Language to me is the way people communicate with each other, but after I read the two readings this week I have a new understanding of language. A long time ago people expressed things like objects, actions and feelings in various elements in order to communicate better, and the combination of these elements is language. Ferdinand de Sausurre, in his Course in General Linguistics, refers to language as “sign”, “signified”, “signifier”. The signified represents a concept or meaning. The signifier represents a symbol, sound, or image that represents an underlying concept or meaning. The sign represents the whole resulting from the connection between the signifier and the signified.

Language has existed for a long time in human history. The meaning of language will change in different times of culture and events. The same is true for symbols or icons because different symbols or icons also have different meanings. However, language is not the only way for human communication. In addition to language, human beings can also communicate through body language, gestures, music, painting, and others. The difference between language and other forms of communication is that language will be more specific, but it needs to be learned first, But other forms of communication do not need to be learned, and people can get some information from them.

Language is something we come into contact with at birth. At first, we learn language from the voice of our parents, then we learn language from communication with others, and then we learn language from the Internet. Language is with us all our life. People’s brain has connected all kinds of signs, colors and elements with language unconsciously. In the design, designers also make use of this feature of people such as using symbols, colors, and images to convey information to customers. The advantage of this method is that it will not make customers see disgust, because symbols, colors and images are not directly conveying information, but indirectly affect customers through psychological hidden way. Now people are in the Internet era, and new popular culture will be born every day, which also accelerates the change of language because the design also needs to be based on language, so designers also need to constantly learn language to make better design.