Visual Communication | Everyday
Any information we get from any sort of imagery or symbol is called visual communication and it is everywhere.
From road signs, to shop windows, we are constantly being given a range of visual instructions and indications that help us make it through everyday life.
For example, if there was no road sign telling you what speed to go, how would you know? And if there was no huge red SALE sign in the front of a shop, how would you know that products were discounted and would you walk right past the shop without even noticing?
Semiotics is the study of signs and symbols and their use - the most common of these being isotypes which are basically symbols that give instructions and alert people to specific situations and how to behave or proceed. Here are some examples...
Road signs are everywhere and they are a quick and easy way to alert or inform the driver of how to proceed on their journey, should they need to know the speed limit, when to stop or when something is coming up ahead like a roundabout etc. The signs are all simple and easy to interpret, and only require a quick glance when driving past rather than having to look closely and read a lot of text to explain what's happening.
Once we'd covered the idea of isotypes and semiotics in class, I started to notice that signs and symbols were everywhere, and we are being guided through our day to day life by these pictures without ever really noticing it. We are constantly being told through images not to smoke, not to run, to be careful with a particular product, what direction to take and what bathroom to use and from reading up on the basics of semiotics, I realised it's strange how we just automatically understand these symbols to mean a specific something rather than something completely different.
From road signs, to shop windows, we are constantly being given a range of visual instructions and indications that help us make it through everyday life.
For example, if there was no road sign telling you what speed to go, how would you know? And if there was no huge red SALE sign in the front of a shop, how would you know that products were discounted and would you walk right past the shop without even noticing?
Semiotics is the study of signs and symbols and their use - the most common of these being isotypes which are basically symbols that give instructions and alert people to specific situations and how to behave or proceed. Here are some examples...
Road signs are everywhere and they are a quick and easy way to alert or inform the driver of how to proceed on their journey, should they need to know the speed limit, when to stop or when something is coming up ahead like a roundabout etc. The signs are all simple and easy to interpret, and only require a quick glance when driving past rather than having to look closely and read a lot of text to explain what's happening.
Once we'd covered the idea of isotypes and semiotics in class, I started to notice that signs and symbols were everywhere, and we are being guided through our day to day life by these pictures without ever really noticing it. We are constantly being told through images not to smoke, not to run, to be careful with a particular product, what direction to take and what bathroom to use and from reading up on the basics of semiotics, I realised it's strange how we just automatically understand these symbols to mean a specific something rather than something completely different.
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