Fragment Air Jordan is a product that came into existence after collaboration took place between Jordan Brand and Hiroshi Fujiwara. Fujiwara is the designer who labeled the fragment design. Fujiwara gave the Air Jordan 1 its fresh color. The original Air Jordan remains, but it was a tweak in the sneaker color with the previous color schemes to give it the classic retro vibe as noted by Deleon (2020). The Jordan shoes released in the past were known as “Broyal” with black and blue color, but the name change to “Black Toes” after Fujiwara added a white base now resembling white, blue, and red. Fujiwara’s signature branding is in the form of jumpan motis on the tongue under the ankle discrete tooling coding and fragment thunderbolt logos found on the heel tabs. The shoe connects Japanese figure love, where it features stability at the midfoot and leather overlays. The making of Fragmented Air Jordan by Fujiwara was culminated by the “The Ten” brand’s failure. The brand was scrapped without even being released, and Fujiwara wanted to improve on his designs. Fujiwara was passionate about fashion, which encouraged him to produce more products relating to Nike Air Max. Upcoming artists tested several of these products during their performance.
Semiotic Theory
Semiotics is basically founded on semiosis, of which in its essence is more about relationships between a sign, as well as an object, and the respective meaning. In semiotics, Hervey (2016) says the sign is a representation of the object that is in the interpreter’s mind. Signs can be verbal or nonverbal. The semiotic theory is also



referred to as sign theory, and it was put across by Peirce’s. The theory by Peirce is distinctive and innovative, following its breadth and complexity (Crow 31). This theory captures the importance of interpretation of significance. This theory’s development is central in logic works as a means of discovery to prove pragmatism. Fujiwara has applied this theory to a wide extent of his work by introducing Nike’s signs in the designs (Hervey 29). Likewise, changing the color from black and blue and introducing the new white changed brand perceptions. The previous had not passed even the display stage. Hence Fujiwara was focused on proving the pragmatism that his products can also be within the Nike markets.
Under the semiotic theory, signs and values have connections to each. The signs and values include detachment in which a person of a system preserves is independence. Dominance, in this situation, the person or system takes control over the other. The third-party controls dependence in this area of focus he needs or the person or system (Hervey 38). This theory was applied in creating the Air Jordan, where the Nike Company had to depend on Fujiwara to provide them with a new design that they could compliment in their older designs. Nike remained dominant
Gestalt Psychology Theory
Gestalt psychological theory is also a theory known as the principle of groupings. The view was put forth by Gestalt psychologists purposely to observe how humans perceive objects naturally as patterns that are well arranged and objects (Koffka 10). According to the Gestalt psychologists’ primary reason for this principle’s existence, innate disposition patterns are perceived simultaneously on specific rules with the mind. There



are five categories used in organizing this principle. They include Proximity, Similarity, Continuity, Closure, and Connectedness.
Proximity involves grouping elements that are closer to each other to keep them from further apart. Thus clustering of items in one group will make it more conspicuous, and people will recognize it more (Wong 863). Fujiwara employed this idea and employed different colors like black, blue, and white in one product of Nike Air Jordan and gained more attention from Nike users. The principle of similarity postulates that perception leads to an individual’s stimuli looking similar to each other under the same object. Fujiwara employed this idea by adding another color to the product, which made the product look the same but very attractive.
The closure principle holds that individuals can see items to be complete even though they are incomplete. The picture might have other hidden objects that make it stand out even when they are hidden (Gavrilova et al. 420). Fujiwara has effectively employed the principle in the products. They failed o reach the display stage, but just a twist in color made the product gain market value. In the continuity principle, individuals look at two or more objects and see a continuation without interruption. Gestalt’s theorist looks at the product and saw that is continuity was never interfered with and asked for its continuity. Connectedness implies having products that are closely connected and following a similar direction (Gavrilova et al. 426) This perception was employed by Fujiwara to ensure that all Air Max produced by Nike followed a particular pattern even though there was a distinction in colors because of its brand image, but Fujiwara



became more dominant since his plan helped develop new shoe designs.
Embodiment of the Theory in Various Perspectives
The product has embodied the theories from various perspectives. First, in the semiotic theory, the approach has employed signs that entail Nike during its production. Nike signs are critical, following their market share and brand image. Products produced with Nike signs are likely to sell faster than those claiming to be Nike affiliates. The principles of Gestalt have also been embodied in this product by looking at various impacts of the product. The work ought to have promoted Nike products’ continuity, which is embraced in all sectors of producing the product. The coloring of the product was unique, but it never deviated from Nikes color, a blend of white and black.


Works Cited
Crow, David. Visible signs: an introduction to semiotics in the visual arts. Vol. 40. ava publishing, 2010..
Deleon, Jian. “Hiroshi Fujiwara Details His Ambitious Jordan Brand Collaboration. Air.jordan.com.” Air.Jordan, 10 Oct. 2020, air.jordan.com/card/hiroshi-fujiwara-details-his-ambitious-jordan-brand-collaboration/.
Gavrilova, T., et al. “Gestalt principles of creating learning business ontologies for knowledge codification.” Knowledge Management Research & Practice, vol. 13, no. 4, 2015, pp. 418-428, doi:10.1057/kmrp.2013.60.
Hervey, Sándor. Semiotic perspectives. Routledge, 2016.
Koffka, Kurt. Principles of Gestalt psychology. Vol. 44. Routledge, 2013..
Wong, Bang. “Gestalt principles (part 1).” Nature methods 7.11 (2010): 863-864.