[Week 4] : Semiotics

Semiotics is an investigation on how meaning is created and used to communicate. The origin is on how things are studied from signs and symbols are used linguistically and visually

It's a way on how we see the world and how we unconsciously follow and interpret things automatically and instantly without going through a thinking process which requires us to squeeze our brain in order to get the impulse running.

For instance, when we see the different colours of a traffic light, we automatically know how to react on the spot. We know this without even thinking about it. But this is a sign which has been established by cultural convention over a long period of time and which we learned at a young age and requires a deal of unconscious cultural knowledge to understand its meaning.

Everyone is a semiotician, because everyone is constantly unconsciously interpreting the meaning of everything around them – from traffic lights to colours of flags, the shapes of cars, the architecture of buildings, and the design of brand logos.

Signs don't entirely have to be visual. Unoticingly, signs can also be in the form of sounds and aural. For example, when we hear the sound of sirens, we can differentiate either the siren is from an ambulance, the police or something else. Nonetheless, we are able to understand that the siren means that there is an emergency and we have to give space for the vehicles to pass through.

In other words, we need to understand the context in which a sign is communicated in order to comprehend its real meaning, and hence act accordingly. What is going on around the sign is usually as important for us to know as the sign itself in order to interpret its meaning.

Semiotics is a key tool to ensure that intended meanings are unambiguously understood by the person on the receiving end. Usually there are good reasons if someone doesn’t understand the real intention of a message and semiotics can help unravel that confusion, ensuring clarity of meaning. Therefore, semiotics is an everyday application that affects the lives of others in a huge way for the greater good and a way we can use for our own benefits, especially in business.

Sources:-
Sign Salad

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