013) These features overlay a Lacanian view of psychoanalysis that relies

heavily on semiology, but is beyond the scope of this paper. The key to this relationship, without

belaboring it, is that there is a tremendous amount of overlap with design and the conceptual

processes of the user. The design process today relies heavily on understanding users, especially

in User Centered Design.(El Mimouni, 2018) Design teams that are successful often spend large

amounts of time studying users to understand how they will perceive and use the designed prod-

uct.

If we are to understand the process of semiotics in the user, we can better anticipate the

UX experience. It may be decided that the design team wants to create a new semiotic sign,

which is more likely to be successful if the rest of the design process is more intuitive. Most of

The Semiology of User Experienced Design 9

the semiotic relationships we have in user interface today have been created, whether intentional-

ly or unintentionally. It was intended to be shown here not just that semiotics can lend a great

insight into UX and the design process, but that semiotics are inherent in the functions of all user

experiences, whether intentional or otherwise. That it is impossible to avoid the conceptualiza-

tion of the user.

The Semiology of User Experienced Design 10

Works Cited

Barthes, R. (1957). MYTHOLOGIES (Excerpt) (A. Lavers, Trans.). Retrieved June 5, 2018,

from http://faculty.georgetown.edu/irvinem/theory/Barthes-MythToday-excerpt.pdf

Barthes, R. (1967). The Death Of The Author (R. Howard, Trans.). Retrieved June 5, 2018, from

https://writing.upenn.edu/~taransky/Barthes.pdf

Carter, B., & Knight, D. (2008). Semiotic Domains and Non-Textual Technologies (R. Graf,

Ed.). Retrieved June 5, 2018, from http://etec.ctlt.ubc.ca/510wiki/Semiotic_Domain-

s_and_Non-Textual_Technologies

Deni, M. (2011, Summer). Semiotics in design project. Retrieved June 5, 2018, from https://

www.academia.edu/9069467/Semiotics_in_design_project

El Mimouni, H. (2018). Week 5: Requirements, Task Analysis. [PDF].

El Mimouni, H. (2018). Week 7: Graphic design principles, Prototyping. [PDF].

Hämäläinen, W. (n.d.). Semiology vs. semiotics. Retrieved June 5, 2018, from http://www.c-

s.joensuu.fi/~whamalai/skc/semiology.html

J6 design. (n.d.). The principles of design. Retrieved June 5, 2018, from http://www.j6design.-

com.au/6-principles-of-design/

Krug, S. (2014). Dont make me think, revisited: A common sense approach to Web usability.

Berkeley, CA: New Riders Pub.

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Lyonnais, S. (2016, September 15). Harnessing the Power of Semiotics in UX Design | Creative

Cloud blog by Adobe. Retrieved June 5, 2018, from https://blogs.adobe.com/creative-

cloud/harnessing-the-power-of-semiotics-in-ux-design/

Norman, D. (1999). Affordance, Conventions and Design. Interactions, 38-43. Retrieved June 5,

2018, from https://learn.dcollege.net/bbcswebdav/pid-6428457-dt-content-

rid-43615656_1/courses/XLSIJ201735/Affordance.pdf. [Downloaded from Blackboard]

Norman, D. A. (2013). The Design Of Everyday Things. NY, NY: Basic Books.

Pip Seg. (2016, May 08). Family Guy Apple Beachball Pinwheel. Retrieved June 5, 2018, from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrmjVR4-RxM

Seiler, R. M. (n.d.). Semiology // Semiotics. Retrieved June 5, 2018, from http://people.ucalgar-

y.ca/~rseiler/semiolog.htm

Swain, G. E. (2010, May 28). Troubleshoot the spinning beach ball. Retrieved June 5, 2018,

from https://www.macworld.com/article/1151583/os-x/spinningbeachballofdeath.html