By Michael Desmangles

When it comes to language both articles give their input on its importance and its purpose. Certain language is obviously specific for its intended demographic. In the Course of General Linguistic article they discuss the arbitrary nature of signs. They continue by explaining the correlation between the signifier and the signified and the linear process of communication. The importance of onomatopoeias was also discussed to convey feeling and intent and narrow the intended message. They also contradict themselves by saying language is rooted in structure and rules and based on a system. The system in play is not always obvious and it depends on the interpretation. They explain how language is nothing but phonetical sounds interpreted by the previous generation.

However in the second article a lot of its ideas are rooted in symbolic icons to convey message. A lot of hieroglyphics and symbols are use to convey not only the content of the subject but also the quantity of them as well. The different cultures use characters and symbols to communicate thoughts. The author going so far to replace parts of the sentence with the symbols to hammer the point of how important the graphic components are to conveying the idea. Their purpose was to inform of the idea of graphic symbols.

My interpretation when it relates to design is how important symbols and type are to conveying a message. For example if you put one cow in the middle of a poster with nothing surrounding it but an empty barn with the text heading saying “Where are my friends?!” You can interpret from the graphic combined with the text that the cow is alone. However, deeper interpretations may talk about the meat industry and animal cruelty. Base line interpretation is the linear correlation that was discussed in the course of linguistics article where the onomatopoeia enforces a tone and a response. However the arbitrary nature of the graphic lends itself to different interpretation.