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SEMIOTICSR. K. Soond

Level 412.03.15

RECAP Ethical and Sustainable Design for Fashion, Textiles, Interiors and

our Future Ethical and Sustainable Design vs Conventional design and

production Design and Retail Businesses Latest SD Trends in Research and Design New breed of Sustainable Designers Emotional Durability - Attachment to a wearable product and

keeping it longer. The design - the longer you have it the more interesting it becomes!

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Semiotics for DesignersAreas to be covered: Semiotics for Designers

Aim: To understand why design matters from the use of Semiotics.

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of this lecture, you will be able to…

Define Semiotics. Identify the use of Semiotics. Analyse and discuss the extracted meaning and information by using semiotics.

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Definitions - What is Semiotics?Semiotics - The study of signs and symbols. Their use or interpretation. It also includes words (Text), sounds and body language.

Semiotics a study from psychology that is aka semiology. Investigates the nature of signs and the laws governing them. Semiology aims to take in any system of signs, whatever their

substance and limits; images, gestures, musical sounds, objects, and the complex associations of all of these.

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Sign

Signified

Signifier

Mental Concept.

Material aspect.

‘A sign is something which stands for something else. Saussure explained that the first something (signifier) is the object and the other something (signified ) is it’s concept, and both are united into the form of one word (sign). Sign is therefore constituted as a double structure of signifier and signified. Barthes similarly explained the relationship between signifier and signified as an interior relationship because both are unseen and united as a sign, a concrete entity.

Lee, J, 2004, Symbolic Meanings in Postmodern Fashion Ads, IJCC, Vol. 7, No 1 17-27 (2004) RKS

Saussure & BarthesFerdinand de Sassure

Credited with founding semiotics (he called it Semiology) Language came about to help people understand things not just to

define them. The Way language is made. Argued that all language is made of signs and each sign has two

parts: signifier and signified. Claims signs are Arbitrary - meaning there is no natural connection

between signifier and signified

Roland Barthes

Pioneered by Sassure, Barthes work includes Structuralism, Linguistics, Semiotics and Myths.

Structuralism - A system in which each element in a group can be understood be its relation to other elements as a part of a larger structure RKS

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http://www.thefinalsprint.com/images/2006/05/traffic%20light.jpg

Three signifiers = RED, YELLOW, GREEN

Three signified = STOP, GET READY, GO

Sign = Object + Concept

Which is the object and what is the concept?

“ Even in the case of the 'arbitrary' colours of traffic lights, the original choice of red for 'stop' was not entirely arbitrary, since it already carried relevant associations with danger. As Lévi-Strauss noted, the sign is arbitrary a priori but ceases to be arbitrary a posteriori - after the sign has come into historical existence it cannot be arbitrarily changed (Lévi-Strauss 1972, 91). “

Nowadays the sign is interpreted as a physical thing – that which can be seen, touched, smelt, handled , tasted etc.

Text

Signifier

Signified Referent

*What the sign stands for

GAP

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'Denotation' tends to be described as the definitional, 'literal', 'obvious' or'common-sense' meaning of a sign. In the case of linguistic signs, the

denotative meaning is what the dictionary attempts to provide.

The term 'connotation' is used to refer to the socio-cultural and'personal' associations (ideological, emotional etc.) of the sign. The tone or emotional

association that a word has. These aretypically related to the interpreter's class, age, gender, ethnicity and so on.

Signs are more 'polysemic' - more open to interpretation - in their connotationsthan their denotations. Denotation is sometimes regarded as a digital code and

connotation as an analogue code (Wilden 1987, 224).(http://www.dominicpetrillo.com/ed/Semiotics_for_Beginners.pdf)

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Denotation and Connotation

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=timorous+beasties+glasgow+toile.

http://blog.rexfabrics.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/toile-de-jouy4.jpg

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Task - By using semiotics, analyse the images. What are the Signifiers and the Signified?

TimePoliticsExpectationsTechnologyLife StyleEconomicsMoralSocial Status

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Task 2 - Identify the signifiers, signified, denotation and connotation in the following video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-A9mbD5ZcL4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ub76MGDYJNU

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Summery Semiotics - the definition of what it is and how it is applied within

the studies or Design

Two semiology theorists

Semiotics within imagery and text

Denotation and Connotation

Analysis of imagery and video

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