Hall, Sean. This Means This, This Means That : A User’s Guide to Semiotics, Laurence King Publishing, 2012 (Chapters 1 & 2) pgs 21-67.

Defining Saussure’s terms isn’t just as simple as saying this means that, its a bit deeper in the sense of how one might interpret something. An example I thought of was understanding that a signifier is important in a situation where two people are eating food together. The signifier of someone grabbing their throat and gasping for air is caused by the signified that they are choking. In everyday life, we use signifiers to understand a signified and it’s important because we live every day surviving in this world. The signifier of a crosswalk sign when it is red, tells us to not walk, which is  signified that we could get hit by oncoming traffic. Signs are employed in visual communication with things that we recognize from it being advertised so much, or having its own representation. Below is an example of a sign used in advertising:Most, possibly everyone, knows this is a sign that represents McDonald’s. Its famous golden arcs are the icon of the company and is a great example of how signs are used in advertising. If there was a billboard with this, and maybe a picture of a burger, everyone would know that it’s McDonald’s burger and not its competitor Burger King. In social media, people use non-literal devices to give people a sense of what something may feel, sound, taste, smell, or look like. The example below is an example of simile used in an advertisement:Although Olay is advertising their skin cream and people aren’t exactly as soft as a peach, one might know that peaches are known for being soft and believe the product to give their own skin a similar feeling if they use it. People can interpret things in many different ways based on their own ideas or perception, it is up to the creator of things to try and get their message out and clear when they know who their audience is and what they want the message to mean to them.

Hypothesis Annotations

  1. https://hypothes.is/a/NOivCC8cEe2S37cS8wDX9g
  2. https://hypothes.is/a/eEdhzC8cEe2FvX9trACE4A
  3. https://hypothes.is/a/F5Ve8C8dEe2L4B_-ST8ZIA
  4. https://hypothes.is/a/na_KmC8dEe2POqcTBTUKbA
  5. https://hypothes.is/a/j93DsC8eEe2n_i94h_GYqQ
  6. https://hypothes.is/a/Xg4G0i8fEe2W6XvrcZ_Uzw
  7. https://hypothes.is/a/M8xZBC8gEe2xyGO-EXlptA
  8. https://hypothes.is/a/vMPaLi8hEe2YQJNGxbIbGQ
  9. https://hypothes.is/a/8WN_1C8kEe2ktTd7Ip7YFw