Language is a collection of signs (drawn characters) signifiers (sounds) and signified items (items being written or spoken about) being given a relationship to one another by people. This relationship is one that forms organically to meet the needs of the people who are utilizing the language at their present time and place.

 Language unlike any other form of communication cannot be manipulated by the people who are utilizing it. It is both at the whims and not at the whims of the people of the time. It is a collective effort (albeit passively) to create language, because unlike signs or symbols, language is difficult to manipulate, and is largely an inheritance. In the text that was provided Ferdinand De Saussure says that where a language comes from is almost irrelevant. It is almost impossible for someone to say that a word (sign) is meant for one purpose, and that you must use it for that purpose, due to the amount of time necessary to manipulate a language and to get others to adopt that terminology. However, a symbol (a drawing) due to its wider universality can act as sign, signified and signifier all at once. 

Signs, signifieds, and signifiers do not exist solely in the realm of the written and spoken word. Throughout history symbols have stood in the place of all three of these concepts. Take for instance the male or female symbols outside of bathrooms. They utilize context, and prior knowledge to tell you “men go into this room, and women go into that room”. There is also the universality as a symbol such as the stop sign, which is utilized internationally. 

Design utilizes the often unconscious knowledge we all have of signs, signifieds, and signifiers. and can play with these assumptions using them to communicate deeper concepts than any one of these 3 things can do alone. Design brings signs, signifieds, and signifiers to a new level, often making  signifieds of the signifiers and signs creating even further depth within a piece. 

Design particularly visual design escapes the limitation of linear time necessary to convey a message. Design Often assumes that people are taking in a whole image, and that there are various elements to the image all working separately but together at the same time.  Good design manipulates the senses, and is capable of often sending the viewer on a circular journey. An advertisement almost assumes that you are entering the image from a variety of angles, and that the viewers may not all share the exact same cultural and contextual assumptions. 

As time passes and the world shrinks, we as a species share more and more context. Our understanding of one another grows, and we collectively create new signs, signifieds and signifiers, which allows us to make things that can be universally enjoyed and understood regardless of borders.