A symbol is an image that shows an object.
A sign identifies an image as an object.
A signifier gives information about the object via the use of image.
We were informed of the origins of how New York was to be re-modelled as 'The Big Apple', which in it's self is a signifier for something great. It first began in the 1920's, but became popular in the 1970s.
|The lecture went into detail of how an image isn't necessarily an image, and how it plays on the taught group instincts that we all hold, such of how a photo of an apple isn't an apple but how it acts as a signifier and makes our brain relate to the actual object of an apple.
"Todays seminar was more about semiotics, more specifically about Signs, Myth, Codes and Text.
Sign - Something that communicates a message
Signifier - Something that gives meaning
Signified - Denotation - A literal understanding of the message
- Connotation - A cultural understanding of the message
By recycling and re-using signifiers we understand what things mean and stand for automatically through their connotations. When something has lots of connotations the sign can turn into a signifier, this is called a Myth.
Signs
Icon - Resembles what the sign is referring too from the perspective of the drawer
Index - A sign that infers a relationship to something else
Symbol - A sign is obviously and literally standing for something else.
Codes are organisational systems, grids and rules that are culturally applicable and give us an understanding of signifiers.
Texts are groups of codes and signifiers that make sense within a cultural context which together communicate a broader message than any single signifier could."
