Semiotics- Notes taken in class.
Saussure - teacher, linguist.
Language is not instinctive, it is learnt as you grow, visual language, cultural, you have to learn them.
Denotation - what you see - real
Connotation - what you think - personal experiences, education, own things, ideaology, own past, perception.
Signs - arbetry, random.
MOST SPOKEN WORDS DON'T MEAN ANTHING, THEY ARE LINKED TO CERTAIN THINGS AND OBJECTS - made up with culture, learnt by everybody and has been agreed as a language.
grown with time.
tradition - brought up over the time.
it doesn't alter the truth of something if you do it differently.
Paradigm and Symtagm.
THE CAT SAT ON THE MAT.
cat - symtagm - cat, kitty, puss, tiger, lion cheetah, moggy
mat - carpet, floor, rug, door, mat, matting.
From these notes and in class I think I got a slightly better understanding of semiotics. This amount of information that I took down will give me enough knowledge to carry on with my research and explore the subject in more detail.
Two of the original thinkers in semiotics were Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) and Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913). Each of these thinkers posited a basic theory of signs and their meanings
Saussure, a french linguist, was one of the first to develop a semiotic theory. He worked along side Peirce. Their theories were different from each others but related well.
Saussure developed the idea that language is a system of signs, so that words are only used to signify objects, for example, the word cat, only signifies the animal of a cat because we, as a culture, has decided and agreed that, that word means 'cat'. The same goes for every word, we all know what objects are, but we all need to agree that the word for it can be used by everybody.
Saussure said that a sign is made up of two elements - the signified and the signifer.
Peirce semiotic model was similar to, but more complex than Saussure’s.
Peirce’s model also became more strongly associated with American thinking on
semiology, while Saussure is more often represented in European works on the
subject. (www.jackwhitehead.com/teesonphd/004c3.pdf)
Saussure - teacher, linguist.
Language is not instinctive, it is learnt as you grow, visual language, cultural, you have to learn them.
Denotation - what you see - real
Connotation - what you think - personal experiences, education, own things, ideaology, own past, perception.
Signs - arbetry, random.
MOST SPOKEN WORDS DON'T MEAN ANTHING, THEY ARE LINKED TO CERTAIN THINGS AND OBJECTS - made up with culture, learnt by everybody and has been agreed as a language.
grown with time.
tradition - brought up over the time.
it doesn't alter the truth of something if you do it differently.
Paradigm and Symtagm.
THE CAT SAT ON THE MAT.
cat - symtagm - cat, kitty, puss, tiger, lion cheetah, moggy
mat - carpet, floor, rug, door, mat, matting.
From these notes and in class I think I got a slightly better understanding of semiotics. This amount of information that I took down will give me enough knowledge to carry on with my research and explore the subject in more detail.
---------------------------------
Two of the original thinkers in semiotics were Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) and Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913). Each of these thinkers posited a basic theory of signs and their meanings
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| Ferdinand de Saussure |
Saussure, a french linguist, was one of the first to develop a semiotic theory. He worked along side Peirce. Their theories were different from each others but related well.
Saussure developed the idea that language is a system of signs, so that words are only used to signify objects, for example, the word cat, only signifies the animal of a cat because we, as a culture, has decided and agreed that, that word means 'cat'. The same goes for every word, we all know what objects are, but we all need to agree that the word for it can be used by everybody.
Saussure said that a sign is made up of two elements - the signified and the signifer.
I found this piece of information wihch explains what it is in a way that I found easiest.
- a 'signifier' (signifiant) - the form which the sign takes; and
- the 'signified' (signifié) - the concept it represents.
http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/sem02.html
 |
| http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/sem02.html |
Peirce’s model also became more strongly associated with American thinking on
semiology, while Saussure is more often represented in European works on the
subject. (www.jackwhitehead.com/teesonphd/004c3.pdf)
Syntagm and Paradigm
SYNTAGM - When saying a sentence you will get an image in yor head of what you see what you hear or say it. But if at least 1 of the words in the sentence was changed then you would have a completely different meaning.
'The man cried'
This would give you an image of a man crying.
BUT
If you change the word 'man' to 'boy' the image is changed, you then see a small boy crying, the cry would also be different, a smaller higher pitched, therefore you see something different when just 1 word is changed in a sentence.
PARADIGM - A set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality for the community that shares them, especially in an intellectual discipline.
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As a species we make meanings through signs.
ICON
something that physically resembles what it is showing e.g. a photo or a map
physical resemblence
photo
map
onomatopoeia
looks like the thing it's describing
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| http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/Habitat/Pond/pond1.jpg |
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| http://www.lookoutbb.co.uk/images/areamaps/map-eastsussex-and-kent-1778x1550.gif |
SYMBOL
something that represents something and is culturally learned e.g. typography or road signs
culturally learnt
conventions
arbitrary (words)
(most spoken)
(most spoken)
all typography
 | ||
| http://www.thecrossedcow.com/2011/09/09/the-partners-redesigns-road-signs/ |
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| http://www.paulhuxen.co.uk/typography.html |
INDEX
signifier cannot exsist without the presence of the signified
eg. symptoms, smells, smoke.
 |
| http://www.hull.ac.uk/visibility/Images/fire%20and%20smoke.jpg |
'Nothing is a sign unless it is interpreted as a sign', declares Peirce
Pictogram research.
A pictogram is a visual way of showing a part of information without using words or sounds. For an example road signs are all pictograms, universal knowledge with what they mean. They have to be easy to understand and known by everybody to have a certain meaning. Like a toilet sign, everywhere has the same image of a stick man or a stick woman with a dress on.
Connotation and Denotation.
Denotation refers to the literal meaning of a word, the "dictionary definition."¨ For example, if you look up the word snake in a dictionary, you will discover that one of its denotative meanings is "any of numerous scaly, legless, sometimes venomous reptiles, kapering a long, tapering, cylindrical body and found in most tropical and temperate regions."
Denotation refers to the literal meaning of a word, the "dictionary definition."¨ For example, if you look up the word snake in a dictionary, you will discover that one of its denotative meanings is "any of numerous scaly, legless, sometimes venomous reptiles, kapering a long, tapering, cylindrical body and found in most tropical and temperate regions."
Connotation, on the other hand, refers to the associations that are connected to a certain word or the emotional suggestions related to that word. The connotative meanings of a word exist together with the denotative meanings. The connotations for the word snake could include evil or danger.
Design.
The beset way to think about designing for a small pictogram I think applies to the same as designing a logo.
Keeping a design simple for all the app designs in this project is important. The points listed above I am going to follow.
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