3 IS BETTER THAN 2: Semiosis for Designers and Illustrators (SEMIOSIS 101 Video #2)
In today’s second Semiosis 101 episode on general Peircean semiotic theory is Semiosis for Designers and Illustrators. We will focus on the key features of both Saussure’s Semiology and Peirce's sign-action (Semiosis) for Visual Communication Design (graphic design and illustration).
In the Semiosis 101 videos I am honest when I say it did take until my doctorate for me to begin to understand semiotic theory. That is true. Like many creatives we are aware of “signifier” and “signified” but with no real context. I had dipped my toe into Barthes when I did my MA but I never could connect the linguistic Structuralist approach into my creative work.
It would be at least another 8 years or more before I was exposed to Peircean semiotic theory, and this would be a point of confused conflation between the two theories. I had been tasked to teach undergraduate design students semiotics in a single lecture. In my slides I mixed up Saussure’s Signifier/Signified with what I now know was Peirce’s “Determination Flow” diagram. I managed to blag my way through the lecture, but this was a catalyst for me to understand semiotics more seriously, which I eventually did during my PhD.
Do you want to watch the video? Well it can be viewed directly on the Scouse-Scot website homepage until Wednesday 10 August 2022. Then you can find Semiosis for Designers and Illustrators video in the archive of the Scouse-Scot Semiosis 101 YouTube channel. Check it out. Follow the link above on the Scouse-Scot website homepage.
